Photo Record
Images
Additional Images [3]
Metadata
Title |
Miller-Weller Family Photographs |
Collection |
Miller-Weller Family Photograph Collection |
Catalog Number |
024PC6 |
Date |
ca. 1870-1900s |
Location |
Kentucky / Jefferson County |
Description |
The collection consists of a small group of twenty-three photographs from the Miller family of Louisville, Kentucky, who married into the Weller family. The Wellers are connected to the Millers via Medora Miller, a daughter of Thomas B. Miller and Mary Ditto Miller, who married William Larue Weller, III. There are also photographs of the Leonard family, descended from Linda Mora Miller Leonard. Oversized photograph of Harriet Harris Weller [024PC6.07] has been removed from collection and stored in individuals due to size. The photographs predominantly document Thomas B. Miller and Mary Belle Ditto's [024PC6.09] descendants, as well as one photograph of Thomas B. Miller's grandmother, Mary Howard Miller [024PC6.08]. Thomas was born to Howard Miller and Medora Griffin Miller in Jefferson County, Kentucky. Thomas was a farmer in Jefferson County. He married Mary B. Ditto in Meade County in 1880. They had seven children together, most of which are documented in the photos: Linda Mora Miller, Howard Lewis Miller [024PC6.12], Mabel Miller, Medora Miller, Carl Miller, [024PC6.11], Paul Ditto and William Wallace Miller [024PC6.10]. Thomas and some of his children went on to operate a lumber company in the Medora neighborhood of Louisville (near Valley Station) called T. B. Miller & Sons, which built houses and had a lumber and coal yard that delivered to the surrounding area. Thomas B. Miller's sons, William Wallace Miller, Carl T. Miller, Howard Miller, and Paul Ditto Miller were all involved in his lumber company with him. William Wallace lived in Valley Station, working as a building contractor and maintenance man. He served in WWI from 1918-1919, stationed at Camp Taylor. He married Clara O'Neal in 1918. Eventually, Wallace moved to the Audubon / Camp Taylor neighborhood of Louisville and worked at the family business. Paul Ditto Miller owned and worked on his own farm in Valley Station. He served in the U. S. Army abroad as a sergeant during WWI until being discharged in 1919. Paul was President of the farmer's loan division of the Federal Bank of Louisville. He was also a charter member of the Farm Bureau in Louisville. Carl Miller worked as a drainage contractor for the Drainage Commission of McLean County before moving back to the Camp Taylor area of Louisville sometime before 1942. At this point, he began working in the family business and eventually became president of T. B. Miller & Sons lumber company. He also worked as an executive in the real estate business. Howard Miller was a corporation officer for T. B. Miller & Sons. Linda Mora Miller married Reverend Charles Samuel Leonard, and together they had eight children, most of which are documented in the photographs: Mora [024PC6.15, .18], Lucille [024PC6.13, .18], William Carey, Paul [024PC6.16], Morton, Miriam [024PC6.17], Charles, and Grace [024PC6.14]. Although Charles was a traveling minister, they would sometimes stay with Linda Mora's parents in Louisville. There is a small grouping of photographs of the Weller Family, including William LaRue Weller, Sr. [024PC6.01], G. Paul Weller [024PC6.02-.03], Annie Ritman Weller [024PC6.05], William Larue Weller, III, [024PC6.06], and Harriett Harris Weller [024PC6.07]. Medora Miller was married to William Larue Weller, III, the grandson of the notable bourbon distiller William L. Weller, Sr. The Weller family moved to Kentucky in the 1790s, and distilled on their land, contributing to the early foundations of the whiskey industry in Kentucky. William LaRue Weller, Sr. was born to Captain Samuel Weller and Phoebe Larue in Hardin County, Kentucky, in 1825. After serving with the Louisville Brigade in the 1840s, William LaRue Weller returned to Louisville to open his liquor business, following suit after his paternal grandfather and his maternal great-grandfather. He began his career as a wholesale whiskey dealer and distiller. Weller is known for developing his original bourbon recipe with wheat, rather than rye in the mash bill. He started W. L. Weller & Brothers with his brother, Charles, before changing the name to W. L. Weller & Sons. The brand continued growing over the years, and eventually Julian Van Winkle, Sr., bought the company in 1908, shortly after Weller died. Items digitized: 024PC6.01: William Larue Weller, Sr., ca. 1890s. 024PC6.02: Unidentified man in a WWI-era Army uniform, ca. 1918. This is likely G. Paul Weller, he was a private in the Army during WWI. Donor identified him as "Paul." 024PC6.04: Unidentified man in a WWI uniform, ca. 1918. Likely from Weller family. 024PC6.07: Harriet Harris Weller (Mrs. William L. Weller, Jr.), ca. 1930s. 024PC6.09: Tintype of Mary Ditto Miller, ca. 1874. 024PC6.10: Paul Ditto Miller and William Wallace Miller in WWI uniforms, 1918. 024PC6.14: Grace Leonard, ca. 1920s. 024PC6.15: Mora Leonard, ca. 1920s. 024PC6.18: Mora, Lucille, and Eric Leonard and baby Phyllis, 1922. |
Search Terms |
Bourbon whiskey Distillers Families |