"Mommie" to us, she raised her granddaughter EMM.
Mar 152011
pmiller
Mar 152011
Major General Earl Van Dorn of the Confederate Army, son of Peter and Sophie Van Dorn, and brother of Emily Van Dorn Miller. Picture from “Van Dorn: The Life and Times of a Confederate General,” R. G. Hartje (Vanderbilt, 1967).
There is a short biography of Earl available in three formats: three formats: HTML (best for on-line viewing, 29 Kbytes plus pictures), PDF (best for printing, 387 Kbytes), and Microsoft Word (378 Kbytes).
Born 20 September 1820 at Port Gibson, MS. Educated in Baltimore. Appointed to West Point class of 1842 by President Andrew Jackson (“Uncle Andrew”); Earl finished 52nd in a class of 56 men he was to fight with and against in the Civil War; a personal friend of fellow officers Zachary Taylor, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis. Stationed in Alabama, he married Carolina (Carrie) Godbold and had three children.
Earl fought in the Mexican War, then in the Indian Wars. Commanded Confederate armies in AS, MS, and TN. Fatally shot by Dr. George Peters on 7 May 1863 at Spring Hill, TN, near Nashville, re misbehavior with the young Mrs. (Jessie) Peters. Buried in the city cemetery at Port Gibson, marked still today with a simple stone, “Earl Van Dorn”. Emily Miller later assembled material for “A Soldier’s Honor: With Reminiscences of Major-General Earl Van Dorn” by His Comrades (Abbey, New York, 1902); single copy advertised 9/2000 for $550.
Mar 142011
The picture is from the early 1900s. EMM says she remembers the house from her visit at about age three; she recalls that the facilities were outdoors.
Mar 142011
Below: Judge Peter Aaron Van Dorn (father’s great-great-grandfather), from a painting owned by father’s uncle John Miller, as late as the 1970s. There is a more detailed biography in three formats: HTML (best for on-line viewing, 42 Kbytes plus pictures), PDF (best for printing, 770 Kbytes), and Microsoft Word (556 Kbytes) . Peter has an entry in the Van Dorn Line.
Born 12 September 1773 in New Jersey to NY-Dutch parents Aure Van Doren and Ghacy Schenck (go Ancestry.com for Peter’s lineage back through the 1600s). Graduated Princeton (Divinity), 1795, then moved to Natchez, MS, married Sophie Donelson Caffery of a prominent TN/NC family (her aunt was Mrs. Andrew Jackson); then moved to Port Gibson, MS, where he was a merchant and self-made lawyer.
Life appointment as Judge of the Orphan’s Court for the Southern District of MS; later elected to the state House of Representatives, and became Clerk of same in 1817. Died 12 February 1837, at Port Gibson. Nine children, including Emily Van Dorn, who married William Trigg Miller; they begat Thomas Marshall Miller #1 in 1847. He married Letitia Dabney in 1871; they begat Earl Van Dorn Miller. He married Ida Crockett, and they begat TMM#2 on 19 October 1910 at Mineral Wells, TX.
In 1801, Peter bought land in Natchez, prior to 1817 statehood, thus making all of us eligible for membership in an organization called “First Families of Mississippi”. He’s a member himself.
Mar 132011
with her mother and stepfather in Sawtelle, California, early 1900s.
The stepfather is Edward Graybill, a Union Civil War veteran from Ohio. He lived in Sawtell to
take advantage of the Soldier’s Home medical and dining facilities. He is apparently wearing the uniform of the Soldier’s Home.
Graybill served with the Ohio 99th Regiment. One of their engagements was the Siege of Atlanta.
Mar 122011
This is EMM’s great-grandmother. Born in 1850, she gave birth to Margaret Mae Brown in 1866. The photographers’ legend at bottom right reads "Brakebill and McCoy, Knoxville Tennessee". We believe that the picture was made about 1900.
Jan 302009
This is a classic. Was Bob mugging for the camera or was this his day-to-day faraway look?
