When the veterans' memorial was dedicated at our cemetery earlier this year, there was a good bitof conversation and speculation among attendees about the lone Union soldier shown in the Civil Warsection. How did he come to be buried in our cemetery? Where was he from? How did he end up inAthens and what was he doing here?

Research reveals that John Baxter Miller, the Union veteran, was born and raised in Ripley,Brown County, Illinois. His father, Joseph Miller, was a farmer but there was a pottery company nearbyand several of Mr. Miller's sons, including John Baxter, worked there from an early age. By 1860 at age18, John Baxter's occupation was already being shown as "potter".

During the Civil War as troops were being recruited from Ripley and the surrounding area, JohnBaxter enlisted and was assigned to Company K of the 10th Illinois Cavalry Regiment. The 10th IllinoisCavalry saw a considerable amount of action against Confederate forces in Missouri and Arkansas, and was involved in the siege of Vicksburg, MS. But John Baxter Miller did not enlist until October 15,1864, so he missed most of the action that his unit had been involved in earlier in the war. Overall, the 10th Cavalry lost one officer and 24 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded during the war, but lostthree officers and 262 enlisted men to disease, pointing out the lack of medical care and supplies that troops from both sides experienced during the war.

Following the war, John Baxter returned to Ripley where he married Catherine, and resumed his occupation as a "potter" as shown in the 1880 Illinois census.

Another son of Joseph and Sarah Jane Miller, Mack Kendree Miller (sometimes referred to as McKendree Miller), also worked at the pottery company in Ripley as a potter and soon followed hisoccupation into Missouri and later into Louisiana. While in Louisiana, Mack Kendree heard of the claydeposits around Athens that were excellent for making pottery and thought that an opportunity existed to begin a pottery company there. Accordingly, he first moved his family to Dallas to explore thepossibilities that Athens offered, and then to Athens around 1891. He started the Athens PotteryCompany soon afterwards. His three sons, Pearl Eli, C.K. and J.E. Miller, worked in their father's potterycompany with Pearl Eli "Pearlie" eventually becoming the president although he was the youngest of the three.

Catherine, the wife of John Baxter Miller, died in Ripley, Illinois at the family home in 1894. It appears that there were no children born to this union so John Baxter was left alone as a widower at age 53.

John Baxter's brother, Mack Kendree Miller, died in Athens in 1893. With the Athens PotteryCompany having already become successful, his sons reached out to John Baxter, an experienced potter,to come to Athens to help with the company. This he did and lived the rest of his long life in Athens.

While involved in helping his nephew Pearl Eli run the company, John Baxter lived in Pearlie'shome as a boarder. In 1905, John Baxter retired at age 65 after 10 years with the Athens Pottery Company. He continued to live with his nephew for a number of years but eventually moved to the home of his niece, Mrs. Eva Isabel Wright, a retired music teacher, who lived at 205 West Corsicana Street in Athens. It was there at Mrs. Wright's home that John Baxter Miller died on October 4, 1932 at age 91, reputed to be Henderson County's oldest citizen at the time of his death. His funeral service wasconducted at Mrs. Wright's home, officiated by Rev. Nemmo Goldston, pastor of First Christian Church. John Baxter Miller (1841-1932) was laid to rest in the Athens Cemetery next to his brother,Mack Kendree Miller (1834-1893), in section F, where a number of other Miller family members rest,including Pearl Eli and his wife, Ambrosia, and Mack Kendree (II) the son of Pearl Eli. Whereas JohnBaxter Miller does not appear to have had any children, his brother Mack Kendree Miller had a large family and many of his descendants lived in Athens and surrounding areas their entire lives, including,among many others, such notable persons as Peggy Miller Wolfe, first wife of Dr. Dan Wolfe, and MaryElmina (Mina) Miller Lehr, wife of Ed C. Lehr. 


Contributed by Art Hall
Athens Cemetery Board Member & Historian

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