Shirley Temple would be proud.
Jan 312012
pmiller
Apr 032011
Capt. John Donelson, Sr. 1696-1736
Born: 1696 in London, England.
Died: 1736 in Delaware.
Spouse: Catherine Davies.
Two children
John immigrated to Delaware in 1716. Catherine’s brother was one of the early presidents of Princeton University. The children are Mary and John, Jr.
Col. John Donelson, Jr. 1725-1785
Parents: Capt. John Donelson, Sr. and Catherine Davies.
Born: Apr 7, 1725 in Somerset County, MD.
Died: 1785 in TN.
Spouse: Rachel Stockley born: 1715 in Accomack, VA; died: 1801 in Davidson County, TN.
Eleven children
Donelson was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses and served in the Revolutionary War. Family lore (via Emily Van Dorn, from her mother) has Col. Donelson on George Washington’s staff during the war. The Donelsons moved to the Tennessee frontier in 1779. There is a statue of Donelson in Nashville’s Riverfront Park.
The children are: Alexander, Mary, Catherine, Stockley, Jane, Capt. John Donelson III, (who also served in the Revolutionary War), William, Samuel (whose son was Confederate General Daniel S. Donelson), Severn, Rachel (who married Andrew Jackson), and Leven.
Daughter Rachel died before Andrew Jackson moved into the White House, so Emily Donelson (daughter of Capt. John Donelson III) was made his private secretary and served as First Lady during the Jackson years in the White House. She married her first cousin, Andrew Jackson Donelson, who was raised by Andrew Jackson and Rachel. Andrew Jackson Donelson also served as President Jackson’s private secretary except for one year when he and Emily were exiled to Tennesee for shunning the wife of a presedential friend. Emily’s middle name was “Tennessee”.
Severn Donelson and his wife Elizabeth had twin boys; they kept one (Thomas Jefferson Donelson), and the other (Andrew Jackson, Jr.) was adopted by Andrew Jackson.
Mary Donelson 1756-1823
Parents: Col. John Donelson, Jr. and Rachel Stockley.
Born: 1756 in Pitsylvania, VA.
Died: 1823 in Claiborne County, MS.
Spouse: John Caffery born: Aug 17, 1756 in Bedford, VA; died: 1811 in Claiborne County, MS.
Eleven children
The children are: Donelson, John, Rachel, Mary, Sophia, Jane, Nancy, Sarah, Catherine, Elizabeth, and Jefferson. Rachel married Col. George Walker. After she died, Walker married Rachel’s sister Catherine. Sarah married George Walker’s brother, Col. John Walker, and their son was Confederate Maj. Gen. John George Walker. Mary Donelson appointed her son Jefferson and her son-in-law Peter Van Dorn as executors of her estate.
Sophia Donelson Caffery 1792-1831
Parents: John Caffery and Mary Donelson.
Born: Mar 22, 1792.
Died: 1831 in Port Gibson, MS.
Spouse: Peter Aaron Van Dorn born: Sep 12, 1773 in NJ; died: Feb 12, 1837 in MS.
Nine children
Sophia’s husband, Peter Van Dorn, was a Princeton graduate and a lawyer in Port Gibson. The children are: Mary Ann, Jane, Octavia, Sophia Mabella, Earl, Sarah Ross, Aaron, Emily Donelson, and Jacob. Earlbecame a Major General in the Confederate Army.
Emily Donelson Van Dorn 1827-abt.1916
Parents: Peter Aaron Van Dorn and Sophia Donelson Caffery.
Born: Feb 6, 1827 in Port Gibson, MS.
Died: abt. 1916 in New Orleans, LA.
Spouse: William Trigg Miller born: 1814 in Frankfort, KY; died: aft.1863.
Two children
With her marriage to Trigg, Emily enters the Miller Line.
Apr 032011
Carol, Kay, Edith, Eula, and Margaret in November of 1960.
Apr 032011
John Miller
Born: unknown.
Died: unknown.
Spouse: Unknown.
One known child
Maj. Anderson Miller abt.1772-1850
Parents: John Miller and unknown.
Born: abt. 1772 in Culpepper County, VA.
Died: Nov 17, 1850 in Alexandria, LA.
Spouse: Elizabeth Bell born: Mar 17, 1786 in Frederick County, VA; died: Apr 8, 1856 in Louisville, KY.
Seven children
William Trigg Miller 1814-aft.1863
Parents: Maj. Anderson Miller and Elizabeth Bell.
Born: 1814 in Frankfort, KY.
Died: aft. 1863.
Spouse: Emily Donelson Van Dorn born: Feb 6, 1827 in Port Gibson, MS; died: abt. 1916 in New Orleans, LA.
Two children
See William Trigg Miller for details. See Donelson Lineage for Emily’s family. This is where Van Dorn is injected into the Miller line. Emily’s brother, Earl Van Dorn, was a Civil War general. Her father, Peter Van Dorn, was a Princeton graduate and a lawyer in Port Gibson.
Thomas Marshall Miller 1847-1920
Parents: William Trigg Miller and Emily Donelson Van Dorn.
Born: Jan 19, 1847 in Port Gibson, MS.
Died: Aug 31, 1920 in New Orleans, LA.
Spouse: Anna Letitia Dabney born: Jan 8, 1852 in Raymond, MS; died: 1946 in New Orleans, LA.
Seven children
This is where the Dabneys are injected into the Miller line. See Thomas Marshall Miller, 1847-1920 for more details.
See also Letitia’s Memoirs.
Earl Van Dorn Miller 1882-1945
Parents: Thomas Marshall Miller and Anna Letitia Dabney.
Born: Jan 23, 1882 in Vicksburg, MS.
Died: Aug 18, 1945 in Dallas, TX.
Spouse: Ida Carrie Crockett.
One child
See the full-size picture.
Thomas Marshall Miller 1910-1996
Parents: Earl Van Dorn Miller and Ida Carrie Crockett.
Born: Oct 19, 1910 in Mineral Wells, TX.
Died: Dec 25, 1996 in Atlanta, GA.
Spouse: Edith Mae Shumway born: July 31, 1913 in Dallas, TX; died: Oct 28, 2002 in Atlanta, GA.
Five children
Apr 032011
Pieter van Doorn abt.1609-abt.1658
Born: abt. 1609 in Gravezande, Holland.
Died: abt. 1658 in Brooklyn, NY.
Spouse: Catherine Stelting.
Two children
From the book: "The fact that Pieter’s name was spelled upon the records at the time of the baptism of his daughter Jannetje, ‘Van Doren’ merely goes to show that the spelling of the name of van Doorn was already subject to the whimsicalities of the times."
Pieter married Catherine while still living in Holland. He immigrated to Flushing, Long Island around 1639 and married Jannetje Rancken in 1657.
Jacob van Doorn abt.1655-abt.1720
Parents: Pieter van Doorn and Catherine Stelting.
Born: abt. 1655.
Died: abt. 1720 in Monmouth County, NJ.
Spouse: Maria Bennet.
Ten children
Jacob purchased land in the "wilderness country" of Monmouth County, NJ, near Holmdel in 1697, where he farmed and owned a grist mill. The Indians in that area were said to be peaceful and helpful. Jacob was appointed an Ensign in the militia for the eastern part of Freehold by "Edward, Viscount of Cornbury, Capt. Generall and Governor in Chief of the Province of New Jersey, New York and Territories depending thereon in America and the Admirall of the same." (Freehold is the county seat for Monmouth County.) Jacob and Maria are the source of most of the Van Dorns and Van Dorens in the U.S
Jacob van Dorn 1703-1779
Parents: Jacob van Doorn and Maria Bennet.
Born: Jan 21, 1703 in Monmouth County, NJ.
Died: Feb 26, 1779 in Monmouth County, NJ.
Spouse: Rachel Longstreet.
The spelling of the last name seems to have changed at this point in the line. Jacob was a farmer in New Jersey.
Aaron van Dorn 1744-1830
Parents: Jacob van Dorn and Rachel Longstreet.
Born: Sept 14, 1744 in Monmouth County, NJ.
Died: July 14, 1830.
Spouse: Ghacy Schenck born: Sept 14, 1748; died: Feb 3, 1820.
Eleven children
Aaron was a farmer and a miller. He settled in Peapack, NJ in about 1766. In 1795, he bought 1000 acres on the site of present-day Cincinnati, OH. In 1808, he built a flour mill in Peapack, which has been known as "Van Dorn’s Mill." He became a deacon and elder of the Reformed Dutch Church at Bedminster and is buried in the churchyard.
Peter Aaron Van Dorn 1773-1837
Parents: Aaron van Dorn and Ghacy Schenck.
Born: Sep 12, 1773 in Peapack, NJ.
Died: Feb 12, 1837 in Port Gibson, MS.
Spouse: Sophia Donelson Caffery born: Mar 22, 1792 in TN; died: 1831 in Port Gibson, MS.
Nine children
See Judge Peter Van Dorn for more details.
Peter graduated from Princeton in 1795. At the age of 21, he moved to the Territory of Mississippi, first at Natchez, becoming a lawyer and Judge of the Probate Court, then to Port Gibson in 1802. He was also clerk of the Circuit Court. Peter was elected to the state House of Representatives and in 1817 (the year of statehood) he became Clerk of the House. Four years later the Legislature selected him to work with William Lattimore and General Thomas Hinds to design the new capital city of Jackson, named after Andrew Jackson.
Peter’s wife Sophia was a niece of Andrew Jackson’s wife Rachel Donelson; Gen. Jackson would stay at Peter’s Port Gibson home on trips along the Natchez Trace between Nashville and New Orleans. Peter and his daughter Octavia visited President Jackson in Washington in 1830.
Earl Van Dorn 1820-1863
Parents: Peter Aaron Van Dorn and Sophia Donelson Caffery.
Born: Sept 17, 1820 in Port Gibson, MS.
Died: May 7, 1863 in Springhill, TN.
Spouse: Caroline Godbold born: unknown; died: Jan 19, 1877.
See Confederate Maj. General Earl Van Dorn,
Caroline Godbold, when a North Carolina girl, went to Alabama, and met Earl, who was a lieutenant, stationed at the Mt. Vernon Arsenal. He was 20 years of age and she 16 when they married.
Apr 022011
Note that she was born in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1866, and her husband died in 1889, leaving her with four kids at age 23. For the record, the daughter referenced as "Mrs. Homer Parks" is an error and should read "Mrs. Arthur Parks". Also, the spelling of her name in the caption should be "Margaret Mae".
Apr 022011
TMM became friends with golfer Arnold Palmer during a period when Arnie was in dicussions with Delta for promotional work. TMM had dinner with Arnie and Winnie at their home in Pennsylvania. TMM once said that Palmer is only the second nicest person in the world, Winnie being number one.
