The Germantown Press
Thursday, January 9, 1958
Germantown, Ohio
Born on Christmas Day
When we arranged to call on a certain lady here in town who had celebrated her 94th birthday a few days before, we expected to see a little white haired person, comfortably setting in her favorite rocker, with a shawl and cane. Imagine our amazement when we were greeted personally at the door by this petite little person with only slightly graying hair. Attired in her well fitting black dress with a touch of white lace at the throat, she could easily have been mistaken for a woman of sixty-five. Neat as a pin from her head to her feet, we thought after we left, that she had withstood the years, as well as the lovely Peter Lorenz coverlid, that covers the sofa in her parlor. On Christmas Day Mrs. Alice Miller of 103 South Walnut Street celebrated her 94th birthday. That fact alone is memorable. She is not only very active physically, but she has a warm, friendly personality, she is a most interesting person to listen to and she has a remarkable memory. Born in 1863, during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, near the old Moyer School, on Moyer Road, Clara Alice Moyer was the oldest of four children born to Peter and Eliza Moyer. She attended Browns Run School and became a member of the State Road Church when she was 17 years old. She has always been active in the EUB Church until she broke her hip in 1948. Since that time, although completely recovered, she does not attempt to attend services regularly. In speaking of her school days she remarked that she walked 2 miles to school over mud roads. In the winter she said, often the snow was so deep that she was unable to get to school for as much as a week at a time. Two of her teachers at the Browns Run school were Lizzie Francis (Mrs. George Hamilton) and Rich Brandenburg. In those days the schools were not graded like they are now. It went by readers. She said when you finished the 6th reader, then you could take American History and usually after that everyone stopped school. She remembers well the spelling bees held in the different schools. And also the 'celebrations' which were get to get-to-gethers held out of doors, with some sort of services and a basket dinner at noon. She said those were usually held on Saturday and if the grove was not too far from the church, it was customary for the whole group to march to and from the gathering in a body. We asked her if she didn't mean that they were usually held on Sunday, she explained that people were not so busy then and did such things on a weekday. She added people went to church on Sundays. Because everybody walked in those days there was no Sunday School during the winter months. The roads were too bad most of the time. Her father was a farmer and lived on a farm "handed down" for several generations in the Moyer family. He raised corn, wheat, oats and flax. Wheat was the most important crop. Tobacco was not raised the, she said. Although she was not able to work in the fields she said her mother helped husk corn and harvest wheat, as did most of women folks in those days. She said she definitely lived in the horse and buggy days. She never drove into Dayton herself, but she remembers the old toll gate on the Germantown-Dayton Road. She said people didn't go to Dayton often, it was too far. From her house west of town, it was 18 miles into Dayton and that was a day's trip. She added that the farm horses that she drove trotted, but didn't go very fast. She often drove to Liberty. In 1898 she worked in the John C. Schaeffer home. She also worked for the Charles Lynd family. It was during the panic of 1893 that she said things were bad. Work was scarce and she remembers Mr. Lynd telling how bad things were in business. About this time her father died and her mother moved into Germantown. She then lived with her mother and worked for Kate McCauley as a dressmaker. This was quite an establishment, with she and Lottie Hipple (Taylor) working full time and Bess Emrick, Hattie Barnhart and Mertie Boyer part time workers. Those were the days when calico sold for eight cents a yard and for ten cents you could get 'pretty good' material." she said. Skirts were several yards around the bottom and long and sleeves were big and stiffened with crinoline. Patterns were used for the skirts, but waists were cut from charts. In 1915 she was married to John W. Miller of Castine. He was a photographer by trade but after he came to Germantown he worked as a carpenter and painter. Mr. Miller died in March of 1944. Their first automobile was a Ford, in fact they never owned any other make of car. She doesn't remember how fast that first automobile went, but she said her husband said, "Well twenty five miles an hour is fast enough for anyone to go," She lived on South Plum St. in 1913 and told how she carried canned goods and other food up out of the cellar the night of the flood. Her sister and brother-in-law were in town that day and couldn't get home because of high water. The water reached a depth of 27 inches in her dining room that night. She told of Mike Swartz calling them the next morning and asking them to come up to his house, which they did. The men folk took their horses out of a stable on South Plum Street , but left the buggies. She relates the cushions were washed down the creek She has many memories: the coming of the railroad through Germantown; the first telephones, which were merely wires run from one house to another; and the Centennial Celebrations. She was working at the time and didn't get to see much of it. She recalled that the railroad offered free excursion trips to Cincinnati during the celebration and laughingly relates that two brothers were so afraid they might miss the free trip they got ready the night before and waited up all night in order to be certain they got to go. When we asked Mrs. Miller what she thought about the future she answered, " I just don't know. I just don't know. Sometimes it don't look so good, but maybe it won't be so bad. I don't let myself worry over it." She enjoys TV and radio but she said TV didn't keep her up late. On the contrary the Western programs send her to bed early. She doesn't like the shooting and when they get to arguing she just goes to bed. She likes the stories and the morning programs. Since she does not attend church regularly, she listens to the church services on Sunday morning. She gets the Sunday dinner while she listens, she said she liked to have the meal ready when Miss Mae Johnson, who lives with her, gets home from church. She said she usually goes to bed around eight o'clock but if they have company sometimes, she stays up as late as ten. She said she has always taken things as they came and makes the best of what she's got, "It's not always what I want but I make the best of it, and I don't worry. Maybe that is why I have lived to be 94 years old. I am not going to give up as long as I can go. That's the trouble with a lot of old people they just give up. I'm going to keep going as long as I can go." Her living room showed evidence of her birthday. Friends had given her potted plants and cut flowers and she had over a hundred Christmas and birthday cards. Alice Miller truly is a remarkable person and a grand little lady.
This is truly a family treasure. This quilt was made by Alice Miller, my gr gr aunt. It is all hand stitched and quilted. I can only aspire to be a quilter of her caliber.
