Walter William Miller

Brief Life History of Walter William

When Walter William Miller was born on 27 January 1915, in Keltner, Christian, Missouri, United States, his father, John Calvin Miller, was 33 and his mother, Mary Hester Hall, was 20. He married Lenora Edna Coats on 13 March 1937, in Ukiah, Mendocino, California, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son. He lived in Ukiah Judicial Township, Mendocino, California, United States in 1940 and El Verano, Sonoma, California, United States in 1950. He died in 1987, in Meridian, Ada, Idaho, United States, at the age of 72, and was buried in Cloverdale Memorial Park, Boise, Ada, Idaho, United States.

Photos and Memories (1)

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Family Time Line

Walter William Miller
1915–1987
Lenora Edna Coats
1919–2004
Marriage: 13 March 1937
Donald Wesley Smoot
1933–2024

Sources (14)

  • Walter W Miller, "United States 1950 Census"
  • Legacy NFS Source: Walter W. Miller - Memory of Someone: birth: 27 January 1915; Keltner, Christian, Missouri, United States
  • Walter William Miller, "California, World War II Draft Registration Cards,1940-1945"

Spouse and Children

World Events (8)

1916 · The First woman elected into the US Congress

Jeannette Pickering Rankin became the first woman to hold a federal office position in the House of Representatives, and remains the only woman elected to Congress by Montana.

1917 · The U.S. Army Spruce Production Division

Thousands of soldiers were assigned to the U.S. Army Spruce Production Division to provide wood for airplanes and ships during World War I. Poor working conditions in 1917 caused the men to strike which slowed the logging production in the area. The demands of the strikers were rejected by the lumber companies. As the need was ever-present for lumber during the war, the government stationed soldiers to do the work. Over 230 spruce soldier camps were built and occupied throughout the Pacific Northwest at this time. 

1934 · Alcatraz Island Becomes Federal Penitentiary

Alcatraz Island officially became Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on August 11, 1934. The island is situated in the middle of frigid water and strong currents of the San Francisco Bay, which deemed it virtually inescapable. Alcatraz became known as the toughest prison in America and was seen as a “last resort prison.” Therefore, Alcatraz housed some of America’s most notorious prisoners such as Al Capone and Robert Franklin Stroud. Due to the exorbitant cost of running the prison, and the deterioration of the buildings due to salt spray, Alcatraz Island closed as a penitentiary on March 21, 1963. 

Name Meaning

English and Scottish: occupational name for a miller. The standard modern vocabulary word represents the northern Middle English term miller, an agent derivative of mille ‘mill’, reinforced by Old Norse mylnari (see Milner ). In southern, western, and central England Millward (literally, ‘mill keeper’) was the usual term. In North America, the surname Miller has absorbed many cognate surnames from other languages, for example German Müller (see Mueller ), Dutch Mulder and Molenaar , French Meunier , Italian Molinaro , Spanish Molinero , Hungarian Molnár (see Molnar ), Slovenian, Croatian, and Serbian Mlinar , Polish Młynarz or Młynarczyk (see Mlynarczyk ). Miller (including in the senses below) is the seventh most frequent surname in the US.

South German, Swiss German, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant of Müller ‘miller’ (see Mueller ) and, in North America, also an altered form of this. This form of the surname is also found in other European countries, notably in Poland, Denmark, France (mainly Alsace and Lorraine), and Czechia; compare 3 below.

Americanized form of Polish, Czech, Croatian, Serbian, and Slovenian Miler ‘miller’, a surname of German origin.

Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.

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