1039. David10 Miller
(Thomas11, Samuel12,
Thomas13) was born in West Springfield, Hampden,
MA 10 March 1736.
He married Annah _______.
Joseph Miller and Annah _______ had the following children:
+ 630 i. David9 Miller {Jr.}
was born 8 August 1748.
*******************************************************************
Recent research gives David (b. 1736) the following line:
His parents were Thomas and Sarah (Meekins) Miller. They were married 17 December 1722.
Thomas was born in West Springfield 14 May 1693. Sarah was "of Hatfield" or
"of Hartford" according to Brimfield vital records.
Thomas' parents were Samuel and Ruth (Beamon) Miller who were married 9 April 1685.
Samuel was born in West Springfield 20 February 1655. Ruth was the daughter of Samuel and
Alice Beamon.
Samuels' parents were Thomas and Sarah (Marshfield) Miller. Thomas was born in
Springfield 12 August 1649.
Samuels' father, Thomas, had a brother Obediah. The following recounts some early
history involving these two brothers.
Obadiah and Thomas Miller
Obadiah Miller Arrives In Springfield, Mass.
- Obadiah Miller and his brother, Thomas Miller, were among the earliest settlers of
Springfield, Mass., which was founded in 1636 by William Pynchon and seven other men.
Pynchon, whose home was in Springfield, England, was one of the original 27 patent holders
of the Massachusetts Bay Colony that received land grants from King James in 1629.
- The early records of Springfield, Mass., contain many references to Obadiah and Thomas
Miller. Obadiah's name first appears in June, 1654, when John Pynchon granted to him a
homelot of three acres and other land. Many more land transactions involving Obadiah
followed over the next 40 years. Obadiah's attendance at the Springfield Meeting House
sessions, where he served as a Selectman, was noted in the records, as well as several
fines for missing meetings. He was appointed a Fence Viewer and also a Hayward, civic
posts. The dates of Obadiah's birth and death are not known, but he was likely born in
England, possibly to Robert and Elizabeth Miller, about 1624 and likely died in
Springfield between May 8, 1697 and March 14, 1699.
- Obadiah Miller married Joan, or Joanna, Cogan of Taunton, Mass., following the death of
her husband, Thomas Cogan, in 1654. Obadiah and Joan had three children: Lazarus Miller,
born Sept. 23, 1655, and died Aug. 4, 1697, and married Mary Burbank of Suffield, Conn.,
Dec. 2, 1685; Obadiah Miller Jr., born March 26, 1658; and Joanna Miller, born July 6,
1659. In addition, Joan, or Joanna, had four children by her first husband: Bathsheba
Cogan, born about 1645 and died in Springfield 1688, who married John Barber and had four
children; Mary Cogan, born about 1647 and died May 19, 1676 at Windsor, Conn., who married
Samuel Barber; Martha Cogan, born about 1648 and died May 22, 1686, at Simsbury, Conn.,
and married Peter Buel; and Ruth Cogan, born about 1650-52, married Samuel Taylor June 24,
1675.
Thomas Miller, Killed By Indians
- Thomas Miller arrived in Springfield in 1649 and promptly married Sarah Marshfield,
sister of Samuel Marshfield, who arrived the previous year. He held a number of town civic
posts, including Appraiser, Fence Viewer, Hayward and Committee to Grant Land. The early
records cite many of his actions, including his killing a wolf. He was granted land across
the Connecticut River at a site described as "by the higher wigwam, provided hee bee
not an occasion of troble and disturbance to the Plantation by an unwis clashing with the
Indians."
- Thomas Miller and Sarah Marshfield Miller had 13 children. One of their descendants was
the Prophet William Miller, a founder of the Seventh Day Adventist Church who was a much
celebrated, self-taught religious figure of the middle 19th Century who was born at
Pittsfield, Mass., in 1782 and who founded the Millerite Movement and captured the
attention of the nation with his incorrect prediction of the Second Coming of Christ for
1843. Thomas and Sarah's children were: Sarah Miller, born Sept. 3, 1650 in Springfield,
where she died Aug. 29, 1683, married Capt. Jonathan Bell/Ball; Thomas Miller, born April
1, 1653 in Springfield and died there March 5, 1689-90, married Rebecca Leonard, and had
four children; Samuel Miller, born April 20, 1655 in Springfield and died there Feb. 11,
1726-27, married Ruth Beamon and had nine children; John Miller, born April 23, 1657, in
Springfield and died in 1735, married Mary Beamon and had four children; Joseph Miller,
born Sept. 27, 1659 in Springfield and died six weeks later; Josiah, or Josias Miller,
born Sept. 27, 1660, in Springfield; Deborah Miller, born Nov. 9, 1662, in Springfield and
died Jan. 14, 1750, married James Gerald; Martha Miller, born Nov. 10, 1664 in Springfield
and died the next day; a second Martha Miller, born Nov. 4, 1665 in Springfield and died
there May 21, 1691, and married Lt. John Ferry; Ebenezer Miller, born Aug. 25, 1667 in
Springfield and died Jan. 6, 1754, married Hanna Keep; Mihitable, or Mehetable Miller,
born Nov. 12, 1669, in Springfield, and married John Clemmons and had six children; a
second Joseph Miller, born Dec. 13, 1671, in Springfield and died two weeks later; and
Experience Miller, born May 19, 1673, in Springfield and married Samuel Frost.
- Thomas Miller was killed during an Indian raid on Springfield Oct. 5, 1675, part of
"King Philip's War" war between the Pilgrim settlers and the Wampanoag and other
tribes. Springfield was attacked by 600 hostile Indians, one of 23 English towns attacked
during the war that saw a tenth of the English men killed, wounded or captured and many
women and children enslaved by the Indians. On October 4, the Springfield militia had
headed off for other action to the north, leaving only a few men of more advanced years at
home. Among them was Thomas Miller. Miller was riding to a nearby fort with Lt. Cooper
when they were fired upon by the Indians. Miller died on the spot and Cooper fell dead off
his horse upon returning to Springfield. The Indians then burned about 30 unoccupied
dwellings, which had been temporarily deserted by the inhabitants.
Additional Sources Of Information
- Sources for more information about Obadiah and Thomas Miller include: "The First
Century of the History of Springfield, Mass.," from 1636 to 1736, written and
published by Henry M. Burt in 1899; "History of the Hale-House Families,"
published by the Connecticut Historical Society in 1952; "Plymouth Colony: Its
History & People 1620-1691," by Eugene Aubrey Stratton; New England Historical
and Genealogical Register, Vol. 110, "Early Cogans English and American"; and
"New England Outpost: War and Society in Colonial Deerfield," by Richard
Melvoin.
Send email to preparer: vtandrew@mac.com
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