Susan Pearl Miller

My great grandmother was Susan (Susie) Pearl Miller.  She has been, to say the least, an interesting study.  Here is her story.

Susan Pearl Miller (1876-1939)

Susan Pearl Miller was born May 22, 1876, in Winfield, Cowley County, Kansas, to Daniel D. and Martha Jane Duncan Miller.  Susan (or Susie) was the fourth of eight children, all girls, born to this couple.

Her father, Daniel, was born in Indiana in 1837 but lived in Missouri and Iowa before marrying Martha Jane.  She too was born in Indiana, in 1845.  The couple presumably met in Iowa and were married on March 17, 1861, in Warren County.  Of course, the Civil War was just beginning and Daniel found himself in the 34^th Iowa Infantry in 1862-63.  According to family history, he was wounded in the leg at Gettysburg and later drew a pension of $12 every three months because of the injury.

In spite of the war and the aftermath of it, Daniel and Martha had the first three of their girls in Iowa and Missouri.  These were Elva, Sarah, and Delia.  Sometime after Delia was born (in 1870) and March, 1875, Daniel and Martha moved their family to Winfield, Kansas.  As was common then, several of Martha’s family, including her mother and father, also moved to Winfield.  Daniel, like his father before him, was a blacksmith.

After the move to Winfield, Daniel and Martha had their remaining five girls, Susan, Rose, Nellie, Jessie, and Frankie.  Frankie, their last child, was born in 1886.  According to verbal family history, Daniel and Martha then moved with their family to Colorado, later taking part in the Oklahoma land run in 1889.  Sometime in 1899, before November, Daniel passed away; in that month Martha Jane made application for a widow’s pension.  At the time she was living in Ramona, Indian Territory, Oklahoma.

Martha Jane lived another 17 years, dying in 1916 in Ramona.  She and Daniel are both buried in the Ramona Cemetery near Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

On January 26, 1891, Susie Pearl married Harry Nash in Trinidad, Colorado.  She was 14 years old at the time.  She would not turn 15 until May 22.  It is not known whether her parents took her to Colorado or how else she may have gotten there.  According to family history, Harry was born in 1867, making him nine years older than her.  This has not been confirmed, however, and very little is known about him today.

Between 1892 and 1897, Susie and Harry had three children, Arletta Florence, Edward Everett and Sedelia.  Apparently, all of these children were either placed in orphanages or raised by relatives.

Sometime in the late 1890’s, something happened to Harry.  Either Susie Pearl left him or he died.  On July 10, 1900, she married Richard Leace (Dick) Young in Grand Junction, Colorado.

According to Susie’s obituary, she and Richard had fifteen children, making a total for her of eighteen.  To date, only eight of the fifteen have been identified: Daniel R., Dolores, Francis D., Dorothy, Stanley, John, Dolly, and Jack.  The youngest identified child was Dolly, who was born in October, 1917.

In 1910, Richard and Susie were living in Spokane, Washington and had three of their children living with them; Daniel, Francis, and Dorothy.

In 1920, Susie and Richard were still in the same household.  At this time, only three of the children were living with them; Daniel, Dolores, and Dolly.

Sometime after 1920, either Richard and Susie divorced or he died.  Susie’s obituary stated that she had been preceded in death by two husbands so it is surmised that both Harry Nash and Richard Young had died.  Sometime in the 1920’s, Susie married James Nicholas Adair.  The 1930 Census showed them living in Boise, Idaho with no children in the family.

On May 8, 1939, Susie died in the Twin Falls General Hospital in Twin Falls, Idaho.  She died of pneumonia and, according to her obituary, her husband, James, was also critically ill with pneumonia.  He did, in fact, die eleven days later in the same hospital.  Her oldest son by Richard Young, Daniel Young, provided the family information on the death certificate and much of it is incorrect as is the information in her obituary.  It is supposed that Daniel Young also provided that information.

It is not known where or who raised Arletta Florence, Susie’s oldest child.  Arletta did marry twice, the first time to John Michael Gervens on October 12, 1912 and divorced him sometime before 1922.  On May 8, 1922, she married Fred Roy Buckmaster and they lived in Idaho the rest of their lives.  Both died in the 1970’s.  She and Fred Roy had two children.

Edward Everett Nash, born in 1894, was taken in by a family in Moab, Utah, and lived there and in Arizona before moving to Cromwell, Oklahoma in the early 1920’s.  He and his wife, Lessie Hester Mooneyham Nash, had seven children.  They both lived in Oklahoma till their deaths, she in 1980 and he in 1983.

Sedelia Nash, born in 1897, the third and last child of Susie and Harry, was raised by Susie’s family, living first with Frank Duncan and his wife Jennie, and later with Elva Miller Barker and her husband.  She married William Clyde Topping in 1913 and they lived in Oklahoma and Texas the rest of their lives.  Sedelia and Clyde had two children, Rex and Vera.  Sedelia died in 1975; Clyde in 1976, both in Overton, Texas.

Daniel Young, Susie’s oldest child by Richard Young, was born in 1902.  He seems to have been the only child who kept in touch with his mother.  Daniel married Mary Isabelle Timblin and lived in Idaho and Spokane, Washington most of his life.  He died in 1957 in Spokane at the age of 55.

Dolores Young was born in Utah in 1904 and apparently lived with her parents longer than some of the other children.  She married Edward Warfield (date unknown) and they had three children.  She died in about 1960.

Francis D. Young, the next child, was born in Utah in about 1907.  Nothing more is known about her at this time.

Dorothy Young was born in 1909 and was apparently adopted out soon after her birth to a family whose surname was Summers.  Little more is known about her either.

Stanley Keith Sears was born on May 1, 2012 as Teddy Young.  He was adopted by Eugene and Eleanor Sears in February, 1916.  After living several years in the Salt Lake City area, they are believed to have moved to Mobile, Alabama.  Stanley died in 1994 in Florence, Kentucky.

John Stanley Perkins Jr., the next child that is known of, was born on September 9, 1916, in Pocatello, Idaho.  He was adopted by John S. and Annie Perkins of Salt Lake City shortly after his birth.  His original birth name is unknown.  In the adoption decree, signed by Richard Leace and Pearl Young, they attested that they had no “fixed definite home” and that “the permanent welfare of (John Stanley Perkins) would be more fully and completely insured through its adoption by …………..”.

John Stanley Perkins Jr. married Thelma Lottie Petersen in Salt Lake City on August 8, 1936.  They had six sons and two daughters, all while living in the Salt Lake City area.  John died in 1982; Thelma in 2004.  At the time of his passing, John did not know that he was adopted.  Partly through an interest in genealogy and partly through DNA testing, their son, William Perkins (Bill) has become known to this writer.

The next child known about is Dolly Young, born on October 11, 1917.  She was married twice and died on October 21, 1969 in Kodiak, Alaska.

At least one other son, Jack, was born to Richard Leace Young and Susan Pearl Miller, but nothing is known of him.

DISCLAIMER: Genealogy is a fluid, ever changing endeavor.  The information presented here is the best effort by the writer to summarize a family’s history.  It most certainly will change as more information is obtained.

Edd Alexander, May 30, 2015