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NOTES: John Littell, "Family Records or Genealogies of the First Settlers of Passaic Valley and Vicinity above Chatham," 1852. Littell is known to have made many errors in his work, mainly in assigning people to incorrect generations or families, and provides no documentation and very few dates. However, he names not only Elizabeth and Jacob Stevens, but their children. My great-uncle, Richard Carl Stevens, in the "Stevens-Day Genealogy," 1954, named the siblings of Eliphalet Stevens, his own great-uncles. Although he had no knowledge of Littell's work, his list of siblings matches Littell's exactly. Uncle Carl seems to have made two major errors with the Stevens line: first, he confused Westfield (Essex County, New Jersey), with a non-existent Wakefield, and secondly, he found a marriage in Cape May County between a Jonathan Stevens and Elizabeth Morgan which he supposed must be the parents of the children whose names he did know. Littell, being a cousin and contemporary of the Miller-Stevens family, can probably be trusted in this case. We still seek a marriage record, but have come to know that a will is beyond our scope, as both Elizabeth's parents, and her step-mother, died prior to her marriage. There are many circumstantial clues supporting Littell's contention that Jacob Stevens did marry Elizabeth Miller, such as the naming of their children (Ephraim Miller Stevens being especially telling).
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Children by Sabera Willcox:
Children by Hannah Conkling:
NOTES: Elizabeth was a daughter of Sabra/Sabera Willcox; this is shown in Ephraim Miller's will, "Daughter Elizabeth, all furniture left by her mother at her death, when 18." (Written 4 February 1791, proved 25 February 1791, Somerset County, New Jersey; New Jersey Calendar of Wills). Presbyterian Church Marriage Records, Westfield, New Jersey. Hannah Conklin Miller died in 1792 (NJ Calendar of Wills). Her father, David Conklin, renounced guardianship of the children. Administrator (and presumably, guardian of the children) was Moses Miller. Hannah is listed as having lived in Bernard Town, Somerset County (Bernardville, most likely).
Primay research accomplished by Harman Clark <hclark@ bypass.com>, and J. Stevens, of San Diego, California.
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NOTES: Littell, (ibid.) Klett, Joseph R., editor, "Genealogies of New Jersey Families," 1996: Genealogical Publishing Company, pages 708-709, wherein many of Littell's errors are discovered and corrected. Harman Clark, and others. NJ Calendar of Wills.
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NOTES: Littell (ibid.), says Elizabeth was a daughter of Enoch Miller, Jr., by Eliza Ross. Simply tracing the Miller line, as given by Littell, shows the impossibility of this lineage, but it has gained a currency among both Miller and Stevens researchers who do not descend through this line. Enoch Miller, Sr., married Hannah Baker, whose birth has been established as 1702. Even if Enoch were much older, and had Enoch, Jr., by a prior wife, there is no way to fit the line into the known parameters from Enoch, Sr's father without a couple of unusually young marriges -- like having children by the age of 12 or 14. Littell's error was, unfortunately, echoed by Francis Bazley Lee, editor of the "Genealogical and Personal Memorial of Mercer county, New Jersey," (1907). Littell, ergo Lee, both state that Sabra Willcox, daughter of Elizabeth, and who married Ephraim Miller, was his cousin. Edwin F. Hatfield, "Hatfield's History of Elizabeth, New Jersey," (1868: New York Historical Society), states that Elizabeth was a daughter of William Miller, born 1698. Subsequent researchers who have taken a critical look at the Miller brier patch agree with Hatfield, and affirm that he was a most careful, scrupulous researcher, and that his findings may be regarded as being nearly on par with primary evidence.
Hatfield's placement makes sense. Littell's placement is nearly impossible. Until, and unless, incontrovertible evidence is produced to the contrary, I accept Hatfield's placement of Elizabeth Miller as a daughter of William Miller.
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NOTES: Alderman of the borough of Elizabethtown. On the second list of Associates, 1699. Littell (ibid.), Klett (ibid), research of Harman Clark, which relies upon the NJ Calendar of Wills, Marsh Family Bulletin, Westfield marriage and cemetery records an others.
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NOTES: Based primarily on the research generously share by Harman Clark, using Littell's work, with "The Miller Family of Union and Morris," corrections to Littell's Genealogy on Ancestry and Descendants of William Miller of Elizabethtown, NJ. Died, 1711. New Jersey Genesis, Volume 9, Number 1 (October 1961, pages 349 ff), cemetery records, Calendar of Wills, etc.
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NOTES: Research shared by Harman Clark
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NOTES: Research generously shared by Harman Clark.
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