Minerd.com Biography of Frank Clayton and Catherine Bessie (Cartwright) Miller of New Castle, PA

Frank Clayton Miller, Sr.
(1887-1917 )

Frank and his parents moved to New Castle, Lawrence County, PA during the decade between 1900 and 1910, and they resided together in 1910, when Frank was age 22. That year, his occupation was as a railroad flagman in New Castle.

Frank was united in matrimony with Catherine "Bessie" A. Cartwright (1890-1948), a native of Stoneboro, Mercer County, PA, and the daughter of George and Carrie (Leslie) Cartwright.

The couple together were the parents of three children -- Frank C. Miller, Helen Boughter and Georgetta Miles Miller.

Sadly, young daughter Georgetta contracted diphtheria of the larynx in mid-November 1918, followed by heart failure. She passed away on Nov. 18, 1915, just a few weeks shy of her fifth birthday. Her tender remains were laid to rest in Oak Park Cemetery, New Castle.

Said the New Castle News in 1917, "Mr. Miller was a barber by trade, but for the past ten years he had been following railroading. He was working out of the Conway yards when taken sick."

Conway freight yards in Beaver County, PA -- billed as the largest freight yard in the world, measuring one mile wide and eight miles long -- where Frank was employed circa 1917.

Stricken with typhoid fever, contracted in late August or early September 1917, he returned to his hometown for treatment. After suffering for 12 weeks, he was unable to recover, and died at the age of 30, in Uniontown Hospital, on Dec. 8, 1917. The funeral was held at his parents' home at 152 West Berkeley Street in Uniontown, led by Rev. Cloyd Goodnight. Then, his wearied remains were placed into eternal rest at the Oak Grove Cemetery.

Bessie later married Edward Thomas Clark (1888- ? ) and they made their home in New Castle, Lawrence County, PA. Edward was a foreman at a furnace operation in New Castle.

The 1920 census shows Helen and Frank as stepchildren -- and the only children at that time -- in the home of Edwin T. and Catherine Clark in New Castle.

Five children were born to the second marriage -- Katherine J. "Kaye" Gaston, Thomas E. Clark, Bessie J. Schultz, William F. Clark and Patricia A. Clark, between the years 1920 and 1930.

In the 1930 census, Bessie and Edward, Helen and Frank Miller, and the five Clark children resided together in a house on Meyer Avenue in New Castle.

Son Frank and daughter Helen motored from their home in New Castle to Uniontown for a weekend visit with their uncle Hadden Miller in November 1931. Also joining in that visit, said the Uniontown Morning Herald, were their uncle and aunt Gertrude and John Turley, and Knox and Fleming cousins, from Fairmont, Marion County, WV.

Bessie outlived both of her husbands. She was a member of the First United Presbyterian Church and the P.H.C. Lodge. She spent her final years at her residence at 105 North Mercer Street in New Castle, and worked as supervisor with Swing Lobby in 1946-1948. She died at the age of 58, at her residence, on June 5, 1948. The funeral was held at the Cunningham Funeral Home, led by Rev. J. Calvin Rose, followed by burial at Oak Park Cemetery. Her obituary was published in the New Castle News.

At her death, Bessie's was survived by seven children -- Helen Boughter and Frank C. Miller from the first marriage, and Kay Gaston of New Castle, Thomas E. Clark of New Castle, Patricia Clark of New Castle, William F. Clark of New Castle, and Bessie Schultz of Mobile, AL. Bessie's sisters Laura Jenkins and Jennie Jenkins, both of New Castle, and brother Frank Cartwright, of Oil City, PA, also were alive at the time.

Daughter Helen M. Miller (1910- ? ) was born in 1910. She was only seven years of age when her father died.

She married James Boughter ( ? - ? ). In 1948, at the time of her mother's death, they resided in Sandusky, Erie County, OH. Circa 1976, they made their home in North Olmstead, a suburb of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, OH.

Home office and factory of the Bessemer Company in Grove City

Son Frank C. "Bud" Miller Jr. (1913-1976) was born in 1913. He was just age four when his father passed away.

They resided on East Sheridan Avenue in New Castle and bore one son, David F. Miller.

Bud was employed by the Cooper-Bessemer Company in Grove City, Mercer County, PA. He also was a member of the Highland Presbyterian Church and the Eintracht Singing Society.

Bud passed away at the age of 63, on Feb. 21, 1976 in New Castle. His funeral was conducted by Rev. W. Wilson Bradburn of the family church, followed by burial in Oak Park Cemetery.