52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is a series of weekly prompts to get you to think about an ancestor and share something about them. The weekly prompt is provided by www.amyjohnsoncrow.com. The prompt for the week of June 1 is "A Place that Matters." This post is also the 6th in my "The Ohioans!" series.
In the early 19th century, erecting a brick residence in the Harrisonburg, Virginia area was a powerful statement of permanence. While many neighbors likely lived in timber-frame or log structures, the Old Miller Homestead signaled a family that had truly "arrived."
This grand homestead is documented in Barnard-Miller and Allied Families a genealogy compiled by Kenneth Duane Miller and published posthumously around 1952–1954. Miller organized his volume into two distinct sections: "Our Barnard Folk" and the descendants of Michael Miller, whom he titled "The Miller Folk." It is within this latter section that Miller explicitly notes the homestead was "by far the finest in that section" (Miller, p. 162). According to the author's research, Michael Miller—the son of Samuel Miller—either built or built a part of this impressive house.
- Architectural Sophistication: Brick construction required significant capital, skilled masonry, and a settled lifestyle. It suggests an estate that was intended to last for generations.
- Social Standing: This was a true "Place that Mattered," a landmark in the local geography that commanded respect and anchored the family to the Virginia social elite.
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| Image from the 1912 book Genealogy and History of the Descendants of Samuel Miller by J.C. Miller. |
- Family Cemetery: Miller indicates that Samuel Miller is buried at the homestead in a stone-fenced enclosure in the field. This burial ground also contained the graves of his wife Magdalena, his son Michael and his wife, along with several others.
A reverse image search of that old book photo leads directly to a website for a local Inn and Cottages called By the Side of the Road. While their history page details the building's past, it makes no reference to the Miller family. However, because of their website, we know the house still stands today at 491 Garbers Church Road, Harrisonburg, VA 22801. There is no mention of the family cemetery online, but the next time I am in Harrisonburg for work, I plan to arrange a stop to visit the property and investigate.
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The transition to Ohio completely strips away this architectural grandeur. The family cemetery tucked into an Ohio cornfield serves as a stark, poignant counterpoint to the brick manor in Virginia.
- From Manor to Meadow: In Ohio, the land was functional and raw. The imposing nature of the Virginia home was replaced by the utilitarian demands of the frontier, where even the final resting place of the family was integrated into the working cycles of the farm.
- The Weight of the Move: This contrast highlights the gravity of their departure. They were not merely leaving a plot of land; they were dismantling a legacy of established wealth. To trade a sophisticated brick estate for the uncertainties of a western cornfield suggests a powerful motivation—whether driven by religious conviction, the search for unencumbered land, or the desire to build a brand new "Place that Mattered" from the ground up.
The story of the Millers is defined by this tension between the Permanent Past (the brick house) and the Pioneer Future (the cornfield). It reminds us that for some ancestors, the hardest part of the journey wasn't what they were heading toward, but what they were willing to leave behind.
In our next post, we step into a "Day in the Life" of Henry Miller in 1826 as he clears the timber for his hewed-log house. Drawing on the rich historical context of David McCullough’s The Pioneers, we will recreate the raw sights and sounds of the early Ohio frontier: The Sights and Sounds: The rhythmic, metallic ring of axes echoing through the valley, and the sharp tang of burning brush thick in the air. The "Deadening": The eerie, beautiful silence of giant trees standing stripped of their bark, waiting for the final fire that would clear the way for the next generation of Millers..
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