MILLS-Miscellaneous Data

MILLS MISCELLANEOUS DATA

Courtesy of:
Adina Watkins Dyer
18 Oct 2000

These names are carved into the history of Cincinnati (previously known as Losantville), Ohio and the Miami Valley when these pioneers arrived sometime within 1788. The leader, Benjamin Stites, originally from Westfield Township, Union County, New Jersey and then Redstone (now Brownsville), Pennsylvania, had convinced John Cleves Symmes (a member of the Continental Congress) of New Jersey to invest in the the rich fertile land found in the Ohio Valley. Their settlement was known as Columbia.

Benjamin Stites married to #1 Rachel [--?--] and leaving her and some of their children, apparently proceeded with the above group of men to settle in the Miami Valley of Ohio. He then bigamously married his #2 wife, Mary "Polly" Mills, dau/o William & Amy [--?--] Mills of Westfield Twp., Union Co. [previously Essex Co.], NJ. The relationships, if any, of Mary "Polly" (Mills) Stites and her family to the MILLS engraved upon the monument above is unknown at this time. Upon learning that Benjamin had not secured a legal divorce, Mary "Polly" left him and returned to New Jersey with her two illegitimate children (Mary and John), who are named in the will of their maternal grandmother, Amy [--?--] Mills of Westfield, NJ. Mary "Polly" (Mills) Stites later married a Mr. Woodruff.

Mrs. [--?--] [--?--] MILLS
The identification of Mrs. Mills is unknown. She was probably the wife of one of the MILLS men who were descended from William Mills & Elizabeth Clark, our immigrant ancestors from NJ to Shelby Co., Ohio. If anyone can identify her, we'd be grateful to learn the information.

James R. Mills (James D., Marcus, Dennis C., William Mills) believes that perhaps Mrs. Mills could have been Grace Mills, widow of J. Finley Mills (Nicholas W., Dennis C., William Mills). 8 Dec 2006, E-mail to ASH:
"...the only unidentified Mrs. Mills at that time, that I am aware of, quite possibly was the wife of D. [Dennis] Finley/Findley Mills." This would have been Grace (Fitzgerald) Mills (abt, 1883-1959). "She and Finley/Findley had no children, but they were very active in raising a young woman by the name of Eileen Bolby, Boelby or Boelbie who was about my age and could have attended Sidney High School in the early 1940's.
Finley/Findley and Grace lived on the south side of Sidney, and I visited them once at about the time I left for the Army in January of 1945.
Finley/Findley was elected Common Pleas Judge, and the thought occurs that there may have been a photo of him and/or his wife, Grace, published in the Sidney Daily News at some time during his tenure on the Sidney social scene as it existed at that time. I don't know the dates of death for either of them, but the appearance and age of the unknown Mrs. Mills would seem to fit the time frame, and Jackson Center is not far from Sidney."

Courtesy of: Marilyn Willer
Mrs. [--?--] Mills (left) and Mary Alice (Young) Lorton (right) (d 1950 Shelby Co., OH) (gm/o Marilyn Willer)
Sept. 1949
Mary Lorton's 89th birthday
Taken near Jackson Center, OH.

E-mail: Audrey (Shields) Hancock

Webpage Created: 23 October 2006
Webpage Revised: 08 May 2008

Tiny URL: