Elisabetha Auer
b. 15 April 1841, Oberhallau, Switzerland (1)
d. 27 July 1925, Syracuse, New York (2,20)
m. 7 January 1862
by Reverend Michael E. Strieby (3)
James H. Miller
b. New York (19)
d.
Children
Henrietta E. (Nettie) (4)
Elisabetha Auer Miller
Born in Switzerland; embarked on a trans-Atlantic voayage at age 10; married at 28; worked as a domestic servant; had one daughter and three grandsons; watched her brother Michael go off to fight in the Civil War; experienced the death of her husband and only son-in-law; lived her whole life on Syracuse's South Side. Elisabetha died in Syracuse in 1925 at age 84 and is buried with her mother Anna Maria Surbeck Auer and sister Anna Auer Elderton in Section 6 of Oakwood Cemetery.
Elisabetha was the fourth child surviving and the eldest daughter of Hans Martin and Anna Maria Surbeck Auer. She was 10 years old at the time of her family's voyage to America. In 1854, at age 13 she was living with her mother and seven siblings at 135 Orange (McBride) Street (5). Six years later, at age 19, she was living with her mother and six siblings at 18 VanBuren Street and occupied doing housework (6). By that time, her brother Frederick (the seventh sibling) had married and was living two doors down at 14 VanBuren Street (7).
In 1862, at age 20, she married James H. Miller of Pompey Hills, New York (8). Elisabetha and James had a daughter, Henrietta E. (Nettie), born in 1862. Nettie was the Miller's only child. Elizabetha became a naturalized citizen in 1863 (15). Apparently James Miller had a good relationship with Elisabetha's brother Michael. In his Civil War prison diary, the Major mentions writing a letter to 'my brother-in-law J. Miller' asking for clothing (16). The letter is dated 2 August 1864; at this point we lose track of James Miller and presume that he died between 1864 and the time of the next census, 1870 (9).
The year 1870 finds Elisabetha, then 28, serving as a domestic, living in the home of 37 year-old attorney Ansel Northrup, his 27 year-old wife Eliza and their 4 year-old son Edwin in Syracuse's 5th Ward (10). Nettie, age 8, was living there also and attending school. Northrup was born near Peterboro in Madison county and moved to Syracuse shortly after being admitted to the bar in 1859. He eventually became a County Judge (18).
In the late 1880's, an Elizabeth A. Miller, widow of James, is listed as a boarder at 122 Fowler Street, near Cortland Avenue (11). In 1900 and 1910 (ages 59 and 69), Elisabetha is living with Nettie and her three children at 236 West Castle Street (12,13), Nettie's husband Willis having died in 1895 (14). In 1920 (age 78) the family has moved to 500/502 West Castle Street with Elisabetha's grandson Howard and his wife Helen living downstairs (500) and Elisabetha and Nettie living upstairs (502) (17). Elisabetha lived at this location until her death in 1925 (20).
'Gram Miller' in her living room.
'Gram Miller' on her porch.
Additional images of Elisabetha can be found on pages devoted to her daughter and grandchildren.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Jan Dipert, Elisabetha's great grand-daughter, for the images used in this profile and to her daughter-in-law, Elma Carpenter, for some excellent genealogical research which contributed much of the detail contained here.
Loose Ends
The 1900 U.S. Census lists Nettie as being born in June of 1862 in New York. It would be good to get a date and location (likely Syracuse).
We have very little information on James Miller. I am assuming him to have been alive in 1864 when his brother-in-law Michael mentions contacting him and that he was dead in 1870, when Elisabetha, with Nettie, shows up as a domestic with Ansel Northrup.
Can we get an address for Ansel Northrup in 1870 from the Syracuse City Directory? He lived at 33 Green Street in 1880, but I can't tie his neighbors back to those in the 1870 census where no street names are given.
My notes from Elma indicate that Elisabetha is listed in the 1887 and 1889 Syracuse City Directories. There is a reference to James H. Miller in 1887 and to James A. Miller in 1889; are these reference to her LATE husband?
Fowler Street joined Cortland Avenue from the north near the intersection with Furman. Was it the present Ballard Avenue, Dearborn Place, or a street in that location that is no longer there? The Syracuse City Directory gives an address of 122 Fowler. House numbers on Ballard did not run this high in the 1951 Syracuse City Directory, but Dearborn Place runs to 126 Fowler. The address 122 Fowler Street would have been the third house north from Cortland Avenue, on the west side of the street (notes on street numbering, 1951 Syracuse City Directory).
In 1870, Elizabetha was in the home of Ansel Northrup as a domestic. Elma Carpenter found the material below in a book entitled, "Memorial History of Syracuse, NY, from its Settlement to the Present Time," edited by Dwight H. Bruce. Syracuse, NY, H. P. Smith & Co. Publishers, 1891 (Ansel bio on p. 437) - "Ansel Judd Northrup, the present County Judge of Onondaga County, was born June 30, 1833, near Peterboro, Madison county, NY. . . In May 1859 he was admitted to the bar. He came to Syracuse a month later. . . During his profession practice he has had for partners . . ." etc.
Notes and Documentation
(1) Records reviewed by Martin T. Auer at the Oberhallau Town Hall.
(2) Letter and accompanying worksheets sent from Richard N. Wright, President of the Onondaga Historical Association, to Donald J. Auer, 1355 Dutch Lane, Penngrove, CA 94951, dated 13 October 1976 (MTA Document #0003).
(3) Death notices and Syracuse City Directory entries reviewed by Martin T. Auer at the Onondaga Historical Association (MTA Document #0015).
(4) We learn Nettie's full name and middle initial from the 1920 U.S. Census.
(5) The 1854 Syracuse City Directory lists Anna Maria Auer as living at this Orange Street address. It is reasonable to assume that Elisabetha was there as well as she was listed living with her mother and siblings in the 1860 census.
(6) The 1860 U.S. Census (ancestry.com), source of this information, does not provide street addresses. However, Anna Maria and her children and her son Frederick and his wife Clara are listed as the 735th and 737th dwellings visited, i.e. there is one house between them. The 1862-63 Syracuse City Directory (6) lists Anna Maria at 18 VanBuren Street and Frederick at 14 VanBuren Street. Elisabetha's address at the time of the 1860 U.S. Census is deduced from these facts.
(7) Syracuse City Directory, 1862-63.
(8) Marriage announcement, Syracuse Daily Standard, 9 January 1862. See also (3).
(9) We have no census or directory records listing James Miller. The 1870 U.S. Census (ancestry.com) lists only Elisabetha and Nettie. The 1887 and 1889 Syracuse City Directories (9,10) identify Elizabetha as a widow. Notes taken by the OHA suggest that they found James Miller in the 1870 (age ) and 1880 censuses, but the age and place of birth ascribed to his wife (Elizabeth) and the age ascribed to his daughter (Minnie?) do not coincide with what is known with confidence. Further, Elisabetha is also listed with Nettie in the 1870 census with correct ages for both. I suspect that the OHA assumption that the James Miller listed in the 1870 census is Elisabetha's husband is incorrect.
(10) 1870 U.S. Census.
(11) 1887 and 1889 Syracuse City Directories as researched by Elma Carpenter. James is listed as James H. and the address as Fowler and Cortland in 1887 and as James A. and the address as 122 Fowler in 1889.
(12) 1900 U.S. Census.
(13) 1910 U.S. Census.
(14) Internment Records, Oakwood Cemetary, Lot 151.
(15) Civil War Diary of Michael Auer.
(16) 1920 U.S. Census.
(17) The living arrangement is pieced toogether as follows: all four members of the family are listed in the 1920 census as living at 500 West Castle. Elizabetha's obituary (Syracuse Herald, July 28, 1925) gives Elisabetha's address as 502 West Castle. Elisabetha's grand-daughter, Janet Ross Carpenter told me that Howard and Helen lived downstairs from Dodo and Nana (Henrietta Ross Towne and Jack Towne). The 1930 U.S. Census placed Howard and Helen at 500 and Nettie and Jack at 502. Thus downstairs is 500 and upstairs 502.
(18) Biography of Ansel Judd Northrup, p. 427, In: "Memorial History of Syracuse, NY, from its Settlement to the Present Time," edited by Dwight H. Bruce, H. P. Smith & Co. Publishers, Syracuse, New York, 1891. [more on Northrup in this reference]
(19) The 1910 U.S. Census indicates that Nettie's father was born in New York.
(20) Obituary, Elizabeth Auer Miller, Syracuse Herald, 28 July 1925