Information Sheet

 

 

R         Millar family.

162                  Papers, 1840-1899.

                                    Two folders, photocopies.

 

 

 

These are miscellaneous papers of the Millar family of Mississippi County, Missouri.  The collec­tion includes a diary of a trip from Scioto County, Ohio, to Mississippi County in 1840, land and tax papers, slave papers, and receipts issued by the Missouri State Guard at New Madrid dur­ing the Civil War.

 

There is considerable discrepancy between the information supplied by the donors re­gard­ing the Millar family and the accounts in Goodspeed’s History of Southeast Missouri.  Most of the material in this collection represents Abraham Millar, called “Abram” in Goodspeed’s, and his fifth son, called variously “Abraham” and “Abram” in Goodspeed’s.  The elder Millar was born in Virginia in 1770 or 1776, moved to the Ohio Territory, and thence to Missouri.  He re­turned to Ohio in 1847, where he died in 1855.

 

The first folder contains Millar’s diary of his eight-day journey down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River.  In company with another son, Reynolds, Abraham Millar traveled from his home at Lucasville, Scioto County, Ohio, in 1840, seeking land in southeastern Mis­souri that was available for homesteading.  He arrived at Cape Girardeau on 7 March 1840.  Millar and his son examined several parcels of land in Scott and Mississippi counties before purchasing a 2000-acre tract near what is now East Prairie, Missouri.  The diary includes Millar’s impressions of the lands he examined, and the details of his purchase.  It concludes with the return to Ohio, ending abruptly upon arrival at Cincinnati.

 

The remainder of the collection consists of miscellaneous personal papers.  Included are land and tax papers, promissory notes and receipts, and papers dealing with the purchase and transfer of slaves.  There are several receipts issued to Abraham Millar and other resi­dents of Mississippi County for commissary supplies and livestock requisitioned by Missouri State Guard forces at New Madrid during 1861-1862.

 

 

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