Anson Mills
 

Anson Mills, soldier and inventor, was born at Thorntown, Indiana, August 31, 1834, son of James P. and Sarah (Kenworthy) Mills, grandson of James and Marian Mills, great-grandson of James and Joanna (Neels) Mills, and great-great-grandson of Robert Mills, son of Amos and Mary, the first of the family in America, who came from England with William Penn in 1670 and lived in Newberry township, York, Pennsylvania. Both paternal and maternal ancestors were Quakers, and for several generations followed farming as a vocation. Anson Mills received his early education in the Charlotteville (N.Y.) Academy, and was a cadet at the United States Military Academy during 1855-57. He was appointed first lieutenant of the Eighteenth United States Infantry on May 14, 1861, having received the indorsement [sic] of the entire class at West Point in 1861. Appointed captain April 27, 1863; transferred to Third Cavalry April 4, 1871; major, Tenth Cavalry, April 4, 1878; lieutenant-colonel, Fourth Cavalry, March 25, 1890; colonel, Third Cavalry, August 16, 1892, and brigadier-general, June 16, 1897. Retired on his own application June 27, 1897. He was brevetted captain December 31, 1862, for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee; major, September 1, 1864, for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, and during the Atlanta campaign; lieutenant-colonel, December 16, 1864, for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Nashville, Tennessee, and colonel, February 27, 1890, for gallant services in action against the Indians, at Slim Buttes, Dakota, September 9, 1876.

After leaving West Point he went to the frontier of Texas, and engaged in engineering and land surveying, and laid out the first plan of the city of El Paso. In 1859 he was surveyor on the part of Texas on the boundary commission establishing the boundary between New Mexico, Indian Territory and Texas. In March, 1861, he went to Washington and joined the Cassius M. Clay Guards, which were quartered, armed and equipped by the Federal government, and served there, protecting Federal officers and property until relieved by volunteers. He was with his regiment in the army of the Ohio and department of the Cumberland to October 22, 1864, and was acting inspector-general, district of Etowah, to February 25, 1865. He participated in the siege of Corinth, the battles of Perryville, Kentucky; Murfreesboro, Tennessee; Hoover's Gap, Tennessee; Chickamauga, Georgia; the siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee; Missionary Ridge, Tennessee; Tunnel Hill, Georgia: Buzzard's Roost, Georgia; the Atlanta campaign, Resaca, Georgia; Dallas, Georgia; New Hope Church, Georgia; Kenesaw Mountain, New Dow Station, Peach Tree Creek; Utoy Creek, Georgia, where he was wounded, and Jonesboro, Georgia, and while on the staff of General Stedman, in the battles of Nashville, Tennessee, and Decatur, Alabama.

During the four years' war he was never absent, either on leave or from sickness, and was present in all the engagements of his regiment. Fox's "Regimental Losses" states that his regiment (Eighteenth Infantry), lost more in killed and wounded than any other regiment in the regular army, and that his company (H), First Battalion, lost more in killed and wounded than any other company in the regiment.

After the war he served at Fort Aubrey, Kansas; Forts Bridger and Fetterman, Wyoming; Fort Sedgwick, Colorado; Fort McPherson, Georgia, and Columbia, South Carolina. He joined the Third Cavalry April 15, 1871, and served with it at Forts Whipple and McDowell, Arizona; Fort McPherson, Nebraska; North Platte, Nebraska, and was in the field commanding the Big Horn expedition from August to October, 1874. At Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, and Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming, to May 18, 1876. He commanded expeditions against the Indians at Tongue River, Montana, June 9; at Rose Bud river, Montana, June 17, and at Slim Buttes, Dakota, September 9, 1876. At Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, to May 21, 1877, where he had charge of Chief Spotted Tail and his tribe of six thousand Ogalala Sioux Indians. He joined the Tenth Cavalry in April, 1879, and served at Forts Concho and Davis, Texas (and commanded battalion of regiment at Fort Sill, Indian Territory, during the Indian outbreak to November, 1881), to April 1, 1885; commanded Fort Thomas, Arizona, to August 26, 1886, and Fort Grant, Arizona, being frequently in the field, to September 24, 1888; on duty at Fort Bliss, Texas, under special orders, assisting officers of the interior department (U. S. geological survey) in surveys near El Paso, Texas, with the object of reclaiming arid lands in the Rio Grande valley, to April 2, 1890, when he was transferred to the 4th cavalry, and served at Presidio, California, to October 31, 1891. Commanded regiment and post of Fort Walla Walla, Washington, to February, 1893. Joined Third Cavalry as colonel February 28, 1893, and commanded post at Fort McIntosh, Texas, and Fort Reno, Oklahoma, to August, 1893; made brigadier-general and retired.

General Mills invented the woven cartridge belt and loom for its manufacture and founded the Mills Woven Cartridge Belt Company, of Worcester, Massachusetts, which manufactures woven cartridge belts and equipment for all the world. He was a member of the board of visitors at West Point in 1866, and was United States military attaché at the Paris Exposition of 1878. Since October, 1893, General Mills has been United States commissioner on the international boundary commission, United States and Mexico, during which he originated the principle of eliminating bancos (small islands) which are formed by the action of the Rio Grande and much complicated the boundary question previous to the treaty of 1905 for the "elimination of bancos in the Rio Grande," which he prepared. He was also appointed commissioner in 1896 to investigate and report upon a plan for an international dam near El Paso, Texas, for the purpose of equitably distributing the waters of the Rio Grande between the United States and Mexico. The American section of the boundary commission has published, under General Mills' direction, many valuable reports, including the proceedings of the commission, in two volumes (1903); two reports on Elimination of Bancos in the Rio Grande (1910-12), and Survey of the Rio Grande, Roma to the Gulf of Mexico (1913).

He sat on the arbitral commission for the hearing of the Chamizal case, Hon. Eugene La Fleur, of Canada, presiding, which case involved the question of international title to land forming part of the city of El Paso, Texas, and his dissenting opinion in the findings of the arbitral board was approved by his government.

General Mills is a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, and was commander of the Washington commandery in 1908; Order of the Indian Wars of the United States and was commander in 1911, Society of the Army of the Cumberland, American Society of International Law, honorary member Society of Indiana Engineers, Army and Navy Club and Metropolitan Club of Washington. He was married October 8, 1868, to Hannah Martin, daughter of William C. Cassell, of Zanesville, Ohio, and had two sons, Anson Cassel and William Cassel Mills (both deceased), and one daughter, Constance Lydia, wife of Capt. Winfield Scott Overton, United States army.

WAR DEPARTMENT

ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,
Washington, February 24, 1897.

Statement of the military service of Anson Mills, of the United States Army, compiled from the records of this office:

He was a cadet at the United States Military Academy, July 1, 1855, to February 18, 1857.

He was appointed first lieutenant, Eighteenth Infantry, 14th May, 1861; Captain, 27th April, 1863; transferred to Third Cavalry, 1st January, 1871; major, Tenth Cavalry, 4th April, 1878; lieutenant-colonel, Fourth Cavalry, 25th March, 1890; colonel, Third Cavalry, 16th August, 1892.

He was brevetted captain, 31st December, 1862, for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee; major, 1st September, 1864, for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, and during the Atlanta campaign, lieutenant-colonel, 16th December, 1864, for gallant and meritorious services in the battle of Nashville, Tennessee, and colonel, 27th February, 1890, for gallant services in action against Indians, at Slim Buttes, Dakota, September 9, 1876.

SERVICE.

He was on recruiting service July 19, 1861, to February 17, 1862, with regiment in Army of the Ohio, and Department of the Cumberland, to October 22, 1864, and Acting Inspector-General, District of Etowah, to February 25, 1865. He participated in the siege of Corinth, April 29th, to June 5, 1862; battles of Perrysville, Kentucky, October 8, 1862; Murfreesboro, Tennessee, December 29, 1862, to January 5, 1863; Hoover's Gap, Tennessee, June 25 and 26, 1863; Chickamauga, Georgia, September 19 and 20, 1873 (is this supposed to be 1863?); siege of Chattanooga, Tennessee, September 21, to November 4, 1863; Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, November 24 and 25, 1863; Tunnel Hill, Georgia, February 23 and 24, 1864; Buzzard's Roost, Georgia, February 25 and 26, 1864; Atlanta campaign, May 3 to September 8, 1864; Resaca, Georgia, May 13 to 15, 1864; Dallas, Georgia, May 24 to June 5, 1864; New Hope Church, Georgia, May 29 to 31, 1864; Kenesaw Mountain, June 22 to July 3, 1864; Neal Dow Station, July 4, 1864; Peach Tree Creek, Georgia, July 20, 1864, where he was slightly wounded; Utoy Creek, Georgia, August 7, 1864; Jonesboro, Georgia, September 1, 1864, and Nashville, Tennessee, December 15 and 16, 1864.

He was on recruiting service from February 25, 1865, to November 15, 1865, when he rejoined his regiment and served with it in Kansas to March, 1866; on leave to October, 1866; (member of Board of Visitors at United States Military Academy, in June, 1866); with regiment at Fort Bridger, Wyoming, to October, 1867, and at Fort Fetterman, Wyoming, to May 10, 1868; on leave to July 10, 1868; with regiment at Fort Sedgwick, Colorado, to April, 1869, and in Georgia and South Carolina, to January 15, 1871.

He joined the Third Cavalry, April 15, 1871, and served with it in Arizona, to December 1, 1871.

He commanded his troop at Fort McPherson, Nebraska, January 17 to May 1, 1872; at North Platte, Nebraska (on leave December 2, 1872, to March 9, 1873), to August 13, 1874; in the field commanding the Big Horn expedition, to October 13, 1874; on leave to January 18, 1875; commanding troop and post of North Platte, Nebraska, to April 14, 1875; at Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, to November 20, 1875; at Fort D. A. Russell, Wyoming (in field February 21 to April 26, 1876, being engaged in action against Indians at Little Powder river, Montana, March 17, 1876), to May 18, 1876; commanding battalion of regiment in the field on expedition against hostile Indians, to October 24, 1876, being engaged against them at Tongue River, Montana, June 9, at Rose Bud River, Montana, June 17, and at Slim Buttes, Dakota, September 9, 1876 (where he commanded), commanding his troop at Camp Sheridan, Nebraska, November, 1876, to May 21, 1877, and on leave of absence to February 27, 1878; on duty in Paris, France, with the United States Commissioner, Paris Exposition, to November, 1878, and on delay to March, 1879.

He joined the Tenth Cavalry, April 11, 1879, and served with regiment in Texas (on leave March 23 to June 30, 1880, and August 26, 1880, to March 21, 1881), to May 21, 1881; commanding battalion of regiment at Fort Sill, Indian Territory, to November, 1881; on duty at Fort Concho, Texas, to July, 1882; at Fort Davis, Texas (on leave October 26, 1883, to January 2, 1884), to April 1, 1885; commanding post of Fort Thomas, Arizona, to August 26, 1886; on leave to March 27, 1887; on duty at Fort Grant, Arizona, being frequently in field to September 24, 1888; on sick leave to May, 1889; on duty at Fort Bliss, Texas, assisting officers of the Interior Department in surveys (before Congressional Committee in this city, January to March, 1890), to April 2, 1890, and on leave and under orders to July, 1890.

He joined the Fourth Cavalry, July 13, 1890, and served at the Presidio of San Francisco, California, to October 31, 1891; commanding regiment and post of Fort Walla Walla, Washington, to February 11, 1893.

He joined the Third Cavalry, February 28, 1893, and commanded it and the post of Fort McIntosh, Texas, to June 21, 1893, and the post of Fort Reno, Oklahoma, to August 12, 1893; on leave to October 26, 1893, and since then on duty as Commissioner of the United States International Boundary Commission of the United States and Mexico.

(Signed) GEO. D. RUGGLES, Adjutant General.

ADDITION TO THE RECORD OF COLONEL ANSON MILLS, UNITED STATES ARMY,

NOT INCLUDED IN THE ADJUTANT GENERAL'S CERTIFICATE OF MILITARY SERVICE

He left West Point in 1857, went to the frontier of Texas and engaged in engineering and land surveying; laid out the first plan of the city of El Paso; in 1859 was surveyor to the Boundary Commission establishing the boundary between New Mexico, Indian Territory and Texas; in February, 1861, on submission to the popular vote of the state of Texas, the question of "Separation" or "No Separation," he cast one of the lonely two votes in the county of El Paso against separation, to nine hundred and eighty-five for separation; in March, 1861, he abandoned the state, going to Washington, and there joined the military organization known as the "Cassius M. Clay" Guards, quartered, armed and equipped by the United States government, and served there protecting federal officers and property, until relieved by volunteer forces called out by the President. On May 14, 1861, was appointed first lieutenant Eighteenth Infantry on the following recommendation from the then first class at the military academy.


UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY

West Point, N. Y., April 30, 1861. Lorenzo Thomas, Adjutant-General, Washington, D. C.

Dear Sir: We, the undersigned, members of the First Class at the United States Military Academy, respectfully recommend to your favorable consideration the claims of Mr. Anson Mills, an applicant for a commission as second lieutenant in the United States army.

Mr. Mills was formerly a member, for nearly two years, of the class preceding ours, when he resigned.

During that time his habits and character conformed to the strictest military propriety and discipline, and we feel assured that he would be an honor to the service and that its interests would be promoted by his appointment.

Respectfully submitted,

James F. McQuesten, Charles E. Hazlett, Henry B. Noble, Francis A. Davies, John I. Rogers, J. W. Barlow, W. A. Elderkin, A. R. Chambliss, Emory Upton, Eugene B. Beaumont, J. Ford Kent, J. S. Poland, Addelbert Ames, A. R. Buffington, C. E. Patterson, Leonard Martin, Sheldon Sturgeon, Wright Rives, Charles C. Campbell, M. F. Watson, Ohio F. Rice, Erskine Gittings, Franklin Howard, Charles Henry Gibson, J. H. Simper, H. Dupont, J. Benson Williams, Charles M. K. Leoser, R. L. Eastman, Leroy L. Janes, Guy V. Henry, N. W. Henry, John Adair, Jr., Judson Kilpatrick, S. O. Sokalski, Samuel N. Benjamin, J. B. Rawles, L. G. Hoxton.

During the four years of the war he was never absent either on leave or from sickness and was present in all of the engagements of his regiment.

Fox's "Regimental Losses" states on page 3, that his regiment (Eighteenth Infantry), lost more in killed and mortally wounded than any other regiment in the regular army and that his company, H, First Battalion (page 420), lost more in killed and mortally wounded than any company in his regiment.

He invented the woven cartridge belt (and loom for manufacture) now adopted and exclusively used by the army and navy of the United States.

He stands No. 24 on the lineal list of seventy-one colonels in the army.

PRIVATE RESOLUTION NO. 1

Joint resolution permitting Anson Mills, colonel of Third Regiment United States Cavalry, to accept and exercise the functions of boundary commissioner on the part of the United States.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Anson Mills, colonel Third Regiment United States Cavalry, having been nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate as a commissioner of the United States under the convention between the United States of America and the United States of Mexico concluded and signed by the contracting parties at the city of Washington, March first, eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, is hereby permitted to accept and exercise the functions of said office of commissioner; Provided, Said officer shall continue to receive his emoluments in pay and allowances as colonel in the army while holding said office of commissioner the same as he would receive were he performing such duty under military orders and no other or additional pay or emoluments for his services as such commissioner.

Approved, December 12, 1893.

HONORED GENERAL MILLS

One of the final acts of the Indiana Engineering Society convention at Indianapolis, was the election of three honorary members, one of whom was Gen. Anson Mills, of Washington, D. C. General Mills was born in Thorntown, Indiana, seventy-two years ago. In answer to the telegram notifying him of his election, he sent the following: "I appreciate most highly my election as an honorary member of the Indiana Engineering Society and accept the honor. This is especially grateful as coming from my native state and from a society which has accomplished so much for the profession."

DEATH OF WILLIAM W. MILLS

William W. Mills, son of James P. and Sarah Kenworthy Mills was born in Boone county, Indiana, February 10, 1836 and died at Austin, Texas, February 10, 1913, on his seventy-seventh birthday. He remained at home on the farm until he attained his majority and in 1857 went to El Paso, Texas, of which place later in life he wrote a book.

Early in the Civil war he enlisted and was commissioned lieutenant of volunteers. He resigned his position and in 1862 was appointed collector of customs in which service he continued until 1869. In the year 1869 he was married to Miss Mary, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of governor A. J. Hamilton, of Texas. After his marriage he was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue serving for several years. In 1897 to 1907 he served as American Consul at Chihuahua, Mexico. He and his wife were at Thorntown, October, 1909, at the dedication of the memorial fountain erected here by his brother, General Anson Mills, of Washington. D. C., in memory of his father and mother. They greatly enjoyed every hour of their visit at the old home. The scenes of his youth and renewal of fond recollections crowded upon him, and he lived them over again.

Through all his strenuous life amid the stirring activities of Texas and Mexico and through the turmoils of the Civil war, in private and public life he was delicate in health. Patient through suffering, brave in conflict and tender and loving in domestic life, he lived and struggled until crowned with life eternal. It was a long strenuous life faithful until the close when he rested from his labors and became free from pain.

He left a devoted wife, two sisters, Mrs. Mary Burckhalter and Mrs. Jane Smiley, of Thorntown, and two brothers, General Anson Mills, of Washington, D. C. and Allen Mills, of Thorntown and a host of relatives and friends at his home and over the land to mourn his departure.

JAMES P. AND SARAH KENWORTHY MILLS

One hundred years ago there was born August 22, 1808, at York, Pennsylvania, a male child, who was christened James P. Mills. At the early age of eight years he was left an orphan. He was bound out and apprenticed to learn the tanner's trade. When he reached his majority he caught the fever of Greeley's advice to go west, before that sage thought of giving it, and in his twenty-second year crossed the Alleghanies in a Dearborn wagon and continued his journey towards the setting sun, until he reached Crawfordsville. Here he became a citizen of the young state of Indiana, and as such we wish to follow him closely as a factor in the development of the state. His life is typical of the body of men that laid the foundations of the commonwealth. In this age he would not be termed educated.

The opportunities in Pennsylvania were meager a century ago, for the average young man, yet many of her sons, possessing brawn, grit and a sense of honor, forged to the west, and laid strong arms against the dense forests of Indiana. Our hero was one of that number. As soon as he was in Crawfordsville, he began to cast about for land. He had the ambition of ownership. He had planned in his mind to be a freeholder and purposed in his heart to own land with intent to build a home. On this sentiment the basis of this story is cemented. It's the same old story that lies at the foundation of every pioneer family in the state. Mr. Mills' employer recommended him to go to Thorntown in lieu of there not being desirable land to enter around Crawfordsville. This was the time when the question of organizing Boone county was before the legislature of the state. There were about six hundred souls living in this section of territory at that time. The county was organized in 1830. James P. Mills was one of the stalwart young men that stepped upon its wild soil with the nerve to build a county. In that year he came to Thorntown and sought employment with one Gapen, a tanner. It was not long until he drove his stake for life and received title to his homestead from Uncle Sam for portions of sections 6 and 7, in township 19 north and range 1 west.

About the same time his heart sought a fair maiden by the scripture name of Sarah, daughter of Judge Kenworthy, who was among the first white men who took up their abode in the old French and Indian village of Thorntown, as early as 1819. Now Sarah was fair and kind of heart and James was drawn towards her. She was born in Miami county, Ohio, on next to the last day of the year 1810, and her parents moved to Thorntown when she was of tender age, and settled just east of the old French and Indian trading point in section 31, township 20 north, range 1 west, just a little over one mile across the woods from where our hero had located his home. There is no positive record of the process of movements, but the sequence tells the story. It must have run the same old road of lovers. There were meetings and cooings, horseback rides to the old church, apple parings, corn huskings, etc., during which the young man lost his heart. It put nerve into his arm. He drove a stake for his home just north of a gurgling spring, laid the ax to the root of the tree, like a tanner, not a woodman with trained chopping art. He hackled all round and round the tree until it fell in the line of gravitation. Thus he cleared the spot, hewed the logs and reared the home to the gables and put on the roof. All this while his heart strings were pulling stronger and stronger towards the Judge's daughter. He could wait no longer, not even to build the gables.

On the twenty-second day of November, 1832, James P. Mills was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Kenworthy and after one month of honeymoon, the bride at mother's and the groom trotting back and forth to his farm, one mile, and working like a beaver each day, fitting the home for his queen, at the close of the year 1832, with ax, mattock, handspike, hackle, loom and high hopes, they began home building in earnest in the wilderness. The story of this home is the story of Indiana. Its struggles, its privations, its hardships, its joys, its sorrows were the common lot of all. In this sketch we cannot stop to give the colorings, but must pass on.

We have spoken of James P. Mills as a pioneer, and it might be well on this occasion to speak of him as a man and citizen. As an orphan and apprentice, his youth passed without opportunity of education to qualify him as a public man. Landing in Indiana as he entered upon his majority, he at once became too busily engaged in subduing the wilderness and in his zealous home-building and struggles to provide for his family to look into books. He was a devoted husband, a provident and faithful father, and a conscientious citizen. With all these duties pressing upon him continuously day by day there was little opportunity for mind culture. In the very prime of life, when the light of a better day was dawning, the angel of death entered his home and took away the companion of his struggles.

There he stood, having passed the wilderness, in full view of the Canaan land, ready to pass over and feed on its honey and milk, but alas! The companion of his joys and sorrows, of all his toils and hardships was called away and left him standing on the shore, with all the little ones clinging to his knees and pressing on his heart. This was a time to try his soul. Dazed, bewildered and uncertain how to move, he stood as a father true to his trust, even clinging to his babe in his desperation to hold the family of children together. He rose to the emergency of filling the place both of father and the truest of mothers. What a task of love! What a test of manhood! Few men would have borne the burden. He held his place at the head of the home, protecting and providing for his children until they grew to manhood and womanhood. He not only provided food and raiment, but saw that the fundamental principle of government was instilled and imbedded in their nature, that comes from the law of obedience. His word was the law of the family. He also provided for their education, even to the sacrifice of sending them from home, where they could have better facilities.

During the lonely days of his widowerhood he read much of patriotism and obedience to her call took all the sons from the home. Later Cupid entered and the daughters fell by his darts and the house was left desolate and the hero of all its conflicts stood solitary and alone. It was in the midst of this period of his life we first met him. For one year in the early eighties we sat at the same table three times a day. Mr. Mills was reticent by nature and slow to form acquaintance, but he grew upon you slowly and surely. He possessed more in mind and heart than appeared on the surface. If you came in touch with him where he lived you would find him a live coal. He was a graduate in the affairs of life. He may not have had the culture of college training, but he did have that high sense of honor and manhood that comes through the school of life's duties and trials. He was polished by the friction of hardships and refined by the pressure of a life devoted faithfully to duty under the most trying circumstances. He was indeed truly educated and his life is a rich legacy to children and children's children.

GOVERNMENT DEED TO MILLS

The government deeded to James Philips Mills, of Crawfordsville, Indiana, the following described land: The east fraction of the northwest quarter of section seven in township nineteen, north, range one west, in the district of lands subject to sale at Crawfordsville, Indiana, containing eighty acres, deed dated, Washington, D. C., March third in the year A. D. one thousand eight hundred and thirty-one and the year of the Independence of the United States of America Fifty-fifth. Signed Andrew Jackson, President of the United States.

In the pioneer home were born all the stalwart sons and fair daughters. Anson, August 31, 1834; William, Marietta, Eliza Jane, Emmett, Allen, Gilbert John, Caroline and Thomas Edwin. Sacrifices were necessary to educate them. Schools there were none and they must needs be sent from home to the far east and south. The parents rose to the emergency. The mother spun, wove, made the garments and prepared food; the father tilled the soil and economized to provide means. In this home amid all the hopes and anxieties of the parents came the hite-winged cupid with orange blossoms and daughters were given in marriage; came dark-winged death with sorrow also, bearing away its inmates in infancy, childhood and in young manhood's ripened prime on the field of battle. Saddest of all became the home when the mother, the light of its hearth, the bond of its union, was borne from their midst on September 4, 1849.

The mother and children, all gone by marriage or death, the father was left alone to live over and over the joys and griefs of the household. He trod the way companionless, down the sunset of life, until he passed under the shadow April 22, 1889, survived by three sons and two daughters. Thus ended the life work of one pioneer family of Indiana, after a full half century of toil.

Industry, frugality, truth, honesty and temperance were the cardinal virtues that made the sure foundation of this home. Such as these made the great republic possible. Parents of nine children, self-sacrificing, self-denying, self-reliant and peaceful, joint occupants of the same farm with the Pottawattamie Indians.

The house has mouldered away and given place to the new and modern, but the spirit generated in it is alive today, of which this occasion is a glorious and lasting witness.

IN MEMORIAM A. D. 1909

A live memorial is erected upon our streets by the eldest son, General Anson P. Mills, Washington, D. C., to commemorate these lives. As the warp and woof of mother's loom ran down like a golden web through his mind and heart, inspiring success in life, mayhap there was also a continuous silver thread, flowing from the gurgling spring at the old home to this memoriam.

As the iridescent spray flying crystal-white from its sculptured forms and flowers, thrill our being with a sense of beauty and perfection of taste, it is well for us to remember the story of the toil and sacrifice of hands and hearts that made it possible.

Marietta Mills, daughter of James P. and Sarah Kenworthy Mills, was born December 31, 1837 and died February 12, 1914. She is a sister of Anson P. Mills.

She was united in marriage to John T. Burckhalter, April 15, 1858. To this union were born ten children, three having preceded the mother in death. The surviving ones are, Abraham, of Montana; Rembrant W., of Pennsylvania.; Sarah and Grace, of Thorntown; Rosa, of Hazelrigg; and Bertha and Howard, who lived with her and administered to her in her declining years.

She leaves six grandchildren and one great grandchild, her namesake, Marietta, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Taylor, of Rochester, Indiana. Besides these two brothers, Brig. Gen. Anson Mills, of Washington, D. C., Allen Mills, of Thorntown, and one sister, Mrs. Jane Smiley, of Thorntown.

She became a member of the Christian church in 1857 under the preaching of Rev. A. L. Hobbs.

Mrs. Burckhalter was a woman of very fine type of mind, taking a very philosophical view of affairs at all times and up to the very time of her death her mind was exceptionally clear and keen.

Mrs. Burckhalter was born in an old log house that stood on the site of the present modern home, in fact her death occurred within a few feet of the place of her birth. The farm on which she was born, lived and died, was entered by her father, James P. Mills, September 30, 1834, who also on March 18, 1837, entered a tract of land adjoining. Sheepskin letters of patents are still in possession of the family, the first signed by Andrew Jackson, the second signed by Martin Van Buren, presidents of the United States at the time of entry.

Mrs. Burckhalter had witnessed the greatest era in the history of the nation and the most wonderful era, scientifically in the history of the world.

She had a large part in the history of the state and nation, one brother being consul to Mexico, while the illustrious Anson Mills, so distinguished himself in time of war as to secure the position of brigadier-general. During all these years she quietly remained at home, keeping the family together and rearing to sturdy manhood and winsome womanhood her sons and daughters who give to our nation those qualities and virtues which make us great among the nations of the earth.

It is intensely interesting to note the kaleidoscopic changes that have taken place in the life-time of this good woman. Born as we have said in a log house with its great open fire place that with tropic heat drove back the frost line from the window pane. This early home giving place to the present modern house with its conveniences and equipment. The old swinging crane and bake pan for the corn pone to the modern culinary effects. The tallow dip giving place to candle "by which you could read and not be nearer than four feet," then that revelation the kerosene lamp, "that lighted all the room" and then the present acetylene plant that rivals the daylight.

She saw her father haul great logs and place them end to end for fence, with chunks between to keep the pigs in or out. She saw him cut his grain with the sickle, this giving place to the rythmic[sic] swing of the cradle and then the drone of the modern harvesting machinery. In her early days the rap, rap of the flail, then the steady tramp of horses in the threshing of grain and now the whir of the modern thresher.

When she was a girl the nearest markets were LaFayette and Cincinnati. On the farm are still the old tanning vats where hides were prepared for the annual arrival of the shoemaker who came and stayed until he had made shoes for the whole family.

Mrs. Burckhalter walked to Thorntown to see the first train arrive on rails made of wood and shod with iron and "you must not get closer than twenty or thirty feet for fear of getting hurt."

During her time she had witnessed the coming of telephone, telegraph, wireless telegraphy, electric lights, automobiles, balloons and flying machines. Space forbids to enumerate further, but what a wonderful age in which this pioneer lived, and what a legacy such people as she have left to their children and to generations yet to come.

There is a little romance connected with the home place of Mrs. Burckhalter. Two young Indian chieftains fell in love with the same dusky maiden and fought a duel with knives over her, each struck the other a fatal blow at the same moment and the graves of these young chieftains are known today by members of the family.

Mrs. Burckhalter's life was spent at home caring for her children; this was her Christian duty and it was performed well and today her boys and girls can rise up and call her blessed.

Submitted by: Amy K. Davis
Source: "History of Boone County, Indiana," by Hon. L. M. Crist, 1914