 Miller Family History
Ryan G. Smith
It's been told the Smith family descended from
French Royalty and is uncertain how that connection is made. However, there is
record of Ryan G. and Elizabeth Mary Smith who had five daughters. Cornel, Abby,
Fanny, Ada and Orietta.
Cornel, the eldest, was born April 24, 1850 and
later married Charles B. Stout. They had five children: Arthur Ray, Eva May
Anderson (twin), Elvin (twin) and Nola Saling.
Abby Smith Boyington was the second child. She
married and had six children: Clarence, Henry (Hank), Ore, Ed, Thurston, and
Lydia Jackson.
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Fanny, the third sister, married a man with the last name of Poff and had no
children. She was the first of the girls to pass away and with no heirs her
property was sold at auction and the funds were divided between the surviving
sisters. Each received over $10,000.
The fourth daughter was Ada and she married John Collins.
They had three daughters: Pearl, Hazel and Lena (married Mel Taylor and had a
daughter, Beth).
The fifth daughter was Orietta.
Orietta Smith
Orietta was born July 28, 1865 in Warren County, Illinois. Orietta, also known as Ora, later
married Willard T. Miller, nicknamed "Tude" on February 23, 1887. Willard is the farthest
known name back
in the Miller family lineage. Together Willard and Ora had five children. They
had one girl named Fern who married Glen Stone in Illinois. Ora and Tude also
had four boys. Two of them were twins, Alfred and Albert, both of these boys
were crippled. Alfred died as an infant and Albert died at an early age in his
teens. Paul married a half-black woman named Florence when he was 70 years old.
The oldest son was Glen who married Lillian Dunn in Monmouth, Illinois.
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William (Bill) Bartley
Bill Bartley came to Glendive, Montana in about 1885. In Glendive he met a man who was
an early pioneer in the sheep-ranching business named Duplisea. He built his
ranch16 miles north
of Richey, Montana and hired Bill on as sheepherder. Instead of wages Bill took sheep. When he owned enough sheep
he started his own ranch. He did not have much of a supply of anything. The only
equipment he had was his rifle, a six-gun, a shovel and a saddle horse. His only
food was pretty much antelope, meat, grouse, and wild berries. In 1890 he went
to Glendive to get a team and wagon. Bill met 17-year-old Everett Horton, whom
he offered the job of herding his sheep. Everett took the job and worked for
Bill two years. Everett and Bill built their own plow out of a forked log. They
plowed the first furrow between the Missouri and Yellowstone River. In 1892 they
built a cottonwood log cabin. Around this time there were only seven white men
in this area. Since Bill settled there before the land had been surveyed (known
as a "squatter"), he claimed
the portion he wanted as a homestead.
After Willard Miller died in Illinois, Orietta moved to Montana near Redwater
Creek and homesteaded as a widow in 1910. Her homestead adjoined William (Bill)
Bartley’s homestead. In 1912, Bill and Orietta were
married. She moved off of her homestead and her son-in-law, Glen Stone, finished
up the claim for her. The Bartley ranch was used as a stage stop on the road
from Glendive to Arthur, Montana for settlers coming south of the Missouri
River.
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Nine months after they were married Bill was killed on October 23, 1912 in a threshing accident
on the Orville McConahaugh ranch. He died when they had only been married nine
months and he was 50 years old. Ora ran cattle instead of sheep on the ranch until she
passed away in September 1946.
Glen Miller
Glen Miller and Lillian (Dunn) moved to Montana from Monmouth, Illinois to
help out on the ranch. Their first son, A. Ray Miller, was born on October 20, 1917 in
the original log cabin built by Bill Bartley.
A. Ray Miller
After Ora died and A. Ray returned home from overseas, he took over her
ranch in 1947 for a short time until Paul inherited it. On November 16, 1950, A. Ray married Bernice Graber. They had three kids.
Connie, Victor, and Leland.
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Victor graduated college in Bozeman, then worked in Great Falls and Missoula
before settling in Salt Lake City, UT.
Connie met her first husband, Larry Webb, while at college in
Bozeman, MT. They were married in an indoor arena on horseback. Their only son,
Hank Webb, was born July 1, 1976. They divorced when Hank was young and Connie
remarried to Dave Swope from the Miles City area in 1981. They had a daughter
Tara Jayne (T.J.) born April 11, 1983. In 2001she graduated from Red Lodge High
School and is
currently attending college at MSU-Bozeman.
Hank graduated high school in Miles City in 1994, is currently married and lives in Helena, MT with his wife, Deb and daughter Jorja
where he is working for the sheriff's department. T.J. is currently a full time
college student at MSU-Bozeman.
Leland (Lee) graduated high school in Fort Benton and received certification
from Helena School of Technology before returning to Sidney in 1981. He married Jill
Carver in Fort Benton on July 9, 1982 and they have two daughters; Kimberly
born November 16, 1983 and
Jaci born September 4, 1986. Kim married Leif Halvorson on May 23, 2004 and they are both full time
college students at Dickinson State University. Jaci is currently attending Northwest
College in Powell, WY.
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