Constableville’s Annie Miller deCamp, Part Two

If there were such a thing as frequent flyer miles and hubs in those days, Constableville was the Miller family hub. There were many mentions of the Dallas, Des Moines, New York and New Albany family branches coming home and Mr. and Mrs. Miller visiting them between 1890 and after.

Annie Miller may have become familiar with the deCamps through her family’s friendship with the Lyon family, including the Fisher and Merriam connections.

In 1898, the Miller family joined the silver wedding festivities for William and Mary Lyon Fisher. William deCamp also had a residence in Mount Morris West near New York, where he might have visited her.

After Julia’s death, William continued to manage her Lyon estate lands, winning court battles with the John Dix lumber company.

William was also investing in the Clearwater Station area, building houses, a hotel, a store and eventually a lumber mill with his son Lyon as partner.

In August, 1899, Annie Miller was “rusticating” in the Fulton Chain and later, at age 44, she married William deCamp on March 19, 1900 in New York and the couple spent their honeymoon at Seth Miller’s place in Dallas, Texas.

Two months later, May 10, 1900, Stephen Miller died at age 77 in Constableville.

Later that month, William and Annie traveled to London in June and later the Paris Exposition.

A year later, at an advanced age even for today’s standards, the deCamps’ attempt at starting a family ended tragically as their infant, William S. deCamp, Jr. died one day after birth on April 3, 1901.

During the brief marriage, William and Annie would spend summers at the deCamp cottage on deCamp Island between First and Second Lakes just off Morrow Point, later owned by Hollywood Hills.

They would also stay at the “Moose House” now a Bed and Breakfast near Thendara on the Moose River.

In 1905, her husband of just over 5 years died of pneumonia in Mount Morris West.

After William’s death, Annie eventually settled in the Miller Homestead in Constableville with her Mother Hannah and sister “Miss Elizabeth.”

They frequently spent winters in Des Moines or Dallas with those branches of the family or in New York with deCamp or Miller connections there.

She continued to attend the Lyons-Fisher-Merriam family events, such as the 1912 wedding of Florence Fisher and Dr. Delbert Jackson, where 46 year old sister Elizabeth caught the bridal bouquet.

Along with her mother Hannah, who died in 1912, and her sister Elizabeth, they lived in and maintained the Miller homestead for many years.

She and Elizabeth would also winter in warmer climates with their in-laws.

Annie continued the Miller family tradition as a Constable-ville steward and was a major benefactor of the village library, often buying books to add to its collection.

She would regularly be present at Constableville’s “School-mates Picnic” (also called “Old Home Days”) which was an annual reunion of former classmates and residents. She began hosting the meetings of the Daughters of the American Revolution in the Miller home.

At its August 1915 meeting, the D.A.R. encouraged the purchase of a lot and building for a Lowville library.

Three years later, she was honored with membership in the organization.

Annie Miller deCamp died suddenly on February 15, 1942.

She had come from Constable-ville to Utica the previous November to be near her invalid sister Elizabeth who was receiving treatment there in a nursing home.

A car driving slowly on an icy street was passed quickly by another vehicle and the driver, looking left at the car and then forward again was surprised by the sight of a woman, Annie, suddenly in front of him and, unable to stop, struck her causing fatal injuries.

Elizabeth died that year in July. Both are buried in the Miller lot in Constableville.

Unless a person is from Constableville, they may not be familiar with the Miller family.

But I also thought that a widow named incorrectly in her husband’s obituary and her family deserved additional notice.

Sources for this article were issues of the Lowville Journal Republican on the Northern New York Library Network website, the March and April 1919 “The Auk”, Quarterly Journal of Ornithology eulogies by Florence Merriam Bailey, and information provided by Alan Miller, great grandson of Harry Miller, and Peter Hayes, descendant of Constableville’s Hayes family. Also, an abstract of Township 7 provided by the Town of Webb Historical Association.