by Frances James (1922 – 2019)
The William Brown Miller Family Cemetery is a one acre cemetery located in Oak Cliff behind 2823 King Cole. The site of this cemetery is part of the D.M. McFarland survey of 1280 acres that McFarland had received from the Republic of Texas for his participation in the War with Mexico. When Minerva and William Miller came to Texas in 1846 they purchased 562 acres of land near the west side of the Trinity River and established a plantation.
William Brown Miller (1807-1899) was born in Madison County, Kentucky. He was educated in the public schools of that county and also at an academy in Huntsville, Alabama. In 1828 he married Elizabeth Waddy, who was part Cherokee, and they had one son, Charilaus, later known as Crill. William rented land and started farming, but in 1834 he began a merchandising business at New Market, Alabama. Elizabeth died in 1835, leaving the young father and small son. After two years, and a far reaching change in the bankruptcy law, William failed in business. He then moved to Tennessee and farmed for the next ten years. During this time William Miller married Miss Minerva Barnes (1822-1856), who was also from Madison County, Kentucky.
When they came to Texas they brought Crill and their five children, Alonza, Martha, Mary, Elizabeth and Susan. Minerva and William subsequently had three more children before Minerva died in 1856 after the birth of her eighth baby which also died, again leaving William Brown Miller a widower. It was during this time that Millermore was being constructed by William and his slaves that he had brought with them. Minerva never saw the house completed.
The family bible was dropped in the Red River as they crossed into Texas, but was carefully dried and is still legible. This bible has the birth and death records of the family and the slaves.
For his third wife, in 1860, William Miller choose Emma Dewey Miller (1840-1899) twenty years old, the widow of Madison M. Miller (1806 -1860) and a friend of William Brown Miller. Madison had only been dead four months when Emma and William married. They had three children, Charles, J.H., and Minnie (1865-1960).
Minnie, the twelfth child of William Brown Miller, became the wife of Barry Miller in 1885. Barry was an attorney and became the Lieutenant Governor of Texas from 1924-1931. There are still descendants of this family in Dallas. Barry Miller is buried in this cemetery.
William Brown Miller was a model farmer who raised fine stock and fruit. He converted the original log cabin that they lived in when they first came to Dallas to a school for his own children and others, as there were no schools at that time. He hired a teacher, who also lived with the family. William even brought out his fiddle and taught the girls to dance!
Miller had also donated a plot of land and the necessary logs to build a church near the cemetery. By 1850 some dissension had erupted within the small church and the congregation asked Mr. Miller to settle the argument. He told them to take the church and do with it what they pleased. They decided to divide it in half and one half of the logs were moved to Dallas to build a church near present day Union Station and the other half of the logs was moved to Jimtown Road in Oak Cliff. It has been pointed out that it would have been simpler to start with freshly cut logs!
When downtown Dallas burned in 1860, Crill Miller spent much time and effort investigating the fire. Several of the slaves that lived on the Miller plantation were questioned and revealed the plot and the names of the instigators. After the Civil War, when the slaves were then free to leave, some remained with the family and when William Brown Miller died in 1899, at 91 years of age, Arch was at his side. Arch and Charlotte still owned the land given to them by William Brown Miller. William’s widow, Emma was thirty-five years younger than William, but only lived six weeks after he died.
Miller had been instrumental in bringing the Houston and Texas Central Railroad to Dallas in 1872. Miller’s Ferry was one of the southernmost crossings on the Trinity River in Dallas County and was used by people traveling in the southern section of Dallas County. William Brown Miller had assigned the job of operating the ferry to Henry, one of his trusted slaves. When he was freed, W.B. Miller gave the ferry boat to him and he continued to operate it for many years. Near the tum of the century a small temporary dam had been constructed in this area of the Trinity River and a dance pavilion was built. The steamboat Harvey would bring couples down the River from downtown Dallas.
Millermore, was at 3110 Bonnie View before it was dismantled and moved in the 1960s to Old City Park now known as Heritage Park in downtown Dallas. The Bonnie View site is now the home of the Good Street Baptist Church.
The cemetery, that was about one half mile from the spot where the original log cabin had been built, is fenced. It is the final resting place for many members of the family as well as the faithful slaves who came to Dallas with them and were instrumental in building the large house and running the plantation.
Descendants of the slaves who took the name of Miller have annual reunions in Dallas, and have compiled a wonderful history of their relatives. There are many descendants of the twelve children of the William Brown Miller family that still live in Dallas and the surrounding area and keep in touch with each other around the world. This cemetery that has been designated a Historic Texas Cemetery is maintained by the Miller family.
Frances James, “Dallas County History – From the Ground Up, Book II,” 2009.
