Other Events and Attributes:

• _UID: 9B5F221E0B834539A6837501A8B797E1BCD7
• Will: 14 Sep 1768, Morristown, Morris, New Jersey, USA
• Probate: 20 Sep 1768, Morristown, Morris, New Jersey, USA; Inventory of Estate

Notes:

At this time I have not determined the parents of William. Some sources list William's father as a William born in 1594 in England. This is very unlikely as it would make William's father 94 years old when his son was born and his mother 90!

There is strong evidence that William was of German origins.

There is some evidence that William may have come to North America by way of Ireland as part of the Palentine immigration of 1709.

Palentine immigrants to New York in 1710 included Wilhelm Mueller, wife Margaretha, and one child.

Will:
His will was proved on 21 September 1768, and filed 28 August 1769

In the Name of God amen the fourteenth day of September one thousand seven hundred and sixty eight I William Miller of Morris town yeoman Being sick and weak of body but of perfect mind and memory thanks be given to god therefore calling to mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, Do make and ordain this my last will and testament that is to say principally and first of all I give and recomend my soul into the hands of god that gave it and my body I recomend to the earth to be burried in decent and Christian burial at the discretion of my executors-
Nothing doubting but at the general resurection I shall receive the same again by the mighty power of god and as touching such worldly estate wherewith it hath pleased god to bless me in this life I give devise and dispose of in the following manner and form and first that my lawful debts be payed-

______ I give and bequeth to my dearly beloved wife Magra seventeen acres of land lying and being in Somerset County adjoining land of Abraham Suthards and lands of Elisha Ayers and so down the brook alongst the plantation I now live on as long as her natural life and next I give and bequeth to my son William the plantation he now lives on to him and his heirs forever it lying and being in a place commonly known by the name of the Clove in York government it containing one hundred and fifty three acres and next I give and bequeth to my son Henry Miller the plantation he now lives on containing one hundred and fifty acres to him and his heirs forever it also lying and being in that place called the Clove in York government and next I give and bequeth to my son John Miller that plantation he now liveth on containing one hundred and fifty acres it also lying and being in a place called the Clove in York government to him and his heirs forever and next I give and bequeth to my son Garret Miller that plantation he now lives on containing one hundred and fifty acres it also lying and being in the Clove in York government to him and his heirs forever and next I give and bequeth to my daughter Sarah fifty acres of land lying and being also in the Clove in York government to her and her heirs for ever all of the above lands purchased of William Earle of Stirling as by a deed will appear refference thereunto being had and next I give and bequeth to my daughter Lisha Ferver the sume of one hundred pounds current and lawful money of New Jersey at eight shills the ounce to be levied out of my estate to be paid one year after my decese by my executor and next I give and bequeth to my daughters Elizabeth and Kattrien the plantation I now live on to be equally divided between them together with the seventy acres that is adjoining this place to them and their heirs for ever It is also my will that my loving wife live on this place as long as she lives and take care of the place and not to wast or destroy the place I also give to my loving wife all the movables on the plantation whom I likewise constitute make and ordain my sole executriux of this my last will and testament one I hearby utterly disallow revoke and disanull all and every other former testaments wills legacys and bequeths and... [unable to decipher last line]

Signed sealed published pronounced his
And declared by the said William William X Miller
Miller as his last will and testament mark
In the presence of us the subscribers

Amariah Sutton
Blackert Whitneck
Paultus Miller

William mentioned in his will that the land in "the Clove" in New York that he was giving each of his four sons (153 acres for William, 150 acres each for Garrett, John, and Henry; and 50 acres for daughter Sarah) was purchased from William the Earl of Stirling. I found a (very poor) Xerox copy of the original 1765 land purchase agreement between William Miller and Lord Stirling in the vertical file at the Orange County Genealogical Society Research Room in Goshen, New York. William purchased lots 6, 33, 54, 46 and one-third of lot 75 of the "Cheesecocks Patent."

William paid 975 pounds in New Jersey proclamation money for the land. That is roughly the equivalent to $203,000 in today's money. So William seems to have been a prosperous farmer.

His four sons then moved to farm the land William Purchased in Orange County about 1765. William remained in New Jersey. The area the Miller brothers settled in was known popularly as "Smith's Clove" or often "The Clove" (Clove is an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning valley). In the late 1700s it became part of New Cornwall, The area was renamed "Monroe" in the early 1800s in honor of President Monroe and to avoid confusion with the town of Cornwall a few miles away. Henry died in 1769, and Garrett died in 1777, however John and William seem to have continued to live in New Cornwall for some time. Both William and John are mentioned as among the founding members of the first Presbyterian Church of Cheesecocks/New Cornwall/ Monroe.

Probate:
The inventory of William Miller's personal estate on 20 September 1768, three days after his death, offers a fascinating glimpse into the life of a prosperous New Jersey farmer in the period just before the American Revolution.

We know from other documents that William owned 200 acres of land in Morris County, New Jersey as well as 17 acres in adjacent Somerset County.

Like many in eighteenth century America William had relatively little cash, only 36 pounds of cash on hand at the time of his death. Three years before his death William had paid 975 pounds for 650 acres of land in the Cheesecocks Patent in what is today Orange County, New York. The source of that cash is unknown.

The most valuable item (valued at 80 pounds) in William's estate was "1 negro man named Tom." Many farmers in New Jersey owned one or more slaves in this period. Restrictions were placed on ownership and importation of slaves beginning in the early 1800s, but slavery was not abolished in New Jersey until 1846.

William's estate contained the usual livestock you would expect to find on a colonial farm:

9 swine
2 horses
1 yoke of oxen
1 bull
4 yearlings
3 calves
36 sheep
8 hives with bees

There are several items that I was unable to decipher. I believe that one of the undecipherable items probably lists one or more milk cows. His estate did contain 4 pails, a churn and 14 cheeses.

Commodities on hand, in storage, or in the field included:

200 feet of gum boards
Indian corn in the field
4 bushels of buckwheat plus buckwheat in the field
Oats in the barn
Flax in the barn
12 bushels of wheat plus approximately 100 bushels of wheat "in the barrack and stack"
10 bushels of rye plus some rye "in the stack"
20 loads of hay

Cloth, cloth making equipment, and supplies included:

15 __?__ of woolen yarn
Great wheel (for spinning yarn)
Loom
Hatchel (tool used in making of linen out of flax)
35 yards of linen

Farm implements and tools:

Plows
Harrows
Chisels
Augers
Horse cart
Sleigh
Saw
Axes
Rifle
Side saddle

Household items:

Whitening pot 1 pair hand irons
2 sad irons tongs
Wash tub shovel
Lye tub chest of drawers
Wearing apparel tea cups
3 cupboards 2 chests
Brass kettle 3 coverlids
Iron kettle 7 blankets
2 pots 3 earthen pots
Small kettle 2 tables
Tea kettle 9 chairs
3 basins 3 beds
3 platters knives
12 plates forks
2 pewter pots spoons
3 hammocks
6 barrels

William married Magra about 1712. Magra was born about 1695; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Henry MILLER died before 2 Jun 1769 in New York, USA.
2. William MILLER and died.
3. John MILLER and died.
4. Elizabeth MILLER and died.
5. Sarah MILLER and died.
6. Katrien MILLER and died.
7. Lisa MILLER and died.
8. Garret MILLER was born about 1731 in Connecticut, USA; died on 6 Oct 1777 in New York, USA.