The Bicentennial of Anne Milliron’s Birth
Cathrine Jane “Kate” Foster Phenice in 1890 in Nebraska.
It’s been nine years since I discovered the connection between Anne Milliron and my mom’s Phenice side of the family. It was a connection that had been searched for over a period of time, and with the help of DNA tests and an old newspaper blurb, I discovered it. It was a very important discovery! Not that I did it, but because we finally had the name of Catherine “Kate” Foster Phenice’s mother!
Maybe you don’t know Kate. This is a photo of her from 1890 when the family was homesteading in McCook County, Nebraska. She was married to Samuel Phenice, and one of their sons was Harry Clifton Phenice. HC would grow up and marry Daisy Keys from England. Their middle daughter was Myrtle Phenice, who I knew as Grandma. She married Fred Bucklin, and their second daughter was my mom Betty Lou Bucklin Landry.
H. C. Phenice is sitting on the left. Going clockwise, his wife Daisy Keys Phenice, sister Myrtle, sister Emma, and brother Edd in Precept, Nebraska, in 1906.
So that would make Kate my great great grandmother, and her mother Anne Milliron Foster Richael was my great great great grandmother. That’s a pretty long ways back, but you expected that from the title of this post. Like it says, she was born 200 years ago.
But let me take you a little further back to 1824 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Back then, there were two girls that were named Catherine. Sorry about having a story with three people with the same name. That’s just the way it was. I’ll try to keep them straight for you. Back in 1824, one of the girls was Catherine Cribbs. She was Kate’s grandmother – probably who she was named after. She was around 19 years old. The other girl was Catherine Milliron, and she was around 24 years old.
Both the Cribbs family and the Milliron family were rather large, as was common at the time. As it turned out, Catherine Milliron was sweet one Catherine Cribbs’s brother Peter, and Catherine Cribbs was sweet on Catherine Milliron’s brother Daniel. Aren’t you glad the brothers don’t have the same name? I am. On February 5, 1824, Daniel Milliron married Catherine Cribbs. Then, on December 30, 1824, Peter Cribbs married Catherine Milliron.
In 1825, Daniel and Catherine Cribbs Milliron welcomed a son called Alexander on February 26. Peter and Catherine Milliron Cribbs were not far behind. They had a daughter named Elizabeth on August 1, 1825. All of this happened in Westmoreland County. At this point, the families decided to move to Mercer County. The Cribbs siblings were children of Christopher Cribbs, who still alive at that point. Christopher Cribbs, though, had lost his father at the age of 11. His father was John Cribbs (Krebs) who had fought in the Revolutionary War and later died at the Battle of the Wabash.
The Battle of the Wabash, or St. Clair’s Defeat, occurred on November 4, 1791, in what is now Fort Recovery, Ohio. It was a battle between the U. S. Army and The Northwest Confederacy of Native Americans. It was part of the Northwest Indian War. The battle was the most decisive defeat of American military, and our ancestor died in that battle. I’m sure he was scalped as well. Not a very happy thought for young Christophe Cribbs and the rest of their family. As a reward for his sacrifice, the family was given a 200-acre plot of land in Mercer County.
It was on this “Donation Land” in Mercer County that the families moved to in 1825. They moved on horseback. Peter and Catherine Milliron Cribbs moved to a log cabin that hunters had built on the property previously. Daniel Milliron was a carpenter and cabinet maker by trade. He built a house and a workshop on a corner of the 200-acre property.
And now we get to 1826. Peter and Catherine Cribbs Milliron gave birth to a daughter named Mary Anne Milliron on September 9, 1826. The bicentennial of her birth was just two weeks ago. Happy birthday Mary Anne! Then, 20 days later, on September 29, Anne Magdaleen Milliron was born in Findley Township, Mercer County, Pennsylvania.
So don’t forget to think about Anne on the 29th. Especially those of you who descend from her, like all my Phenice cousins and my first cousins on my mom’s side. You wouldn’t even be here on that day if it hadn’t been for her. The least you can do is wish her a happy birthday and think of her for a while as you drink your morning beverage.
To Anne!