Margaret Miller (1676-1764)

Today we remember Margaret Miller who was born 340 years ago. She was born on 01 Sep 1676 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut, as the sixth child of Thomas Miller and Sarah Nettleton. She had seven siblings, namely: Thomas, Samuel, Joseph, Benjamin, John, Sarah, and Mehitable. Margaret also had an older half-sister because her father had been married before and had a daughter from that marriage named Ann.

Margaret’s father was almost 67-years old when she was born. He was one of the original settlers of Middletown. He was a carpenter, and built and operated the first grist mill in town. He died when Margaret was not quite four years old. Her mother, who was only about 32-years old when Margaret was born and 36 when she was widowed, later remarried to a man named Walter Harris.

When she was 19, Margaret Miller married Isaac Johnson, son of Isaac Johnson and Mary Harris, on 12 Sep 1695 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.

Isaac Johnson and Margaret Miller had the following twelve children:

1. Sarah Johnson was born on 16 Aug 1696 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.  She married Nathaniel Hubbard on 12 Apr 1716 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. She died on 17 Sep 1776.
2. John Johnson was born on 26 Aug 1698 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.  He married Mary Bow on 07 Feb 1721/22 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. He died before 05 Jan 1756.
3. Margaret Johnson was born on 26 Mar 1700 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.  She married Moses Wetmore on 16 Sep 1723 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. She married Joseph Lawrence after 1739. She died on 22 May 1786.
4. Isaac Johnson was born on 19 Apr 1703 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. He married Thankful Cowles on 26 Oct 1726 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. He died on 18 Jul 1786 in Canaan, Litchfield, Connecticut.
5. Thomas Johnson was born on 17 Mar 1706 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.  He married Mary Johnson on 03 May 1735. He died in Spencertown, Columbia, New York.
6. Henry Johnson was born on 24 Feb 1708 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. He married Abigail Hubbard on 30 Jan 1734/35 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. He died in 1746 in Connecticut.
7. Content Johnson was born on 03 Mar 1710 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.  She married Timothy Cowles on 29 Jun 1730. She married Henry Bassell on 26 Aug 1736 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. She died on 11 Dec 1794 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.
8. William Johnson was born on 19 Mar 1712 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. He married Martha Johnson on 19 Nov 1741 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. He died on 10 Apr 1746 (Died on the Louisburg Expedition).
9. Stephen Johnson was born on 08 Feb 1714 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. He married Elizabeth Brainerd on 11 Oct 1739 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. He married Sarah Ellis on 04 Sep 1756. He died on 02 Feb 1796 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.
10. Tabitha Johnson was born on 09 Feb 1716 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. She married Joseph DeWolf on 08 Mar 1737/38 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.
11. Mary Johnson was born on 09 Feb 1716 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. She married Obadiah Brainerd on 18 Sep 1735 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.
12. Hannah Johnson was born on 31 Aug 1718 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut. She died on 09 Jun 1752 in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.

By 1750, Middletown, Connecticut, where Margaret grew up and lived as an adult, was the most populous and one of the wealthiest towns in Connecticut. The original settlers supported themselves via agriculture, but as the population grew and the descendants of the first settlers multiplied, the land kept being divided into smaller and smaller parcels. In the early 1700s, it took about 50 acres of land to provide for a family. This caused many of the younger generation to make their livings other than through agriculture. Middletown became prosperous mainly through maritime trades. The town had shipbuilders, sail makers, rope makers and coopers. There were ship captains and merchants who were engaged in the shipping business.

Isaac Johnson died in 1744 making Margaret a widow. In his will, he wrote:

I, Isaac Johnson of Middletown, being advanced to the age of 70 years, do make and ordain my last will and testament: Imprimis: I give unto Margaret, my wife, 1-3 part of all my household good and stock to be at her own dispose, and the use of so much of my real estate that I have by deed of gift given or shall herein give to my son Stephen, as she shall have occasion for during her natural life.

So, Margaret did not own the property or land, but was allowed to use it for the next twenty years of her life.

Margaret Miller Johnson died on 31 Dec 1764 in Haddam, Middlesex, Connecticut, in her 89th year (in other words, she was 88 years old). Margaret outlived many of her children. She led an amazingly long life, especially for the era in which she lived. She was buried in 1765 in the Old Farm Hill Cemetery at Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut.

Where is she in the tree?

Sources:

“A Brief History of Middletown,” The Society of Middletown First Settlers Descendants, Web, 30 Aug 2016, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ctsmfsd/BriefHistory.html.

A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records: Hartford district, 1729-1750, Charles William Manwaring (1906), Johnson, Isaac; p. 140-1-2; Google Books, Google (https://books.google.com/books?id=0P8LAAAAYAAJ).

Ancestry.com, Connecticut, Deaths and Burials Index, 1650-1934 (Online publication – Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.Original data – “Connecticut Deaths and Burials, 1772–1934.” Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2009, 2010.

Ancestry.com, Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection) (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006), www.ancestry.com, Database online.

Ancestry.com, Connecticut Town Marriage Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection) (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006), www.ancestry.com.

Connecticut Marriages, 1640-1939,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-43914-4635-48?cc=2448940 : 12 May 2016), 007615715 > image 30 of 288; Connecticut State Library, Hartford.

“In-Depth First Settler Profile: Thomas Miller (1650) / Isabel (unknown surname) Miller,” The Society of Middletown First Settlers Descendants, Web, 30 Aug 2016, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ctsmfsd/MillerInDepth.pdf.

Jacobus, Donald Lines, “The Nettletons in America: Early Immigrations to the New World-Founding an Influential family on the Western Continent-Settlements in Connecticut relating especially to Samuel Nettleton of Branford and His Descendants”.  The Connecticut magazine.  Eleventh volume (1907); online archives, Google books (http://books.google.com/books?id=7rLhjptrUQ0C), pp. 491-498.

“Margaret Miller Johnson,” Find A Grave, 11 Sep 2008, Web, 30 Aug 2016, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=29733232.

“Middletown History,” Web, 30 Aug 2016, http://www.middlesexhistory.org/middletown/history.htm.