Milliron Reunion in 1885
Daniel C. Milliron and Catherine Cribbs were my 4x great grandparents. They were married on Feb. 5, 1824, in Hemphill Township, Westmoreland County in Pennsylvania. They were both born in Westmoreland County, yet after they were married they settled in Mercer County which is 100 miles away.
They had nine children together. In 1825 they had Alexander, in 1826 they had Anne Magdaleen (my 3x great grandmother), in 1829 they had John, in 1831 they had Elias, in 1834 they had Cyrus (died as infant), in 1836 they had David, in 1838 they had Luis (died as infant), in 1840 they had Catherine (died as infant), and in 1842 they had Susannah (died at age 9). As you can see, only 4 sons and 1 daughter grew to adulthood.
Once they grew up and got married, they and their children started spreading across the country. Those were the times they were living in. When Anne Magdaleen married Morris Foster on August 30, 1843, the US consisted of only 26 states. By the time of her death in 1873, 11 more were added. The Milliron families were setting up homes in some of these new states.
Transcription of May 21, 1885, letter from Milliron brothers to their brother John. The letter was found in an old family Bible.
This led to lots of distance between those siblings. I discovered this when I found a transcription of a letter from May 21, 1885. Three of the brothers were having a reunion at the home of the oldest brother Alexander in Wabaunsee County, Kansas. When they were growing up, he was called Sander. As he got older, he was known as Mac. After a few days together at the reunion, they adjusted to calling him his new name.
From what I can tell, Sander (or Mac as we now call him) had last seen Eli in 1857. Can you imagine not seeing your sibling for 28 years? The last time Eli had seen Dave was in 1865. Their time apart was only 20 years. Sander had last seen Dave in 1870. They don’t mention how long it had been since the brothers had seen John. The letter was written to him and it sounds like he may have stayed in Pennsylvania.
One of the things not mentioned was the death of Anne Magdaleen in 1873. They do talk about being the only four left of their immediate family. So it’s evident that they did not go to Anne’s funeral. She lived in Pennsylvania, so the only one that would have possibly made it would have been John. We don’t hear from him, though. They do express sorrow that he is not with them and invite him to visit each of them. I wonder if Cathrine Foster Phenice (daughter of Anne Magdeleen) was invited to this reunion. She only lived a day or so away, yet she and husband Samuel had six young children to care for.
The three brothers spent a few days reminiscing about old times. They mention some of their adventures as young men and say that they have tempered themselves as older men. It’s a little bittersweet. They mention reading over all the old letters they could find. Boy, I wish I had some of those! At least I have this one. It gives me a bit of a glimpse into the lives of my great great great grandmother’s family.
Harry C. Phenice is my maternal grandmother’s father.