This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: ub4meib4u Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.southcarolina.counties.chester/580.1449.1.2.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Andrea's 1947 work answers many of your questions. It's hard to read the txt document, so I saved it in Word format and then used the highlight and search functions to enable me to analyze it in depth. James Miller, son of Josias and Elizabeth, was married to Margaret McAlliley. In 1790, Elizabeth Miller who has 4 boys 16 and over living with her is living between James Wyly and James McAliley. One cannot assume that name spellings were consistent prior to 1850 or perhaps even 1900 due to education levels. Many persons did not know the "old world" spelling of their name and the census takers did their best depending on how a person pronounced their name. In 1790, Charles Miller is living between Wm McKee and John Hays. Later in the Deed records, his neighbor is named William McCaa. In other census years, the neighbor's last name is spelled McKey, McCaw, McCaa, and McKay. I believe these are all the same family. The Wylies also lived next to the Millers. The last name is spelled Wyly, Wylie, Wiley, Wyley, and Wily, to name a few. This makes it hard to track in the various records, but by searching for all variations of the spelling, one can identify and track the families. Regarding Josias/Josiah Miller - in 1773, Robert Miller emigrates into Charleston/Charles Town, SC. He is listed under the Passenger and Immigration Lists in ancestry. The primary immigrant is listed as Robert, but his father is given as Josiah. In SC archives, Josias/Josiah Miller is given a land grant on Feb 6, 1773 [along with several other Millers]. The land plat is under "Jonah Miller" in the SC archives. An examinaiton of the actual plat shows that the name is actually "Josias", but the Archive's clerk mistyped or misread it as Jonah. In another place his name is give as Josias and Josiah. A comparison of the land grant, memorial, and plat confirms it is all the same property, thus the same man. There are no other Josias/Josiah Millers in the archives during the 1700's. In 1753, Josias Miller arrives on Snow Anne with his wife and child John Frederick, 3 years old. He gets 150 acres of land on Little River. Andrea says this is likely Fairfield County, which is adjacent to Chester. If son is 3, and assuming it is their first child, he would have been born in 1750, thus Josias is most likely born sometime around 1730. In 1773 a Josias arrives with son Robert. He comes after Rev Martin's group, but only by a month. Rev Martin came in 5 ships and all arrived in Oct 1773. One ship had small pox on board, so passengers had to stay on ship until Dec. 1773 The rest disembarked in October/November. A research of Rev. Martin's group confirms that the bulk of them settled in Chester. I beleive that many families connected to these 5 ships arrived beforehand to check things out, then sent for their kin. - just a hunch. MD/PA connection - There is also a Charles Miller family who moved from PA/MD area to Chester, SC [also Chester, SC was named after Chester, PA]. This Miller line later settled in old 96/Abbeville area. There was also a Robert, born 1728 who came from Ireland. All of these men are roughly the same age - Josias born ~1730, Chalres b~1725, Robert b~1728. The fact that they [at one time] all live close together, share common family names [including their kids], and are close in age, suggests that they are brothers or cousins. All are from Ireland/Scotland. It would take a long time to prove this, of course, but the population at that time generally lived in family groups and often moved together. Transportation was [as we well know] very limited and most folks were interdependent on each other. There is also a Chester document in which Robert Hindman/Hyndman states that he is the brother of Elizabeth Miller, who is the wife of Josias Miller, deceased. This proves her maiden name and her spouse. He lived in Fairfield co and may have been near the land Josias took in 1753 - again a hunch at this point. I have not researched the Hyndmans, yet. A study of census records, deed records, and court records will answer most of your questions. Millen/Milling - I do not believe these names are related to the Millers, other than by marriage. I believe Charles Miller of Fishing Creek and Wm Millen were in-laws or at the very least close friends since the two names appear together often in court records and they are also neighbors. I'll post more as I come across it. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.