James Edmond McMillin

According to Find A Grave.com, James Edmund McMillin, the son of Thomas Alexander and Sarah Jane Hunt McMillin, was buried right next to his sister, Iva Geraldine McMillin-Burris at the Rose Hills Memorial Park Cemetery in Whittier, California. They must have been very close growing up. Their sister, Clara May McMillin Brown, born in 1885, passed away in 1905, at the very young age of 20 years old. And James' brother, Thomas Adam, was nearly 10 years older than he was and the four sisters born in 1868, 1870, 1873, and 1878, Vironicy, Cinderellla, Sarah Z., and Eva Henrietta, were also quite a bit older than James and Iva.

But how they both ended up in Southern California is unknown. Although It's possible that James married the widow Margaretta E. Brown Welker sometime after 1940, because according to the 1940 census, she was living in his home with her two children at that time and was listed as a housekeeper for James. However, I could find no marriage record for them. But at least one of Margaretta's children ended up living in the Los Angeles area, so perhaps this is how James and his sister Iva ended up there as well.

Forty years earlier in 1900, the McMillin family was living in Douglas, Adams, Iowa, and were listed as: Thomas A., 54, Sarah J., 48, Thomas A., Jr., 20, Iva J., 18, Clara M., 13, and James E., 9. Thomas was working as a farmer and his son, Thomas, Jr., was working as a farm laborer on the family farm. In this census record, James' father, Thomas, was renting the family farm.

By 1910, James, 20, was their only child living at home with them in Washington, Laclede County, Missouri, and in this census, Thomas A., 64, and Sarah J., 59, had been married for 42 years and had 8 children, 6 of whom were still living. Thomas was working as a farmer and James was working as a farm laborer on the home farm. They owned their own home, but had a mortgage on the property.

When James Edmond McMillin completed his U.S. World War I Draft Registration Card on June 15, 1917, he described himself as being of medium height and build with hazel eyes and black hair. He was living in Heppner, Oregon, at the time, and was doing Ranch work for Frank Monahan. He was 27 years old and single at the time. I don't know what took him from Missouri to Oregon, unless maybe his brother Adam had gone there earlier and found work.

In 1920, James, 30, was living in Elmira, Lane, Oregon, with his brother, Adam, a 39 year-old widower, and his children: Ray E., 15, Lydia M., 13, Alvie T., 11, Ralph W., 10, Leslie H., 5, and Arthur, 3 and a half years old. Also in the home were their parents, Thomas A., 73, and Sarah J., 39. James was working as a farm laborer and his brother, Adam, was working as a laborer for the railroad. Could Thomas and Sarah have come West to be with their son after his wife passed away?

Adam's wife was a woman named Eveline Brown, born March 27, 1883, in Prescott, Adams, Iowa, to Alva C. Brown and his wife, Julia A. Brooks Brown. At the time of her birth her parents were 25 years old. In the Iowa State Census, they were listed as follows: Alva C., Brown, 37, Julia, 37, Warren, 18, Carry, 16, Cora, 15, Ervin, 13, Eveline, 11, Emeline, 11, (twins?), Blanch, 9, and Bertha, 1. Five years later in the 1900 census, they were listed as: Alva, 42, Julia, 42, Ervin, 18, Eveline, 17, Blanch, 14, Bertha, 6, and Marion, 5. It appears that Eveline's twin, Emeline, had either gotten married at the young age of 16 or had passed away.

By 1910, Adam, 30, and Eveline, 28, were living in Laclede, Union, Missouri, with their children, Ray E., 6, Lydia M., 4, Alva T., 1 year 4 months, and Ralph W., who had just been born. They had been married for seven years and had four children. Adam was working as a farmer. Just six years later, Eveline passed away on June 18, 1916, in Lane, Oregon, at the very young age of 31 years old. Could she have died in childbirth with her last son, Arthur, who was 3 and a half years old in 1920? Also, could there have been some connection between Eveline Brown McMillin's family and Margaretta E. Brown who may have married Adam McMillian's brother, James Edmund McMillian?

By 1930, James, 40, was living in Perry, Stark, Ohio, with his wife, Myrtle, 23, and they were renting their home for $20 per month. They had been married for 4 years, and it appears Myrtle may have been married before, because she was originally married at age 17. James was working as an oil and gas salesman. Why he moved to Ohio is unknown, unless Myrtle was from that area. However, they were divorced at some point, because in the 1940 census for Buhl, Twin Falls, Idaho, James was listed as being divorced.

James' father, Thomas Alexander McMillin, born March 15, 1846, passed away at the age of 86 on October 25, 1932, and was buried in the Chambers Cemetery in Holt County, Nebraska. His wife, Sarah Jane Hunt McMillin, born July 25, 1850, Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio, passed away on January 25, 1945, in Payette, Idaho, but was buried with her husband at the Chambers Cemetery in Nebraska. Could Sarah have gone to Idaho because her son James moved there?

When James Edmund McMillin completed his U.S. World War II Draft Registration card in about 1942, he was living at Route #3, Buhl, Twin Falls, Idaho. He was 52 years old, and had been born in Page, Nebraska. He listed his brother, Thomas A. McMillin, 634 North 7th Street, Payette, Idaho, as the name of the person and their address, as the "person who will always know your address."

Going back to the census of 1880, James' father, Thomas, was living in Nemaha, Lancaster, Nebraska, and was listed as: Thomas A., 34, wife, Sarah J., 29, and children, Vironicy, 12, Cinderella, 10, Sarah, 6, Eva, 2, and Adam D., 2 months old, having been born in March of 1880. Thomas was a farmer and Sarah a housekeeper and all their children were at school except for the two youngest.

In the census of 1870, Thomas was living with his wife, parents and siblings in Red Oak, Montgomery, Iowa, and they were listed as D.G. McMillen, 50, Lydia, 50, Susan, 30, Jane, 13, Daniel, 10, and Thomas, 24, Sarah, 19, and their first two children, Vironey, 2, Cinderella, one month old. D.G. was a hotel keeper, and his wife, Lydia was keeping house, and daughter, Susan was also a housekeeper. Thomas was farming and his wife Sarah, keeping house.

In the 1860 census for Jackson, Montgomery, Iowa, Thomas A. 14, was living with his parents and siblings: D.G., 40, Lydia, 41, Hiram G., 21, Susan Mary, 20, Cinderella, 17, Thomas A., 14, Ruth Ann, 10, Lydia Jane, 4, Daniel, 1 and Joseph, one month old.

In the 1850 census for the villages of Adams & Lyons in Sauk County, Wisconsin, Thomas A., 5, was living with his parents and siblings: D.G., 30, Lydia, 31, and their children, Hiram, 12, Susan, 10, Cinderella, 9, Frances, 2, Ruth, 8 months old and Robert H., 26. Both D.G. and Robert (maybe his brother) were working as carpenters.

James' father, Thomas A. McMillin, served during the Civil War in the 4th Iowa Infantry. It appears that his widow, Sarah, filed for his pension in both Nebraska and Idaho.