Mary Miller (ca. 1770-1844)

There are no records that document Mary Miller’s birth. According to the 1810 U.S. Census, she was born between 1766 and 1784. [1] The year 1770 is an educated guess.

Mary’s Parents and Early Life

Several court documents establish that Mary’s father was Andrew Miller. When he died in 1784, the Lincoln County, Virginia, court appointed guardians for Mary and her sister Hannah, orphans of Andrew Miller deceased.[2] Mary and Hannah sued John Briscoe and were identified as the orphans of Andrew Miller.[3] In 1786, Mary and Hannah had a survey conducted of the land they inherited from Andrew Miller.[4]

It is unclear where Andrew Miller lived before migrating to western Virginia. He appears in the records of Fincastle County, Virginia (in what later became Kentucky), beginning in 1772, when he signed a letter to the Reverend Charles Cummings extending a call from the united congregations of Ebbing and Sinking Springs on the Holston River.[5] On February 7, 1775, he was appointed constable, replacing James Kincannon.[6]

Andrew Miller was an early claimant of Kentucky land. On February 26, 1780, he was granted 100 acres under Treasury Warrant No. 3043, on Dix River south of Versailles;[7] a survey of this tract was conducted on April 24, 1781,[8] and the grant was affirmed and recorded in Richmond on November 29, 1783.[9] On June 28, 1780, he purchased 1,000 acres from the Commonwealth of Virginia for £400 under a preemption warrant, a category of grant available to settlers who had already built a cabin or made improvements on land, entitling them to the first right of purchase.[10] On October 21, 1780, he was granted a preemption warrant for the same 1,000 acres, encompassing two improvements he had made and a large spring; he was also said to have been granted an adjoining 400 acres, though no record of that particular warrant survives apart from its mention when his daughters later had the land surveyed.[11]

Andrew Miller presumably died about 1784.[12] On July 20, 1784, his widow, Eleanor, was granted letters of administration on his estate and had her dower allotted.[13] An inventory and appraisement of the estate, and an account of the sale of the estate’s personal property, were returned to the court on August 28 and December 21, 1784.[14] From his estate inventory and account of sale, it appears that Andrew Miller was a middle class, self-sufficient farmer. He owned enough livestock to work land and produce food and hides.

There are no records identifying the maiden name of Mary’s mother Eleanor, where she lived before migrating to Kentucky, or when she died.

Mary’s Marriage and Children

On July 30, 1800, Moses Payne and Isaac Kuddell posted a £50 bond for Moses’s marriage to Polly Miller in Woodford County, Kentucky.[15] Polly was a common nickname for Mary.

Moses and Mary had five children: Elizabeth, Jacob Upshur, Andrew Miller, Moses Upshur, and Maria Harriett.[16]According to a deposition Elizabeth gave in an 1822 legal case, she was born on July 7, 1801.[17] According to their grave markers, Jacob Upshur was born on February 12, 1803,[18] Andrew Miller was born on February 27, 1805,[19]Moses Upshur was born on October 25, 1807,[20] and Maria Harriett was born on February 21, 1814.[21]

Mary’s Widowhood

Mary’s husband, Moses, died on June 26, 1815, without leaving a will. Mary testified to the date of his death in a court case involving Herman Bowmar.[22] On July 3, 1815, the court granted Mary administration of Moses’s estate; she took the oath required of her and executed bond with Herman Bowmar as her security.[23] An inventory of the estate was filed on August 8, 1815,[24] and on February 5, 1821, the court appointed commissioners to audit her accounts as administratrix of Moses’s estate.[25] On August 9, 1838, on Herman Bowmar’s petition, the Woodford County court summoned Mary and her attorney to appear and either provide new security for her administration of Moses’s estate or otherwise satisfy Bowmar, who had stood as her security.[26]

Mary spent much of the next several years defending claims and collecting debts on the estate’s behalf. In September 1815, Mary filed a claim against Lewis Craig for a debt owed to the estate.[27] On May 23, 1816, the merchants Joseph and John Kinkead sued Mary for a debt they said Moses had owed. [28] Mary countered that the estate was in fact owed a larger sum, and two men appointed to review the accounts found that the Kinkeads owed Mary $62.88¾. The suit was dismissed in March 1817. On August 30, 1816, she filed a claim against William Bohannan for a debt owed to Moses’s estate.[29] On August 24, 1818, John McKinney filed a claim against the estate on behalf of Alexander Laughness.[30]

Mary continued to acquire and dispose of land in Woodford County through the 1820s. In August 1816, Beverly Shackelford sold Mary a small piece of land and a tenement, and she moved there on September 5, 1816.[31] On August 27, 1816, she agreed to sell Thomas Stevenson 200 acres of land at $22 per acre, though no deed appears to have been executed.[32] On February 10, 1821, James Dunica and his wife Philadelphia sold her a tract designated Lot No. 96, in Versailles, for $3,500.[33] On March 12, 1821, a tenant named Isaac Felese, who was renting a house from Mary, entered into a mortgage arrangement with Reuben and William B. Long concerning his rent.[34]

On April 2, 1821, Archibald Kinkead secured a mortgage from John Buford and David Campbell to pay Mary $1,000.[35]On June 27, 1821, George T. Cotton and his wife Elizabeth sold Mary a parcel of land in Versailles for $100.[36] On April 6, 1822, Mary purchased several household items, including a high-post bedstead, at the estate sale of John Hamilton.[37] On February 24, 1828, she sold Lot No. 96 to John R. McFarland for $325.[38]

Litigation

Mary was involved in litigation most of her life. As an orphaned minor, Mary and her sister Hannah sued John Briscoe to protect a claim to land they inherited from their father. The suit, filed in November 1785, was continued from court to court and was still pending in March 1786.[39] It is unknown how this case was resolved.

Beginning in November 1800, the heirs of William Preston sued Mary and Moses Payne, along with Edmund and Hannah Searcy (Mary’s sister and brother-in-law) and Herman Bowmar, in the U.S. Circuit Court for the Kentucky District over the land Mary and Hannah had inherited from their father.[40] The Preston heirs’ suit proceeded through several rounds of litigation over the next two decades, reaching the United States Supreme Court twice. The courts ruled in favor of Bowmar and the Payne family at every stage, and the Supreme Court issued its final judgment in February 1821.[41]

On December 27, 1817, Mary agreed to sell Herman Bowmar all the land she inherited from her father, along with the land Moses and Bowmar later purchased, for $6,500. She never executed the deed and alleged that Bowmar had deceived her and taken advantage of her while she was grieving. In 1821, Bowmar sued her to compel the sale. Extensive depositions were taken over the years, and the parties eventually settled. Mary deeded the land to Bowmar on June 2, 1824, for $6,878.[42]

On February 13, 1828, Mary’s children sued Herman Bowmar regarding 109 acres of land that Moses and Bowmar purchased from Benjamin Guthrie in 1804 as tenants in common.[43] Since Moses’s death, Bowmar had possessed the entire tract of land and received all the rents and profits from it. He also cut valuable timber from the land. They sued for their half of the land, rent worth over $300, and damages worth over $300. Bowmar argued that the purchase in 1804 was of a competing claim to the original 1,400 acres obtained by Andrew Miller. A 1834 order that settled the case ordered the commissioner to divide only the land contained in the deed from Guthrie that lay outside of Miller's claim. On May 1, 1841, Mary and three of her children — Moses, Elizabeth, and Maria — sold this land to Benjamin P. Gray for $300.[44]

Mary was also involved in litigation regarding a free Black family who was living with her. On October 3, 1818, the Woodford County court ordered that Ben, a twelve-year-old boy described in the record as “of color” then in Mary’s possession, be bound to Long and Gilford to learn the trade of tanning and currying until he reached the age of twenty-one, with $50 to be paid to him at the end of his apprenticeship.[45] The same proceeding bound Polly, alias Pope, an eight-year-old girl also described as “of color” and in Mary’s possession, to Joseph Kinkead to learn the trade of spinster until she reached eighteen, with $10 due at the end of her term. Mary moved to have the October 1818 order reversed, arguing it was made without their mother’s consent. The Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed the order on December 16, 1819.[46]

The court’s order identified Ben and Polly as the children of a woman named Jemima. It is possible that this Jemima was the same girl of that name whom Moses Payne had freed in 1794 at age seven.[47] The ages are consistent with that identification, but there is no record confirming this.

Mary’s Move to Missouri

Mary appears to have moved to Callaway County, Missouri, in the early 1830s, most likely to be near her children who had settled there. On June 25, 1829, her son Moses Upshur married Mary White in the town of Fulton in Callaway County.[48] On July 27, 1831, her daughter Elizabeth and son Jacob Upshur purchased land in Callaway County.[49]

On July 26, 1832, Mary was residing in Missouri when she sold Absolem Hunter a parcel of land in Versailles for $100.[50] On August 6, 1840, William H. and Susan Duncan and Samuel J. Duncan sold Mary land near Millersburg, Callaway County, for $300.[51]

Callaway County was established in 1820 and was named after Captain James Callaway.[52] The state of Missouri was established in 1821.[53] Mary and her children joined many other Kentucky and Virginia families who moved westward seeking newly opened, fertile, and comparatively cheap farmland following the Louisiana Purchase and the end of the War of 1812.[54]

Mary’s Death

Mary died in Missouri sometime between September 24, 1844, when she signed her will, and November 13, 1844, when her will was probated.[55]

In her will, she bequeathed to her daughter Maria Wood an enslaved woman named Ellen and her children, to be leased only within the family, and an enslaved man referred to in the will as “her man Ketty.” She also left Maria her interest in a tract of land in Clay County held jointly with Maria’s husband, William T. Wood; a $1,000 note on Payne Woods; $100 due from Middleton Miller & Co. of Liberty, Clay County; and furniture.

She bequeathed to her daughter Elizabeth Broadwell a $1,000 note held by Elizabeth’s husband, William Broadwell; two tracts of land in Callaway County adjoining Millersburg totaling 80 acres; and furniture.

She left the remainder of her property to her sons, Jacob Upshur, Andrew Miller, and Moses Upshur. She further left $100 to the Missionary Society of the Baptist Church in Missouri and $50 to John Edwards, a Baptist preacher in Clay County, both sums drawn from the note on Payne Woods bequeathed to Maria, and $100 to her grandson Samuel L. Broadwell, drawn from the note bequeathed to Elizabeth.

Mary named her son-in-law, William T. Wood, executor, and her will was probated on November 13, 1844.

Footnotes

[1] "United States, Census, 1810", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH29-JVV), Entry for Moses Paine, 1810 (listing Mary in the household).

[2] Kentucky, Lincoln. Order Book, Volume 1, 1781-1784, p. 208 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSM7-DSPF-J.

[3] Kentucky, Lincoln. Court Records, 1783-1786, p. 274 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLD-B35Y-K.

[4] Virginia. Virginia and Old Kentucky Patent Series, Patent 7544.0, Hannah and Mary Miller. https://web.sos.ky.gov/land/vakypatentseries.aspx.

[5] Summers, Lewis Preston. Annals of Southwest Virginia, 1769-1800 (Abingdon, VA: self-published), pp. 1354-1355 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9DX-C6BH.

[6] Id., p. 638 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BN-PQWG-7.

[7] Virginia. Land Records. Index of Grants I, 1783-1784, pp. 224-225 https://image.lva.virginia.gov/LONN/LO-2/050/050_0244.tif.

[8] Kentucky, Lincoln. Survey Book I, 1781-1783, pp. 35-36 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS56-F95L-7.

[9] Virginia. Land Records. Index of Grants I, 1783-1784, pp. 224-225 https://image.lva.virginia.gov/LONN/LO-2/050/050_0244.tif. Kentucky. Land Office. Virginia Grants 1, 1782, pp. 223-224 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C33S-T46D.

[10] Virginia, State Land Office. Preemption Warrants, No. 1, Nos. 1-555, p. 119 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-J36F-6YPG.

[11] Kentucky, Land Office. May's Entries 2, 1780-1783, p. 60 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLX-5SW1-4.

[12] Kentucky, Lincoln. Order Book, Volume 1, 1781-1784, p. 197 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSM7-DS53-Z. Kentucky, Lincoln. Order Book, Volume 1, 1781-1784, p. 199 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSM7-DSP2-W.

[13] Ibid.

[14] Kentucky, Lincoln. Book of Wills, Volume A, 1781-1791, pp. 74-75 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GP3V-7VJ.  Kentucky, Lincoln. Order Book, Volume 1, 1781-1784, p. 247 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSM7-DSPD-R.

[15] Kentucky, Woodford. Marriage Bonds, 1789-1860 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-993Y-46JC.

[16] Missouri, Callaway. Record of Will, Volume D, 1842-1857, pp. 113-114 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99L4-F97F-M.

[17] Kentucky, Woodford. Circuit Court Case Files, 1788-1850, Case Number 5677 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C379-14K7.

[18] Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11809224/jacob_upshur-payne: accessed 3 Sep 2026), memorial page for Jacob Upshur Payne (12 Feb 1803–11 Mar 1900), Find a Grave Memorial ID 11809224, citing Lafayette Cemetery Number 1, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, USA; Maintained by Mamarama (contributor 48076823).

[19] Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11347262/andrew_miller-payne: accessed 3 Sep 2026), memorial page for Andrew Miller Payne (27 Feb 1805–12 Jun 1874), Find a Grave Memorial ID 11347262, citing Live Oak Cemetery, Pass Christian, Harrison County, Mississippi, USA; Maintained by Thunderbird (contributor 47100429).

[20] Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107752166/moses_u-payne: accessed 3 Sep 2026), memorial page for Moses U. Payne (25 Oct 1807–9 Aug 1895), Find a Grave Memorial ID 107752166, citing Wyuka Cemetery, Nebraska City, Otoe County, Nebraska, USA; Maintained by Lloyd Donahoo (contributor 47132707).

[21] Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97095455/maria_h-wood: accessed 3 Sep 2026), memorial page for Maria H. Wood (21 Feb 1814–13 Sep 1847), Find a Grave Memorial ID 97095455, citing Machpelah Cemetery, Lexington, Lafayette County, Missouri, USA; Maintained by k75evad (contributor 47379698).

[22] Kentucky, Woodford. Circuit Court Case Files, 1788-1850, Case Number 5677 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C379-14K7.

[23] Kentucky, Woodford. Order, Book D, 1812-1821, p. 146 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9PK-XPTW.

[24] Kentucky, Woodford. Wills, Book D, 1812-1815, pp. 323-326 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9DL-N9Z7-8.

[25] Kentucky, Woodford. Order Book D, 1812-1821, p. 434 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9PK-XPDL.

[26] Kentucky, Woodford. County Court Order Book https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9PK-XB3S.

 [27] Kentucky, Woodford. Circuit Court Case Files, 1788-1850, Case Number 3438 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C379-BSZR-V.

 [28]Kentucky, Woodford. Circuit Court Case Files, 1788-1850, Case Number 4391 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C379-12LB.

[29] Kentucky, Woodford. Circuit Court Case Files, 1788-1850, Case Number 3704 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C37S-9VP2.

[30] Kentucky, Woodford. Circuit Court Case Files, 1788-1850, Case Number 4868 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C379-Y3JZ-L.

[31] Kentucky, Woodford. Circuit Court Case Files, 1788-1850, Case Number 5677 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C379-14K7.

[32] Ibid.

[33]Kentucky, Woodford. Deeds, Book H, 1819-1821, pp. 435-436 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4X-P7TH-B.

[34] Kentucky, Woodford. Deeds, Book H, 1819-1821, p. 373 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4X-P7TC-J.

[35] Kentucky, Woodford. Deeds, Book H, 1819-1821, pp. 386-387 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4X-P7TC-1.

[36] Kentucky, Woodford. Deeds, Book H, 1819-1821, pp. 490-491 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4X-P7TQ-N.

[37] Kentucky, Woodford. Wills, Book F, 1818-1822, pp. 355-359 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89DL-N9WJ-8.

[38] Kentucky, Woodford. Deeds, Book M, 1829-1833, pp. 253-254 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS45-T61Y.

[39] Kentucky, Lincoln. Court Records, 1783-1786, p. 274 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLD-B35Y-K. Kentucky, Lincoln. Court Records, 1783-1796, p. 326 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLD-B3R9-Z.

[40] United States. Appellate Case Files of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1792-1831, Roll 11, Cases 283-300, February–August 10, 1807, No. 300, Searcy, et al. v. Preston, et al. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-L3NT-D9S2-6.

[41] Preston's Heirs v. Bowmar, 19 U.S. (6 Wheat.) 580 (1821), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USREPORTS-19/pdf/USREPORTS-19-580.pdf. United States. Appellate Case Files of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1792-1831, Roll 52, Cases 1003-1027, 1819-1820, Case No. 1013 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-L3NT-WG88.

[42] Kentucky, Woodford. Circuit Court Case Files, 1788-1850, Case Number 5677 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C379-14K7. Kentucky, Woodford. Deeds, Book K, 1823-1826, pp. 153-155 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS45-T9WQ-G.

[43] Kentucky, Woodford. Circuit Court Case Files, 1788-1850, Case Number: 9772 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSYL-C9C6-F.

[44] Kentucky, Woodford. Deeds, Book Q, 1839-1842, p. 472 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QHV-N3ZL-N9XW-9.

[45] Kentucky, Woodford. County Court Order Book D, 1812-1821, p. 301-312 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9PK-C347-T.

[46] Kentucky, Woodford. County Court Order Book D, 1812-1821, p. 392 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9PK-C34S-J.

[47] Maryland, Worcester. Land Records, Liber Q., 1794-1796, p. 224 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSK4-89JP-B.

[48] "Missouri, County Marriage, Naturalization, and Court Records, 1800-1991", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKZ7-Z58B : Sat Mar 09 16:30:01 UTC 2024), Entry for Moses Payne and Mary White, 25 June 1829.

[49] Missouri, Callaway. Deed Record, Volume C, 1831-1834, pp. 283-284 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C39T-T7MW-7.

[50] Kentucky, Woodford. Deeds, Book N, 1833-1835, pp. 373-374 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS45-TX91.

[51] Missouri, Callaway. Deed Record G, 1840-1842, pp. 112-113 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C39L-P97V-4.

[52] Callaway County, Missouri, "History," Callaway County Government, accessed September 8, 2026, https://callawaycounty.org/history/.

[53] Missouri Secretary of State, "Timeline of Historic Missouri, 1821–1860," Missouri State Archives, accessed September 8, 2026, https://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/history/timeline/2.

[54] Diane Mutti Burke, "Missouri's 'Little Dixie,'" Mid-Continent Public Library, accessed September 8, 2026, https://www.mymcpl.org/story-center/about/woodneath-landscape/missouris-little-dixie.

[55] Missouri, Callaway. Record of Will, Volume D, 1842-1857, pp. 113-114 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99L4-F97F-M.