Hi John, I have a book from Ben Salem Church. It contains their baptisms and burials. It's title is "Ben Salem Church, Growning Together Since 1797," it was published by their historical committee. I looked for a baptism for a Charles or Edwin Miller and I didn't see either. I also looked under all Millers for that birth date with no luck. I'm familiar with this area of Carbon Co. as it's where my mother's family is from. She grew up in Ashfield and much of my family is buried at Dinkey Cemetery. I've asked about baptism records at Dinkey and I haven't had any luck getting access to them. There's some published from years back at the library in either Easton or Lehigh Co. Historical Society (I forget which I'd have to look at my notes) but they're incomplete. One thing to note is both of these churches are in small rural areas. They aren't staffed or open full time. You'll just have to keep calling or try odd days and times. I think mornings are better options but I don't think Ben Salem is going to be able to tell you anything more than the book in front of me. Since you gave his parents names I did find one baptism but it was for a different child: pg. 161 Sarah Miller, b. 7.13.1850, bap. 9.15.1850 father: John Miller, mother: Elise Miller maiden: Andreas Another thought, I have a few Millers in my family too and I know that they are just across the county line into Schuylkill Co.. East Penn Twp & Andreas are right on the border, I'd try looking for Millers at Mantzville and other border towns of West Penn Twp. in Schuylkill Co. Don't know if this is much help. Let me know if you have any other questions I might be able to assist with. Michelle ----- Original Message ---- From: John Walker <j.d.walker@comcast.net> To: PACARBON@rootsweb.com Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2006 1:26:04 PM Subject: [PACARBON] MILLER, Charles Edwin b. 26 May 1856, East Penn, Carbon, PA Greetings, I am searching for documentation of the birth of my great grandfather, Charles Edwin Miller, b. 26 May 1856, East Penn, Carbon, PA. The Salt Lake City LDS Family History library has a listing of church records for the Ben Salem United Church of Christ in East Penn. Unfortunately, the baptisms end one year before my grandfather's birth. Alternatively, he may have been baptized at the Dinkey Evangelical Lutheran Church. I tried to contact both of these churches by phone today, but no one answered. I found documentation for the 26 Aug 1849 marriage of his parents, John Miller and Elisa Andreas, in the "Pastoral records of E. A. Bauer", but that does not contain baptisms, only marriages and funerals. E. A. Bauer was evidently a Lutheran minister. The family was still in East Penn during the 1860 census. The family shows up in Upper Macungie, Lehigh, PA in the 1870 census. By the 1880 census, Charles had married and started his own family. Charles' and his father's families were both in Moosic, Lackawanna, PA at that time. Charles Edwin Miller died alone in the Yukon Territories of Canada in the 1930s. I checked with the Yukon Vital Statistics office for a death certificate, but they replied that none was found (and said that was not unusual up there). If anyone can point me in the right direction, or lend a helping hand, it would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, John Douglas Walker j.d.walker@comcast.net ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to PACARBON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Michelle, Thank you for the reply. It is actually very helpful in that it confirms the vague feelings I have been getting about the situation of these two churches. I will keep trying to contact the churches by phone to learn more. However, I have thoughts about this that may mean a more complicated situation. The family ancestors before John Miller's generation tended to be members of Reformed or Union churches. I suspect that these generations spoke German at home, at church and school. They used the old German naming conventions for given names. The family surname was Muller with umlauts over the letter 'u' in earlier generations. John Miller and his siblings did not follow the German naming conventions with given names like Daniel, Elisabeth, John and Monroe. I am beginning to think that during this generation they made a shift from the Germanic influences to English. This would most likely have affected their choice in churches and schools. Our family history tells us that Charles Edwin Miller and some of his siblings were members of the Presbyterian Church. My limited understanding of religious history suggests that Presbyterianism is an anglicized version of the Reformed religion. John Miller and Elisa Andreas were married by what appears to be an itinerant Lutheran minister named Ernst August Bauer. I have seen his records and they just cover marriages and deaths. I suspect that the church/language transition I have theorized about may mean that Charles Edwin Miller's baptism could just as well have occurred in some unlikely church as the two churches mentioned above, or by another itinerant minister. One question I have: why does the microfilm edition of the Ben Salem baptisms stop at 1855? Was there something significant in church history at that time? Well, enough thinking out loud, but it does help to organize thoughts. Thanks again. By the way, the Sarah (Amanda) Miller you mentioned is Charles Edwin's eldest sister. Cheers, John Douglas Walker j.d.walker@comcast.net -----Original Message----- From: pacarbon-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:pacarbon-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Michelle LeClair Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2006 7:43 PM To: pacarbon@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [PACARBON] MILLER, Charles Edwin b. 26 May 1856, East Penn,Carbon, PA Hi John, I have a book from Ben Salem Church. It contains their baptisms and burials. It's title is "Ben Salem Church, Growning Together Since 1797," it was published by their historical committee. I looked for a baptism for a Charles or Edwin Miller and I didn't see either. I also looked under all Millers for that birth date with no luck. I'm familiar with this area of Carbon Co. as it's where my mother's family is from. She grew up in Ashfield and much of my family is buried at Dinkey Cemetery. I've asked about baptism records at Dinkey and I haven't had any luck getting access to them. There's some published from years back at the library in either Easton or Lehigh Co. Historical Society (I forget which I'd have to look at my notes) but they're incomplete. One thing to note is both of these churches are in small rural areas. They aren't staffed or open full time. You'll just have to keep calling or try odd days and times. I think mornings are better options but I don't think Ben Salem is going to be able to tell you anything more than the book in front of me. Since you gave his parents names I did find one baptism but it was for a different child: pg. 161 Sarah Miller, b. 7.13.1850, bap. 9.15.1850 father: John Miller, mother: Elise Miller maiden: Andreas Another thought, I have a few Millers in my family too and I know that they are just across the county line into Schuylkill Co.. East Penn Twp & Andreas are right on the border, I'd try looking for Millers at Mantzville and other border towns of West Penn Twp. in Schuylkill Co. Don't know if this is much help. Let me know if you have any other questions I might be able to assist with. Michelle