Millett Family in America

The Millett Family in America
From 1630 to the Present -- Following the Family Line to Clinton Babbit Millett (1874-1946)
By Gregg Baldwin Millett, Schenectady, New York (E-mail: kimmar3167@gmail.com)
(A work in progress. Last updated – August 28, 2011)

Preface

Before I started the Millett Family Project, I imagined that our first ancestors in America were probably down-and-outers, possibly let out of prison on the condition that they go to the unknown wilderness across the dangerous ocean. They were tough, survivalists, adventurers and probably free-thinkers. Reading about the 16/17th century conditions in Southwark, a rough-and-tumble district of London (from which many early immigrants to America departed), and visiting the Clink Prison in Southwark, somewhat confirmed these imaginings. It is my preference to be related to this "type" as opposed to Dukes and Earls. But it turns out that although our early ancestors were fairly common folk, they were skilled and industrious, deeply committed to family and community, and deeply moved by religious beliefs.

So who were our ancestors and what kind of lives did they lead? This is my quest -- to explore American history -- document some family "facts" and describe the times in which our ancestors lived.

It's appropriate to take a bit of pride in ancestry and a family name - the man's name! Our early American ancestors are listed in The Winthrop Society and the Original Lists of Persons of Quality! However, it's curiosity that drives me, not pride. As of 2008 we Millett's go back thirteen generations in America and fourteen generations to our great, great, great … grandfather and grandmother, John and Mary Greenoway. Imagine, a direct line of fourteen generations! However, if you are in the fourteenth generation and you figure, Mom and Dad - 2; Grandma and Grandpa - 4; and keep doubling until you reach John and Mary, then you have 8,192 ancestors who have contributed to your genetic makeup. And of course if you keep this up, recent evidence indicates, that although the genetic complexity continues to grow, it starts to funnel down to either one man living in Africa 60,000 years ago or one woman living in Africa 150,000 years ago. Each of us is an intricate piece of the human web -- highly improbable that you exist at all and highly improbable that we exist in the Universe. But we do, so on with the story.

Millett Family by Rev. Daniel Caldwell Millett (1870) is my major original historical document.
NOTE: Not all historical documents are consistent. I have given web links to many of my sources and include a list of published references at the end of this story.

E-Mails Received due to this site which may give you leads to your family history.

Millett-Cornish-Marazion (ydna) Connection

Our first family members in America were John and Mary Greenoway of Mildenhall, Wiltshire England. They had seven daughters, and amazingly, four of their daughters (Ann, Elizabeth, Susanna and Katherine) accompanied them to America in 1630 on the ship Mary and John (2nd ref. to Mary and John). After a seventy-day voyage, the ship landed at a point near Boston Harbor, and this group of immigrants founded Dorchester. Two weeks later, John Winthrop's fleet of eleven ships and one-thousand settlers landed in Salem. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was growing and the Great Migration had begun. Over the next ten years approximately twenty-thousand English settlers would brave the Atlantic crossing and settle in New England. After 1640 conditions in England improved and immigration to New England all but stopped (in fact many settlers returned to England). By natural reproduction, however, the English population of New England doubled about every twenty-eight years (reference). During this same time, indeed since Columbus came to the Americas, the native Indian population was decimated by disease and war (General History of Native Americans). Substantial immigration resumed after the American Revolution.

In April of 1635, Thomas Millett and his wife Mary Greenoway (daughter of John and Mary) set sail for America on the ship Elizabeth of London. They came with their 2-year old son, Thomas, and with Mary’s older sister Ursula. They settled in Dorchester where they lived for the next twenty years (Dorchester is now an area of southeast Boston). Soon after arriving, On May 8, 1635, Mary gave birth to John, their first child born in America. Over the next few years Mary gave birth to five more children, all born in Dorchester -- John, Jonathan, Mary, Mehetable, Bethia and Nathaniel. Two of their children, one born in England and one in America, died in infancy. From their other six children they had 42 grandchildren. (Note: The child in the direct ancestoral line of Cinton Babbit Millett is indicated by the red bold highlight.)

After about twenty years in Dorchester, Thomas and Mary moved to Gloucester, Massachusetts, thirty miles northeast of Boston, where Thomas was a teaching elder in the First Church. At some point Thomas and Mary moved to Brookfield, Massachusetts, fifty miles west of Boston, where Thomas proably perished when Brookfield was destroyed during King Philip's War. The year was 1675; he was 71 years old; he had been in America for forty years. Somehow Mary made it back to Dorchester, where she died, seven years later, in 1682, at the age of 77. (NOTE: at some point I will go to Dorchester, Gloucester and Brookfield to search for original records and to visit the areas where these ancestors made their lives in the wilderness of America.)

NathanielMillett married Ann Lester in Gloucester, Massachusetts and over the next twenty-four years they had eleven children, all born at Gloucester -- Mary, Daniel, Thomas, Nathaniel, Abigail, Andrew, Nathan, Nathaniel, Mary Elizabeth and Hannah. One of their children died in infancy, two died at age four and one died at age ten. They were farmers with considerable lands.

-- New England Expands --

(3) The Third Millett Generation

Nathan Millett (1683-1724) and Sarah Babson (1688-?)

Nathan Millett married Sarah Babson in 1709 and over the next fifteen years they had eight children, all born in Gloucester -- Sarah, Mary, Jonathan, Daniel, Anne, Andrew, Hannah and Nathan. At the age of forty-one Nathan drowned near Manchester, Massachusetts at Precapmscot by the damming of the ice, raising a head of water in the night while he was asleep.

-- The French and Indian War --

(4) The Fourth Millett Generation

Jonathon Millett (1713-1742) and Mary Henfield (1716-?)

Jonathan Millett married Mary Henfield in 1734 at Salem, Massachusetts. They had two children born at Salem -- Jonathan and Joseph. When the children were only five and seven years old, Jonathan died at Salem at the age of twenty nine.

-- Revolution and Independence --

(5) The Fifth Millett Generation

Joseph Millett (1737-1797) and Elizabeth Bullock (1736-1826)

Joseph Millett married Elizabeth Bullock at Salem, Massachuetts. From 1768 to 1785 (17 years) they had nine children, all born at Salem -- Joseph, Mary, Stephen, Anna, Andrew, Betsy, Jonathan, Benjamin and Daniel. Joseph died at age sixty and Elizabeth at age ninty.

-- Building a Nation --

(6) The Sixth Millett Generation

Daniel Millett (1785-1853) and Elizabeth Caldwell (1779-1837)

Daniel Millett married Elizabeth Caldwell at Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1807. From 1809 to 1822 (13 years) they had seven children all born at Salem -- Elizabeth, Stephen, Elizabeth, Anna Maria, Daniel, Ebenezer and Ebenezer. Two of their children died in infancy.

-- The Civil War and Westward Expansion --

(7) The Seventh Millett Generation

Steven Caldwell Millett (1810-1867) and Sarah Fuller Appleton (1811-1884)

Steven Calwell Millett married Sarah Fuller Appleton (daughter of General James Appleton and Sarah Fuller) at Marblehead, Massachusetts in 1833. From 1834 to 1856 (22 years) they had nine children -- James Appleton, Henry Lyman, John Henry Hobart, Stephen Caldwell, Frank Appleton, Daniel Caldwell, Sarah M. Appleton, Elizabeth Ann and Charles Osgood. Two of the children died in infancy. The children were born in Salem, Massachusetts; Cape Elizabeth, Maine; Janesville, New York; Stafford, New York and Beloit, Wisconsin. Steven was a graduate of Amhert College (in the class of 1830 along with his brother-in-law, Samuel Gilman Appleton). Steven became a clergyman of the Episcopal Church. In Beloit, Wisconsin he was with St. Paul's Church from 1845 to 1853 and at Oak Grove Farm, near Beloit, Wisconsin from 1853 to 1867. His westward move was very early in the period of westward expansion and his children continued this migration to other places in the west and south.

-- Developing the West and Nibbling at Empire --

(8) The Eighth Millett Generation

James Appleton Millett (1834-1918) and Louise Sara Washburn (1842-1903)

James was born May 10, 1834 in Salem, Massachusetts and died March 14, 1918 at Tampa, Florida at age 84. He married September 18, 1862 at Beloit, Wisconsin to Louise Sarah Washburn. She was born May 9, 1842 at Beloit, Wisconsin and died February 27, 1903 in Lincoln, Nebraska at age 61 (she was the daughter of Ira Ferrel Washburn and Jane Pratt). James and Louise had seven children between the years 1864 and 1879 (15 years) -- James Appleton, Anna Osgood, George Washburn, Maud Lousie, Ruth Appleton, Stephen Caldwell and Clinton Babbitt. Their children were born in Wisconsin, South Carolina and Nebraska. Clearly they were on the move.

-- World War I and The Great Depression --

(9) The Ninth Millett Generation

Clinton Babbit Millett (1874-1946) and Annie E. Gregg (xx)

Photo shows Clinton, Annie and their four children -- Gregg, Clinton, Eleanor and George -- 1914.

Clinton was born February 26, 1879 at Norman, Nebraska; died in 1946 at Omaha, Nebraska. He was married June 7, 1905 at Elsie, Nebraska to Annie E. Gregg, born at Bracebridge, Canada, daughter of George Gregg and Ann Jane Hume. Clinton and Annie had four children -- Fay Gregg, Clinton Charles, Eleanor Louise and George James all born in Nebraska. Clinton had a grain elevator, a grocery store and a Reo Speedwagon and Buick automobile dealership. He went broke during the depression.

Gregg Millett -- Born April 19, 1907 in Moorefield, Nebraska. Died March 18, 1997 in Washington State at age 90.

Kathleen Norton Jowitt (daughter of William Norton Jowitt and Ethel Adele Moses of Sydney, Australia) -- Born August 2, 1917. Died July 24, 2006 in Washington State at age 89.

Stephen Norton Millett -- Born October 20, 1944 in Sidney, Australia. Died June 11, 1989 at age 45.

(10-2) Clinton Charles Millett (1910-1964) and Martha Helen Stericker (1908-1986)

Clinton Charles Millett -- Born January 16, 1910 in Moorefield, Nebraska. Died January 31, 1964 in Omaha, Nebraska at age 54.

Martha Helen Stericker -- Born July 10, 1908 in Omaha, Nebraska. Died September 5, 1986 at Omaha, Nebraska at age 78..

Eleanor Lousie Millett -- Born July 25, 1911 in Wallace, Nebraska. Died April 1962 in California at age 50.

Max Dalton Musick -- Born November 26, 1908 in Edgar, Nebraska. Died 1986 in California at age 78.

(10-4) George James Millett (1913-2003) and Catherine Estelle Turner (1919-2007)

George James Millett -- Born September 15, 1913 in xxx. Died February 8, 2003 in Phoenix, Arizona at age 90.

Catherine Estelle Turner -- Born January 5, 1919 in xxx. Died June 12, 2007 in Phoenix, Arizona at age 88.

(10-1) Children of Gregg Millett (1907-2006) and Kathleen Norton Jowith (xxxx-2006)

Steve Norton Millett -- Born October 20, 1945 in Sidney, Australia. Died June 11, 1989 in Pheonix, Airzona at age 44.

Eugene Charles Borstell, III (Tripp) -- born March 17, 1975 in Milwaukie, Oregon.

(10-2) Children of Clinton Charles Millett (1910-1964) and Martha Helen Stericker (1908-1986)

Andrew Scott Blevins -- Born April 18, 1960 in Casper, Wyoming. Died February 21, 1983 in Lincoln, Nebraska.

(11-2 1st marriage) Gregg Baldwin Millett (1938) and Sally Lee Siewerdsen (1942)

(11-2 2nd marriage) Gregg Baldwin Millett (1938) and Elizabeth VonLobenSels (1942)

Mathew Mateo (Teo) Millett -- Born October 26, 1973 in Ocotal, Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua

Michael Machua (Mach) Millett -- Born September 4, 1975 in Ocotal, Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua

(11-2 Life Companions) Gregg Baldwin Millett (1938) and Ann Marie Parillo (1936)

Kathleen Marie -- Born September 9, 1959 in Junction City, Kansas. Died: May 24, 2001 in Guilderland, New York.

Dana Millett Vaad -- Born July 2, 1968 in Eagle, Colorado. Died July 4, 1968 in Eagle Colorado at age 2 days.

Aaron Lindsay Vaad -- Born May 23, 1970 in Eagle, Colorado. Died May 25, 1970 in Eagle Colorado at age 2 days.

Joel Douglas Vaad -- Born December 7, 1971 in Englewood, Colorado.
Jennifer Louise Vaad -- Born xxx in Englewood, Colorado. Died in infancy.

Nguyen Hoang Thanh Qu'i (adopted at age 14 months) -- Born March 21, 1974 in Saigon, Vietnam. Changed name to Nicole Nguyen Vaad.

(11-5) Gary Clinton Millett (1944) and Kathleen Mary Elizabeth Stauch (1949)

(10-3) Children of Eleanor Louise Millett (1911-1962) and Max Dalton Musick (1908-1986)

(10-4) Children of George James Millett (1913-2003) and Catherine Estelle Turner (1919-2007)

Andrew Scott Blevins -- Born April 18, 1960 in Casper, Wyoming. Died February 21, 1983 in Lincoln, Nebraska

(11-2 1st marriage) (10-2) Children of Gregg Baldwin Millett (1938) and Sally Lee Siewerdsen (1942)

Michelle Ann Millett -- Born October 15, 1965 in Palo Alto, California.
Shawn Day -- Born October 1, 1964 in Webser City, Iowa.

(11-2 2nd marriage) (10-2) Children of Gregg Baldwin Millett (1938) and Elizabeth vonLobenSels (1942)

Mathew Mateo (Teo) Millett -- Born February 26, 1973 in Ocotal, Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua.

Michael Machua (Mach) Millett -- Born September 4, 1975 in Ocotal, Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua.

Dana Millett Vaad -- Born July 2, 1968 in Eagle, Colorado. Died July 4, 1968 in Eagle, Colorado at age 2 days.

Aaron Lindsay Vaad -- Born May 23, 1970 in Eagle, Colorado. Died May 25, 1970 in Eagle, Colorado at age 2 days.

Nicole Nguyen Vaad -- Born March 21, 1974 in Saigon, Vietnam as Nguyen Hoang Thanh Qu'i. Adopted at age 14 months.

Zachary William Forshey -- Born May 20, 2006 in Littleton, Colorado. Jennifer Louise Vaad

(11-7) Children of Kathleen Adele Millett (1946) and Eugene Charles Borstel, Jr. (1945)

Daughter of (13-3) Michael "Little Porcupine" Cole Millett (1991) and Autumn "Little Bird" Rose Barrett (1993) of the Red Lake Band of the Ojibwe

__ Ojibwe Dream Catcher
Maye & Miya