Hans Miller

A Patriot of the American Revolution for SOUTH CAROLINA. DAR Ancestor #: A078852

Hans Miller and his known descendents results are #22 on this chart. I also added the write up by Kevin Miller who leads that project to show his conclusions about Hans not being related to the Wendell Miller group as the Andrea notes had shown. Please see the document I attached.

https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Miller-1750RowanNC?iframe=ycol...

Hanse was in Rowan County North Carolina area in 1750 where his first daughter was born. This County became Surry Co. and then Stokes County as it was divided. She (Margareta) married James Gammill but died by 1786. James Gammill remarried a woman named Lucretia but his children were from Margareta.

It is thought that Hans was part of the Dunkards or Tunker church that settled the area above Winston-Salem NC. This is where James Gammill lived.

Hans' 1st wife is really unknown. She would have been the mother of John Daniel Miller 1748 and Margareta born 1750. His second wife was Susannah Hunziger from a Moravian settlement in Pennsylvania near Skippack PA. Hans' children with her are proven as there is a Bible entry in the Hawkins Bible that went to Tennessee with the Millers and Hawkins families. Susannah herself went with my ancestor John Jacob Miller born 1767 in Cecil County Maryland to Jones County GA in the early 1800s. They had a successful draw in the Georgia Land Lottery and John and his young wife moved with Susannah. She is buried in the Miller Cemetery at Blountsville GA with John Jacob Miller and his wife Aseneth Spiers Adair (Miller).

After living in NC Hans moved to the part of Craven County which became Laurens South Carolina and was married to Susannah Hunziker and had more children starting in 1765. I have a land plat from 1771 which shows him next to Joseph and James Adair on Duncans Creek in Laurens. The fact that part of South Carolina was also North Carolina at one time could also mean that the Miller family did not move but the State line did. Han's first son with Susannah was James Miller born at Laurens SC. His second son with Susannah Hunziger was John Jacob Miller. This child was born in Cecil County Maryland. The rest of Hans children were born at Laurens County SC.

Hans apparently had land at Beech Island too. I am hoping this is not a mistake in the Andres notes which links them to the family of Johann Wendell Miller. Wendell was a large plantation owner.

I found some Hunziker and Miller families that came from Switzerland during the migration of 1738 to Pennsylvania. Hans' second son John Jacob was born in Cecil County Maryland in 1767, so there may be a relationship with the church there that was sending settlers to the Carolinas. Either Moravian, Reformed, or Protestant. The establishment of the Mason Dixon line moved many from Penn to Maryland. Settlers skipped Virginia and due to the problems in North Carolina many went to what is now South Carolina. At that time settlers were given land and could get a 100 acre grant and additional 50 acres of land for each family member.

We are also looking for the Rev War service of Hance Miller. "Hance," "Hanse," "Hans," "Johannes," or "John" are possible names to look for so I am looking at this John Miller of the New Acquisition Militia, Turkey Creek Militia, or the Little River Regt. to see if I can find any relationship. The only thing we have is a few pay bills for goods delivered to Capt. Robert Laird of the Little River Regiment. If his service was in 1780 he would have been around 55 years old. Also if he was part of the Dunkards he would have been a pacifist of war.

There are Adairs in both of these regiments and I think this could be the link to the families.  There is also a Thomas Ewing(s) listed as a private in the Littler River Regiment and also on the Hanse Miller will and testament.  Hans Miller's will was probate at Laurens even though he was living elsewhere.  His burial sit has not been discovered yet.

James Miller was the first son of Hanse Miller with Susannah Hunziker.

An excerpt from "King's Mountain and its Heroes" by Lyman Copeland Draper describes the aftermath of the engagement at Musgrove's Mill. The doctor was Dr. George Ross who lived nearby. The Adair family and Hans Miller lived nearby too. The passage:

"Some of the few wounded, who were not able to ride, were necessarily left; and, it is pleasant to add, they were humanely cared for by the British, and especially by the Musgrove family. Among them was one Miller, shot through the body, whose injuries were believed to be mortal. A silk handkerchief was drawn through the wound to cleanse it. His parents, from the lower part of the present county of Laurens, obtained the services of an old physician, Dr. Ross, to attend to their wounded son, though it is believed the British surgeons were not wanting in their professional attentions. He at length recovered."

I believe this passage describes Hans and his wife Susannah and one of their sons who was involved in the Battle. Possibly John Daniel Miller as he was older than James and John Jacob.

Beth Miller Little, a Miller researcher, said Hans Miller was a cobbler by trade. This is also in the Andrea notes where he is said to be a Shoe Maker.