15. Names

Minerva Clark Miller and Lewis Miller

Great-Aunt Minerva got her name from her great-grandmother Minerva Clark, who had married Lewis Miller. In the early 1800s, the young couple rode on horseback from the little settlement of Columbus, on the ridge west of New York State's Unadilla valley, into the broad Chenango valley, and then up over the hills toward Otselic, where they settled and created a homestead. The Clark family had been well-known in politics in Connecticut, where they originally came from, and Minerva’s oldest brother, Rensallier, was a member of the New York State Assembly. There was a sister, Clarissa, and another brother, Silas, who never married; Silas always kept the general store in Columbus. I have his gold pen and a fascinating leather-bound ledger from his store and livery stable, detailing the accounts of the people – including Lewis and Drake Miller - who bought goods there and hired horses. According to Inez, all the Clarks rode a lot, and Silas used to come riding over the hills on horseback to see his sister, Minerva – a trip that must have taken a full day. Minerva brought a shoot of a Bridal rose on her saddle when she first came to Otselic, and for years a cutting from it grew on her grave. I think the trees have grown so much in that part of the cemetery that no rose could grow there now.

Charles Rush Miller

Minerva Clark and Lewis Miller had four sons, one of whom was Charles Rush Miller. He married Martha Salome Arnold, and their son was Wallace, who married my great grandmother, Libby. Libby – named Mary Elizabeth – called her middle daughter (my grandmother) Martha Elizabeth. My mother was also named Martha Elizabeth, and so am I. Since we all lived in the same house, that could have created some confusion, if we hadn't all used different versions of the name.

When Libby's youngest daughter was born, Charles Rush Miller (who was much beloved by his children and grandchildren) came to see his new granddaughter, and asked what name had been chosen for her. Libby and Wally said they hadn't named her yet, because they had thought "she might be a Nathan." "In that case," Charles Rush said, "I would like it very much if you wanted to name her after my mother." There is another Minerva Miller, also a great-grandchild of his mother, in the branch of the family now in South Dakota.

and his wife, Martha Salome Arnold Miller

Now to the Marthas. Inez wrote this about Martha Salome Arnold Miller:

My grandmother Miller came for visits in summer but less often than he (Charles Rush). She was a retiring person and from her, various members of our family inherit a reluctance to mingle in social gatherings or to leave home overnight. She had been much affected, I believe, by an unhappy childhood; a stepmother who was not kind, a father who left for the West with the rest of the family, forsaking her to a life with strict grandparents who believed in a frugal and useful existence. Her brother had been a member of the Monitor’s crew when it sank off Cape Hatteras in 1862. When I was about five years old, she lost her youngest son whom she idolized. For years she kept his watch, wound nightly, on is accustomed tiny stand inside and inverted glass bell, and his cap hanging on its accustomed peg.

If that’s true, then my mother was aptly named – and oddly she, as a "Martha", is the only one of the four of us "M. Elizabeths" who used our first name. My grandmother dropped the "M" all together, but I have always used it as my legal signature. The first time I went to the South Otselic cemetery as an adult, I was a little shocked to see Libby's grave and the inscription: "M. Elizabeth Adams" on it. It's doubly odd because the Adams family which gave me my last name - my father's line - is probably not related to the Adams family on the maternal side at all.

“Salome” lasted another generation as well -  that was Cousin Elsie’s middle name, and I think it suited her, too.

Comments

[Dave]

My Honduran sister-in-law's family has a similar custom of repeating names in the female line. It might be an attempt to preserve continuity in the face of a changing patronymic, I suppose.

[Natalie]

Beth, how amazing and marvellous that you have all these family photos (great photos too) and histories. I wish I could say the same. There's something strangely comforting about being able to amble far down the road of one's lineage.

[mary]

As Natalie says, wonderful photographs and stories.

[Jean]

How absolutely wonderful to know about your family that far back, and to have photos! You must do more with this.

'Rensallier': what kind of a name is that?

[language hat]

The photos are amazing -- I wish I had a similar set.

I can no longer resist asking: is it ot-SEE-lic or ot-SELL-ic?

[beth]

Jean - Rensallier is Dutch. The Millers were Mullers, originally (the Clarks were British, descended from a Daniel Clark from England). The western area of New York, from Albany down to New York City, was all Dutch and there are lots of Dutch place names.

LH: It's "ot-SEE-lick" - an Iroquois word, that means "Plum creek." In that part of upstate, you can count on the vowels always being twangy - nasal "eeee" rather than "eh", and people landing heavily on the stressed syllables of words.

I feel really lucky that we have so many family photographs and that people cared about preserving them - this is just a small sampling - I haven't even gone through my mother's trunk!