Thomas Miller and William S. Thomson

What do these two Bovina gentlemen have in common?  Not a lot, but they do have this date in common.  William was born on this date.  Fifty years later, Thomas died on this date.  Here are the details:

One hundred and fifty years ago today, William Scott Thomson was born in Bovina, the son of Andrew Thomson and Margaret Isabella Scott.  He spent his whole life in Bovina, marrying Jennie Alice Archibald in January 1890.  They had three children, Andrew Ralph, Archibald Millard and Mozelle Elizabeth.  William was widowed in March 1917 when his wife Jennie died of tuberculosis at the relatively young age of 46 years.  He survived her by 4 years, dying in November 1921 of pneumonia

One hundred years ago today,  Thomas Miller died at the age of 85.  He was born on July 15, 1826 in Roberton, Scotland, the son of William Miller and Isabella Dickson.  He came to Bovina when he was about 5 years old.  In 1851, he married Elizabeth Thompson, the daughter of Andrew and Elizabeth Thompson.  They had two children, Elizabeth Thomson Miller (1854-1885) and William R. Miller (1858-1916).  Thomas was married two more times after being widowed in 1870.  He married Margaret Campbell in 1872.  Margaret died in 1882.  Five years later, Thomas married for a third time, to Jane Elliott in Garrattsville, NY.  Thomas was a farmer in Bovina, on the farm now at the end of Reinertsen Hill Road.


The death notice for Thomas Miller in the Catskill Mountain News of January 5, 1912 noted that Thomas was in robust health until July 1907, when "he suffered a stroke of paralysis and while his strong constitution enabled him to withstand the shock, he never fully recovered."  The obituary noted that in July 1911 "he had a second shock which shattered body and mind." Miller was one of the longest continually serving Elders of the Bovina UP Church, serving 54 years.

This isn't the first time Thomas has been mentioned in this blog.  See the blog entries for May 5 and 17, 2011 concerning a family squabble that involved Miller and his brother in law James Coulter.