At first I thought that to tell the story of my great-great grandfather would be to tell a story of a man who just couldn’t be a father, someone who was in and out of my great grandmother’s life, someone our family often described as a “ne’er do well.” While there is always some truth to the stories passed down, there is often more truth in the untold stories. Those tales that are lost to the passage of time are where we find the real truth of the person. In researching Clinton MILLER there was so much to tell that his story needs to be told in three parts.
Part 1: 1884-1914
Clinton was born on June 12, 1884, in Cuba, New York. Cuba is in Alleghany County, in the southwestern part of the state, near the border of Pennsylvania. He was the eldest son, and second child, of Edward Manly and Lillian (COLE) MILLER. Clinton had an older sister, named Florence Emily, who the family called Emma. She was born in 1880. He had a younger sister, Elsie Mabel, who was born in 1886.
Manly MILLER, as Clinton’s father was called, had many professions, including teamster and farmer. The MILLERs, and their offspring and in-laws, worked with the land mostly. Gardener is the most common occupation, greenhouse the most common place of business. At the turn of the century, the MILLERs were living and working as gardeners in Bradford, Pennsylvania. Manly’s parents were also living in Bradford,[1] and both Manly and Clinton, age 16, were working.[2] This part of the country experienced an oil boom in the late 19th Century,[3] and the family migrated here sometime in the 1890s.
Florence MILLER, who the family affectionately called Emma, had married a Swedish immigrant named Karl NELSON, also a gardener, in Alleghany, New York, in May of 1898.[4] They were living About 50 miles west, through the Alleghany State Park Forest, in Jamestown on the eastern shore of Chautauqua Lake, New York. This lake had a steamboat that would regularly traverse its shores, taking passengers from the far northwestern shorn to the southeastern tip where Emma and Karl lived.[5]
After a short while in Bradford, the Manly MILLERs continued to move east, leaving the remaining MILLER and COLE families in Alleghany County. In August of 1900, Manly and Lillian purchased thirty acres of land in Brandywine Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware.[6]
Brandywine Hundred is in the area north of Christiana River and East of the Brandywine Creek outside of the city of Wilmington, Delaware. The MILLERs would build a successful family farm on these properties, which sat between Shipley Road and Shellpot Creek and ran along the railroad tracks. Miller Road in Brandywine Delaware today sits along the northwestern border of what was once MILLER property. Wilmington was a community with a lower percentage of immigrants compared to other large East Coast cities – only about 19% percent of the population in 1900 was foreign born, compared to 29% in nearby Philadelphia – and most of the immigrants were Irish. This area of Delaware was experiencing a boom in industrial growth at the turn of the century. Skilled laborers found plenty of work in the city, and industries such as automobile, train and trolley manufacturing were offering opportunity.[7] At the turn of 1900’s and into the early 1910’s the DuPont family took up residence in Wilmington and began to build large estates and, eventually, employee housing developments following the first World War.[8]
Once settled in Delaware, the family grew. Just a few houses away from the new family home lived the BARBER family, the widow Sarah along with her sons William (b. 1878) and Harry E. (b. 1881) and their young daughter Elma Mae (b. 1888).[9] William BARBER began courting Elsie Mabel (known as Mabel) MILLER. In September 1903, they were married at the home of E. Manly and Lillian MILLER, surrounded by friends and family.[10]
The MILLER family had settled into the area, were successful, and made many friends. One family that lived not far from the MILLERs was the WEEKS family. The mother died soon after giving birth to the third child and the father struggled to care for the children. The eldest daughter and infant son went to live with nearby relatives, but the MILLERs took in the middle boy shortly after arriving in Wilmington, and legally adopted Lawrence WEEKS MILLER (b. 1897) in May 1905. The MILLERs expanded their property as well that year, purchasing 2 lots of land totaling approximately 5 acres.[11]
Clinton MILLER had also found a sweetheart, in the young BARBER daughter, Elma Mae. One month prior to William and Elsie’s wedding, on July 31, 1903, Clinton and Elma Mae eloped and wed in the office of the mayor.[12] Elma Mae gives her age as 16, however her birthday is listed as March 1888 in the 1900 census, and she may only have been 15 at the time. Clinton was 19. They would be married for only 8 months – Elma Mae died on March 30, 1904; the cause of death listed as cerebral hemorrhage.[13]
After his wife’s death, Clinton married again, this time to Walker Virginia BROWN, in the First United Methodist Church, Mount Holly, New Jersey on May 16, 1904. His parents were both present and Clinton’s occupation was listed as “lettuce grower.”
Clinton took up work as a captain of a barge in the Chesapeake Bay, leaving his wife alone for long periods of time. We can’t know exactly how, but it is likely during this period that he met Grace Mae REDMAN. Grace was a young girl who had been living and working as a servant in 1900 in Page County, Virginia, in the home of the Kiblinger family.[14] Her mother had died when she was not yet five years old, and her father was absent, having left his children and started a new family shortly after his first wife’s death. Grace’s upbringing was unstable and mysterious – hers is a story for another time – but she found in the MILLERs an extended family that embraced her for the rest of her days.
In 1905, Grace she was about 20. That May, a daughter was born to Clinton MILLER and Grace REDMAN – they named her Elma Mae after Clinton’s first wife. Elma’s birth certificate lists her parents as married – but it was a delayed registry in 1942 and was not legally certified.[15]
In January of 1906, Walker G. MILLER filed a notice of intent to divorce Clinton MILLER in the Alexandria Gazette. She was three months pregnant. In June of 1906 she would give birth to India MILLER, Clinton’s second daughter. It is unknown if he ever met her. She would be raised by her stepfather, Arthur BRENNER.
Clinton and Grace were officially married on July 4, 1906, in Camden, New Jersey, in the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. They list a shared address of 269 Kaighn Avenue, Camden – about 30 miles north of Brandywine.[16]
Following the birth of their daughter and their marriage, Clinton and Grace welcomed two more children – sons Edward Karl in early 1907, and Charles Clinton, in summer of 1909. During that time the couple purchased two lots of land in Brandywine Hundred from the Baldton Land Company and built a bungalow. They lived here until the summer of 1908, when they moved out and began renting out the home.
In 1909, Grace filed, and received, an injunction against the Baldton Land Company. The MILLERs claimed that they had purchased two lots of land on an installment plan and only after they had built a bungalow on the lots had the company refused the installment payment. The MILLERs had also rented out the house and the land company charged the tenant with trespassing.[17] The land company responded by claiming the house was just a one-story building and that they “had paid $35 on account and moved away.” Although the initial reports of the suit lists both Grace and Clinton – all other reports of the case are of Mrs. Grace Miller alone.
Manly (listed in records as E.M. MILLER) and Lillian were wealthy farmers in the Brandywine Hundred area. Manly regularly showed his bees and bee supplies at the county fair exhibits held at the local Horse Show Park.[18] In May 1907, Manly and Clinton MILLER filed to dissolve their family business – E.M. Miller and Son – by mutual consent. Manly would continue as sole proprietor. Clinton had decided to pursue his passion for mechanics and aviation.
In 1910, Grace and her three children with Clinton are living with Manly and Lillian MILLER at the family farm on Shellpot Road. Clinton is not listed on the census as a member of the household, but Grace is listed as married. In the summer of 1910, Manly purchased 2 plots of land in New Castle, Delaware, from the Baldton Land Company. In 1911, Manly MILLER sold these lots to William H. Taylor, the same person who had rented the house from Grace REDMAN MILLER in 1909 and been charged by the Land Company for trespass.[19]
This period is when Clinton disappears for a time. He had begun what would be a tradition of coming and going. By 1912, Grace had given up on waiting for Clinton and moved on to a new husband. Grace married Simon “Samuel” T. WALLS, a young widower, in 1912. Simon had a young son from his first marriage, about the same age as Elma Mae. Together Grace and Simon would have 6 children, beginning with James Arthur, born in February of 1912 in Cleveland, Ohio. The WALLS family settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Grace would be with her three MILLER children periodically over the years – often visiting them in the east or having them at the WALLS home in Wisconsin.
Clinton claims to have spent those missing years in Hartford, Connecticut, working for the Pope-Hartford Automobile Company, which was active in the building and racing of automobiles at the time. This is possible, Clinton’s later years were spent in the Hartford area, and he was a mechanic for the duration of his life. The family also was in possession of an early automobile around this time that resembles an early 1909 Pope-Hartford Model S. However, his whereabouts are not confirmed – he does not appear on any 1910 Census.
Clinton MILLER at various times called himself an aviator, a mechanic, a florist, and a musician. He was interested in aviation beginning in 1908, when the Wright Brothers registered their airplane with the U.S. Patent Office. In 1911, Clinton MILLER decided to get into the aviation business. He had joined the local Wilmington Aero Club, which was well known for having funded the building of the first heavier than air aircraft built in Delaware in 1910. Construction of the aircraft was completed in a barn at Horse Show Park and the aircraft, piloted by Eddie Bloomfield, was airborne for approximately 50 yards.[20]
He placed a notice in the Evening Journal (Wilmington, DE) that he had joined with the Wilmington Aero Club and intended to put the club stock on the market. He claimed he would be able to sell club manufactured aero-planes for $3000 each.[21] Clinton begin instructions in aviation and placed advertisements in flying magazines around the country. He attracted men and women alike to his “school” which he held at Horse Show Park, and occasionally in his rented rooms at 705 French Street, where he kept books on machine. Students came from as far as Texas and Chicago to learn aviation from him.[22]
A local woman and her husband came to Clinton for flying lessons. They each individually took several lessons from Clinton at Horse Show Park, and “a few times she went to Miller’s room.”[23] It was during one of these visits on January 24, that she later alleged Clinton locked the door and assaulted her. That same day, the Smyrna Times reported Clinton successfully lifted his home-constructed airplane off the ground and flew for several hundred feet.
The female student, who was later reported as weighing only 82 pounds, was delirious for days after the assault, and when her husband pressed her on the matter, she told him what had transpired. The husband immediately set out onto the streets of Wilmington and “he searched for Miller and would have killed him … but could not find him. Later he caused [Miller’s] arrest.”[24]
On February 11, 1912, Clinton MILLER was arrested, charged with assault and battery ,and held without bail. The News Journal of Wilmington reported on what they deemed “A Strange Case” of “a well-dressed and refined looking young man” who, at all turns, claimed to know nothing at all about the charges. The paper reported that the prosecuting witness did not appear, and even gave the name of the woman he was accused of assaulting.[25]
As the case proceeded, it was clear that MILLER had no intentions of taking these charges seriously. At his arraignment 3 days later, the charges were dropped to felonious assault. Clinton chose not to be represented by counsel, instead representing himself and cross-examining his emotional accuser “at length, although he was unable to shake her testimony.”[26] The woman’s husband had to be guarded by Chief Black and a Sergeant while he testified, as he was overcome with rage several times. In his defense, Clinton introduced “letters…said to have passed between MILLER and [the student]… He had several witnesses who said the door of his room was never locked.”[27]
On Saturday, February 17, The Evening News in Wilmington, Delaware, reported on page 2 that Clinton had hired counsel and had the case reopened and a new hearing held.
As he sat in jail waiting for the judge’s decision in the case, Clinton was not deterred. On Monday, February 19, The Evening Journal (Wilmington, Del.) reported that Clinton said he “is going ahead with plans to start an aviation school…[and] had several callers at his cell…with whom he discussed his aviation plans.”[28]
On February 23, less than two weeks after he was first charged with the crime, the judge dismissed all charges, deciding there was “not sufficient evidence against him to warrant the court for holding him for the grand jury.”
Two weeks later, on March 4, Clinton was back at Horse Show Park with his students, again in the news. This time, Chief Black, the same officer who had guarded his victim’s husband from attacking him in court, was at the park to speak with Clinton about his flying machine. Clinton had been attempting to continue educating his scholars, and was in the process of beginning what he said would be a demonstration of flight – from Horse Show Park to his home and back again – when the police arrived and informed him that “demonstrations could not be given to the public nor to his students…as the people living in that vicinity objected to his trial flights on Sunday.”[29] Clinton objected – he “questioned the rights of the police to interfere” – but he finally agreed not to fly.[30] This incident was reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer as part of a string of crackdowns against clubs selling liquor in Wilmington.
Not long after, in early May of 1912, Clinton MILLER was again in trouble with the law. Four of his pupils had organized together and brought a civil suit against Clinton to recover their tuition money. They claimed breach of contract, that he had not taught them anything and they had never left the ground, although two of the men who brought the claim were named in a news article on March 20, 1912, as having successfully flown with Clinton.[31] The judge found in favor of the students in the full amount of $425, and Clinton’s flying machine was attached as a guarantee of payment.[32] The aero-plane was seized on May 11, 1912.[33]
Clinton was arrested and held on five charges of obtaining money under false pretenses; he was held on $400 bail ($100 for each complainant) and his father, Manly, “a wealthy farmer of Brandywine Hundred…gave security for him and the young bird man was released.”[34]
At his arraignment, during which attorneys on both sides regularly became heated and resorted to personal insults, the student testimonies were that they “[had] not seen Miller’s flying machine off the ground yet” and “had never received a lesson from Miller … [and he] would not take a chance 50 feet in the air with Miller’s machine.” One witness is reported to have said Miller’s machine did some “grass cutting.” The students testified that they wanted to learn to fly and were willing to waive any tuition reimbursement or criminal charges should Clinton MILLER just teach them to fly. Each man remarked that he felt he “knows no more now than when he started.”[35]
In his defense, Clinton MILLER claimed to have purchased the Wilmington Aero Club, the flying machine, hangar, and all the tools, for $560. He asserted that he had arranged with the Delaware State Militia to store the machine and supplies across the river in New Castle at the state rifle range and to use the base as an aviation facility. He said he had been assured a “rapid promotion if he enlisted in the militia.”[36] This was all to explain that he had limited time for his pupils, but he ensured the court that he had taught them. There is no record of him having enlisted in the Delaware Militia, and the Delaplane, and the hangar in which it was stored in New Castle, had been destroyed in a lightning strike in the winter of 1910-11.
Clinton also testified that, while “he never went higher than eighteen feet with his machine here, and he considered a greater distance dangerous for beginners, he himself has been up 6,000 feet, and that his recording machine gave out and he went 800 feet higher.”[37] He had a young woman testify that she worked for Clinton and had seen the students fly. Manly MILLER also testified in court; he said “he never saw any of the pupils get off the ground, but he had seen them try.”[38] Two indictments were returned against Clinton on the charges of false pretenses.
At the end of the month – on May 28, 1912 – Clinton MILLER was again up to his tricks, now demonstrating a flying machine at a local Sportsmen’s Show. He would continue his attempts at being an airman for the rest of the decade.
[To Be Continued]
[1] U.S. Federal Census Year: 1900; Place: Bradford, McKean, Pennsylvania; Page: 8; Enumeration District: 0102
[2] U.S. Federal Census Year: 1900; Place: Bradford, McKean, Pennsylvania; Roll: T623_1439; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 102.
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford,_Pennsylvania
[4] New York State Department of Health; Albany, NY, USA; New York State Marriage Index; U.S. Federal Census Year: 1900; Place: Jamestown Ward 6, Chautauqua, New York; Roll: 1015; Page: 13; Enumeration District: 0113
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua,_New_York
[6] Delaware Public Archives; Delaware Land Records; Roll Number: 195
[7] Hoffecker, Carol. E.; Wilmington, Delaware, Portrait of an Industrial City 1830-1910; Eleutherian Mills-Ragley Foundation by the University Press of Virginia; 1974
[8] https://delawaretoday.com/life-style/the-du-ponts-houses-and-gardens-in-the-brandywine/
[9] U.S. Federal Census Year 1900; Place: Delaware; County: New Castle; Township: Brandywine; District: 0050; Page: 9; Dwelling/Family: 166/166
[10] Wilmington, Delaware · Thursday, September 03, 1903, page 1
[11] Delaware Public Archives; Delaware Land Records; Roll Number: 220
[12] The Morning News Wilmington, Delaware, Wed, Aug 5, 1903, Page 3
[13] Delaware Public Archives; Dover, Delaware; Delaware Vital Records, 1800-1933; Series Number: Death Records – 95
[14] Year: 1900; Census Place: Marksville, Page, Virginia; Roll: 1721; Page: 17; Enumeration District: 0043
[15] Virginia, Birth Records, 1912-2014, Delayed Birth Records, 1854-1911
[16] Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Collection Name: Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records; Reel: 914
[17] The Evening Journal, Wilmington, Del., Saturday, July 17, 1909, Page 2
[18] Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., May 09, 1906, Page 2, Image 2
[19] Delaware Public Archives; Delaware Land Records; Roll Number: 252; 259
[20] https://archives.delaware.gov/delaware-historical-markers/first-flight-delaplane/
[21] Evening Journal (Wilmington, Del.) 1911-11-28, [p 10]
[22] Newspapers.com – The Morning News – 2 May 1912 – Page 1
[23] Newspapers.com – The News Journal – Wilmington DE – 15 Feb 1912 – Page 5
[24] Newspapers.com – The Morning News – 1912-02-16 – Clinton Miller, son of Manley 2/16/1912
[25] Newspapers.com – The News Journal – 12 Feb 1912 – Page 5
[26] Newspapers.com – The News Journal – 15 Feb 1912 – Page 5
[27] Newspapers.com – The Morning News – 16 Feb 1912 – Page 5
[28] Newspapers.com – The Evening Journal – 19 Feb 1912, Mon – Page 3
[29] Newspapers.com – The Evening Journal – 4 Mar 1912 – Page 2
[30] Ibid
[31] Evening journal. [volume], March 20, 1912, Page 9, Image 9
[32] Newspapers.com – The Morning News – 2 May 1912 – Page 1
[33] Middletown transcript. [volume], May 11, 1912, Image 1
[34] Ibid
[35] Ibid
[36] Ibid
[37] Ibid
[38] Ibid
Gathering Roots 