Tombstone Tuesday - Francis Spurlock Miller - 1831?-1932

Francis Miller Gravesite, Mt. Zion Cumberland Presbyterian Church Cemetery,
Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
Digital image. Copyright Denise Spurlock 2007.

Francis Miller

Feb. 1, 1831

July 12, 1932

Francis E. "Fannie" (Spurlock) Miller, one of my great-grandaunts, was the daughter of Ransom and Ellender (Vickers) Spurlock.

I believe Fannie was more likely born in 1837, rather than in 1831 as shown on the marker. On the 1850 census (the first census on which she is named), she is noted as being 13 years old which would put her birth in the 1836-1837 range.

She married John Miller on 23 December 1858 in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. The couple had two children. Their son, J. R., died before he was two years old; their daughter, Francis Elizabeth, died in 1912. John Miller died of disease during the Civil War. Although there is some evidence that Fannie married again, I have been unable to locate a record of the marriage. She used the Miller surname throughout the latter part of her life.

The grave marker is the only source I have for her death date, but that date is suspect as well. I have been unsuccessful in finding a death certificate in the Louisiana Secretary of State's database. There is some evidence that her death was not reported in a timely manner in order that another family member would continue to receive her widow's pension payments. More on that at another time!


© 2011 Denise Spurlock