ADA MARION WILLIAMS (MILLER) 1877-1953

Four generation pose in Oakland, California: (from left to right) Lula Miller McCarthy, Ada, Margaret Lorraine McCarthy, and Sarah Rogers Williams.

Ed and Ada celebrated their Golden Wedding 11 March 1945 at Lula's home in Oakland.

Ada looks smug, while Ed looks perplexed.

Ada and Ed with Ada's mother, Sarah Porter Rogers Williams, in Oakland, California, 1937.

Ed always made a wonderful "Santa Claus."

The Miller family at work in the hop fields of Oregon, summer of 1931. Ada (the small figure at center) is leaning over a basket while her daughter Edna stands beyond her. Papa Ernest is virtually hidden on the opposite side of the vines from Edna. Ada's youngest daughter Lorraine was normally Ada's partner, but took a moment to take this photo.

Ada's sons Ellis (left) and Harold (right) pose with Ada's mother Sarah Williams in front of a hot pie shop undoubtedly operated by Ada and Ed. (This is possibly the shop Ada and Ed operated in Los Angeles.)

Ed with his boys in Oregon, summer of 1931. Left to right: (rear) Harold, Ed Sr., Ellis, and Ed's son-in-law, Gail Fjelstrom; (front) Lester, Ed Jr., and son-in-law Oscar McCarthy.

Ada and Ed's family gather together in Oregon, summer of 1931. Left to right: (rear) Ellis, Ed Jr., Lester, Harold, and Ed Sr.; (front) Evelyn Paterson Miller (Ellis' wife), Verna, Lula, Ada, and Lorraine.

Ada's daughters, Lula (front) and Verna (rear), share a ride on the Juab County dry farm with Ada's youngest sister, Ivy. Lula and Ivy were the closest of friends.

On the dry farm about 1914: Ada's husband Ed Miller stands far left while Ada's father, James Clark Williams, holds the donkey for Ada and her mother, Sarah Porter Rogers Williams. (The photo may have been taken either on Ed's homestead in Juab County, or on the Williams' homestead which adjoined Ed's farm at the time.)

One of Ed's Salt Lake City streetcars in the early 1900s. Conductor Ed Miller stands to the left; his unidentified driver is to the right.

The Miller family camping out with Grandpa and Grandma Williams, about 1912. Left to right: James C. Williams, Ed Miller Jr., Verna May Miller, Lester Williams Miller, Ivy Rachel Williams, Lula Vera Miller, Harold William Miller, Ellis Marion Miller, Ada Williams Miller, and Sarah Rogers Williams.

Ada's children: (left to right) Lula Vera, Edward Ernest, baby Ellis, and Verna May. After snatching the satchel, a disillusioned Lula refused to come and see baby Ellis.

A proud Ada poses with husband Edward Emerson Miller, daughter Lula, and baby Verna in 1899.

Ada, shortly before her 1895 marriage to Ed Miller.

Even after marriage, Ed would always play the fiddle for the Saturday night dances.

Ada (right), age 5, with her sister May, age 3.

[Ancestral Link: Harold William Miller, son of Ada Marion Williams (Miller).]

THIRD GENERATION
ADA MARION WILLIAMS (MILLER)(Daughter of James Clark Williams and Sarah Porter Rogers)

Ada Marion Williams was the first child of James Clark Williams and Sarah Porter Rogers. She was born 14 July 1877 in Wanganjui, Wellington, New Zealand. She spent her early childhood in Auckland, New Zealand. In 1880, when Ada was two years old, her parents out of curiosity attended some meetings held by newly arrived Mormon missionaries. Her parents investigated the teachings of the missionaries and were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 18 March 1880. About that same time, the Thomas Levis Cox family also became
members of the fledgling LDS branch in Auckland. A particular closeness developed between the Williams and Cox families.

In 1882, Ada's father traveled to Utah intending to prepare the way for the rest of his family to follow; upon his arrival in Salt Lake City, however, he was asked to return to New Zealand as a
missionary. After James Williams completed his mission in New Zealand, the family immigrated to Utah, leaving Auckland 9 November 1884 and arriving in Salt Lake City on 14 December 1884. Ada was seven years old. The James Williams family settled in American Fork, Utah, where Ada attended school. Shortly afterward, the Cox family also emigrated from New Zealand and settled in Logan, and then Ogden.

The Williams family enjoyed singing and camping together. All of them sang in their ward choirs. The Williams girls were all fleet of foot and almost always won any footraces. (Ada even took first place in a race when she was a young mother.)

When Ada was 14, an attempt was made by her parents and their close friends, Thomas and
Hannah Cox, to encourage a closer bond between the two families. They tried to foster a potential courtship between Ada and a younger son in the Cox family, John William Cox. Accordingly, Ada was invited to spend some time with the Coxes at their home in Ogden.

The conspiracy between the parents, however, did not work. As Ada's mother Sarah later reported, "Johnny[Cox] was a fine and good young man ...Ada said she liked Johnny real well as a friend, but he was altogether too good and serious for her at that time. She preferred someone with a little more nonsense and spirit about them. So, that was that." (Johnny Cox died not long afterward of tuberculosis of the bone.)

When Ada was eighteen years old, she did meet someone with just the right blend of fun and nonsense: She went to Shelley, Idaho, with Mrs. Sabina Robinson Allen to work for her during the summer. Sabina was a dear friend of Ada's mother. In November 1894, Ada attended a missionary farewell in Shelley. There she met a jovial young man named Edward Emerson
Miller. Ed had become of age two years before and had bought 80 acres of land in Taylor, Idaho, filing on it as a homestead. Ed had built a log house on the property and now happened to be looking for a wife. Ed and Ada were introduced, a mutual interest was sparked, and they were married the next spring on 11 March 1895. They were the first couple to be married in Shelley. They made their home on Ed's homestead in Taylor, Idaho.

Ada and Ed worked hard. Ed fenced 80 acres and broke ground to plant wheat, alfalfa, oats, and potatoes. Ada worked side by side with Ed as they planted a half-acre vegetable garden along with patches of corn and watermelon. They planted a full lawn with plenty of flowers and with shade trees along the front.

During the first summer of their marriage, Ada and Ed made several recreational trips to the
canyons, spending a few days at a time. On one trip coming home from Wolverine Canyon, they
were warned that an Indian outbreak from the nearby Blackfoot reservation had occurred. The Indians had been on the warpath over conflicts with the cattlemen in the Big Horn Basin, but the soldiers from Fort Hall quelled the trouble. Ed and Ada had been camping right on the Indian trail while in the canyon, not knowing they were in any danger.

Their first child, Lula Vera Miller, was born on 6 February 1896. Augusta Wadsworth was the midwife who cared for Ada.

Ada and Ed loved to attend the local dances. Ed usually played his fiddle for the dancers while Ada held the baby. An organ and violins would accompany many of the songs they sang at the dances. In winter, they would hook up the bobsleigh and bundle up with warm patchwork quilts to travel to the dances.

When Lula Vera was eighteen months old, she came down with pneumonia. Ada hung blankets at all the doors and windows of their cabin. She put a poultice of flax seed on the baby's chest every fifteen minutes and kept the baby bundled up and away from open air until Lula was well.

During their first year of marriage, the federal government was sponsoring the construction of the Snake River Reservation Canal for the Fort Hall Indian reservation. Ed was an experienced canal excavator, and he averaged about six dollars per day working on the canal. He also worked on the Cedar Hollow and Foothill canals in return for water rights stock.

Ed traded some of the water stock for a nice gentle cow for Ada to milk while he was away working. At that time, there were no fences to contain the cows or other livestock; however, when milking time came each day, all Ada had to do was to tap soundly on the milk pail, and the cow would come running home for her bran mash.

Ada and Ed lived one and one half miles north of the LDS meeting house. Most of the time, they walked both ways to church. Ada was secretary of the Sunday School, while Ed taught the deacon boys. Ed was ordained an elder on 1 February 1897 and was set apart the same day as a stake missionary. Since the stake at that time was 40 miles long, Ed had to ride horseback to visit the different wards. His companion was his brother-in-law, George E. Larson. This was only the first of several stake missions Ed would serve in his lifetime.

When Ed was released after six months, he sold his homestead in Taylor, and the family moved to American Fork, Utah. Ada traveled with her husband and three-year-old Lula in a camp wagon with a white top. They stopped at Beck's Hot Springs in north Salt Lake for a meal of ham and cornbread, then continued to American Fork where they settled in. On 6 December 1898, Ada gave birth to their second child, Verna May.

In 1900, the family was quarantined with scarlet fever. Verna was eighteen months old and Lula was four and a half. This was Thanksgiving time, and the Church sent the quarantined family a basket filled with chicken, apples, oranges, and candy.

The Miller family lived in American Fork for two years and four months when their first son, Edward Ernest, was born 8 April 1901. Exactly one month afterward, Ed, Ada, and their children were sealed as a family in the Salt Lake Temple.

About the same time, Ed signed a contract to build a pole fence over the mountain to contain the cattle on the Thomas E. Jeremy ranch. On 10 May 1901, the Miller family moved into a new caretaker's house that had been built for them. It was a frame house with two rooms and a nice porch. A few feet away, a big river rushed by. In the heat of the summer, the river would be so low that the family could wade out into the holes and pick up the big fish. The girls carried the huge fish home in their aprons. On the opposite side of the house was a steep, wooded hill with tall pine trees and a cold spring of water.

Ed and Ada milked eight cows and sold the butter to the railway section men at Gorgorza. They also traded butter to the sheep men for mutton and lamb. Once, Ed and Ada put a milk can with a tightly fitting cap in the stream to stay cool. When they returned for the milk, they saw a big brown bear mashing and mauling the milk can in the mud. The bear picked up the can and hiked over the hill, where he tipped it up and drank from it. When he was finished, he tossed the can aside and continued over the hill.

When Ed was faced with the problem of coyotes killing the sheep, he put three lambs in a corral with a mean heifer that was hard to milk. At first, the heifer tried to kick the sheep across the yard; but soon, the heifer would roam about with them all day and even let them nurse her. She became very good at protecting the lambs.

On one camping trip, the Millers took along Ada's younger sister, Amy. Amy was eighteen at the time and was staying with them. Ed was teasing her with a porcupine quill and accidentally stuck her in the leg. When he couldn't tug the obstinate quill out, Ed finally resorted to his pocket knife and cut it out. Shortly after, a sudden electrical storm took them by surprise. Everyone was frightened and dashed to some kind of shelter. The children were temporarily separated from their parents. Amy, Lula, and the baby took shelter under a big clay ledge and watched the rain pour over the ledge like thick cream. Everyone stayed in their respective makeshift shelters
until the storm was over. Afterward, to add to the comedy of mishaps, the already wounded Amy wrenched her arm as she tried to help Verna over a ditch.

On one occasion, Ada's parents, Jim and Sarah Williams, hosted a family party at Saratoga, near Lehi on the shore of Utah Lake. It was a great place for swimming and picnicking. Ed tipped Ada's sister, Lou, out of a hammock right into a muddy ditch. She had on a fine white dress. Lou gave chase, and Ed escaped her ire only by running fully clothed out into the lake. On the way home, Fred, Ada's youngest brother who was about three years old, fell through the hayrack which they were using for transportation. No one in the family missed him until they had gone a mile or so. They fearfully turned back, full of concern, but when they found Fred, he was
unhurt and sound asleep in the road.

In October 1901, the family moved to an isolated farm at North Point, west of Salt Lake City, beyond Saltair. Although known as the "Harris place," the farm was owned by Thomas E. Jeremy. Ed had taken the farm on shares, half and half. The farm had a large house surrounded by poplars and included a large barn. Ed bought Ada a beautiful "Home Comfort" range for her kitchen with lots of pots and pans to go with it. The people on the farm before them had left behind several rabbits; consequently, the property was now alive with wild rabbits of almost every color and mixture. The rabbits would constantly dart out of one hole almost under their feet and dive out of sight into another hole.

Ed drove into Salt Lake City twice a week to visit the Hotel Utah and other hotels and restaurants in order to obtain swill for the pigs. The children couldn't wait for his return so they could scour through the swill for silverware, dishes, or other treasures the restaurant workers had negligently tossed out with the swill.

During their entire stay in North Point, the family felt isolated with no close neighbors. The next year, 1902, they moved to Salt Lake City. Ed got a job driving a team for the People's Forwarding Company, owned by E. E. Rich. Ed worked there for eight months, then took a job in the roundhouse at the Oregon Short Line Railroad shops. He worked at this job almost two years

In 1904, when Ada was about to have her fourth child, she went with her children to American
Fork to be with her mother. Ada's daughter, Lula, later related how, when the birthing time arrived, the children watched the midwife arrive in her buggy. All of the visiting kids-Ivy, Verna, Fred, Verda, Irvin, little Ed, and Lula-gathered around the midwife while she tied her horse, and they eyed an important-looking satchel which the midwife had set on the ground.

Each of the children knew who the midwife was and vaguely understood that she was the one
who brought the babies. They were disappointed when they didn't see a baby on the scene, and eight-year-old Lula forthrightly demanded, ''Where's the baby?" The midwife smiled and whispered, "Be quiet and run away, or you'll wake it up-it's in the satchel!" Lula didn't believe her and instantly snatched up the satchel. She ran down the hill with all of the rest of the children following after. When she opened the satchel, of course there was no baby. It was quite a shock for the young children. When Ellis Marion Miller was born 14 April 1904, Lula was so peeved, she refused to come see the baby!

The family's next move was to the E. E. Rich farm in Farmington. This farm had rolling hills, big trees and a river. The meadow had lots of tall green grass and an abundance of colorful "darning needle" dragonflies which the girls like to catch and pin on pictures. Ada's sister, May, spent a lot of time with them. After a fresh rain, the mushrooms grew thick in the meadow. The girls took their baskets in early morning and gathered mushrooms. The family enjoyed numerous picnics in the meadow.

They had a mean rooster on this farm. Every time he saw the girls with bare legs, he would fly at them and peck their legs until they would bleed. The farm also had an old turkey and a duck who were always fighting. The turkey would peck the duck's head and eyes until they would bleed, and the duck would pluck the turkey's breast feathers all out, most of the time taking all the skin off, too. It was hard to tell which side won any of the fights.

While living on the Farmington property, Ada and Ed had a third son, Lester Williams Miller, born 9 August 1905. When Ada knew Lester was due to be born, she packed lunches for all the kids and sent them for the day to Lagoon. They returned late in the day to a new baby brother. Lester was blessed in the 17th Ward, Salt Lake City.

The following October, the Millers moved back to Salt Lake City. They moved from Center Street into a home on Seventh West. It was an old brick house with no plumbing, but with an outhouse in the back yard. The outhouse had a tin drawer in the bottom which once a week was cleaned by the city in the middle of the night. Forever afterward, the children felt it was a privilege anytime they were able to use an inside bathroom.

While living on Seventh West, little three-year-old Ed drank a bottle of Castoria cough medicine and it drugged him. Ada called the doctor. The doctor told her not to let him go to sleep, but to keep him in the open and moving. So Ada and May walked him up and down the sidewalk until the doctor came. The doctor gave Ed a hypodermic shot in the arm to make him vomit. Ed was
sick for a long time afterwards.

In February 1906, Ed got a job as a conductor with the streetcar company in Salt Lake City. He stayed at this job for twelve years. Ed swung along the running board and collected the fares.
When it stormed, he and the motorman unfurled the flapping canvas side curtains to cover the open sides. When a passenger got off, he raised the canvas and climbed down. If an electrical storm started, the motorman stopped the car. The conductor would get off and grab a long pole with a hook at the end. The conductor would then reach the pole above the trolley's roof and use the hook to pull the electric conducting rod away from the overhead wires that supplied the trolley's power.

Sometimes, mischievous boys would tie objects together and toss them over the wires in order to snag the trolley conducting rod and kick it away from the electric power. With the electrical circuit broken, the trolley would stop. The conductor would have to step out with his pole and use it to carefully guide the conducting rod back to the power line and reconnect the circuit. To the delight of any watching boys, some unusual language might accompany the process ...

Saturdays were picnic days, and everyone would crowd onto Ed's street car: women in peekaboo shirt waists and bird-trimmed hats; mustached young men in striped jackets and derbies with shoe boxes full of sandwiches and deviled eggs; and, often, someone with a mandolin. They would sing "In the Good Old Summer Time," "The End of a Perfect Day," and other currently popular songs. The girls wore starched white dresses. Young boys always wore short pants and long black stockings.

The Miller family and the Bills family shared the same house, each having their own side in a duplex arrangement. On one occasion, one of the Bills children contracted smallpox; consequently, all of the occupants of the house, including the Miller family, were placed under quarantine. Ed was fumigated and allowed to leave the house so he could work, but he could not return inside the house. He was allowed to bring the groceries just to the gate. None of Ada's family got smallpox, but they had to endure the inconvenience of the quarantine.

One day, Ada suddenly collapsed. Lula ran to get Mrs. Bills who called the doctor used by Ed's streetcar union. Dr. Benedict had Ada on the operating table within twenty minutes. She had a tubal pregnancy, and her tube had burst. There were no blood transfusions then, and as Lula later related, the hospital staff had to put five gallons of salt water through Ada's veins. Ada was very ill and remained in the hospital for a long time. She was still nursing one-year-old Lester, and to make matters worse, all of her children contracted whooping cough while she was
hospitalized. Ed worked nights so that he could be home with the children during the day. Mrs. Astor, a neighbor who lived on the comer, helped by bringing oranges and bananas. Lula did most of the household chores and cared for the younger children.

On a later occasion, while Ada was writing letters at night, her children scared some mice from the hallway. While the children were chasing the mice, Ada suddenly give a loud scream and
collapsed in a faint on the floor. The children found Ada with one hand clenched tight against her dress at her thigh. When Ada came to, she called for Lula to quickly help strip her clothes from her legs. There, right next to her skin where Ada had slapped it, was a mouse squeezed flat and mashed. Ada almost fainted again.

Ed and Ada maintained a chicken coop. They would trade eggs for wieners from the butcher and candy from a little candy store. Indians would also visit them and ask for "peechy," suga," and anything else they could think of. Ada always filled their bags and sent them happily on their way.

Ada's parents, James and Sarah Williams, lived on Grape Street (now named Almond Street, just north of the present-day LDS Conference Center). Grandpa Williams made Scotch meat pies and had a small restaurant on First South street. He had a large oven built into the hillside by his home. Ada's boys would load up a red wagon with pies and big cans of broth and pull the wagon and goods a block or two down to their grandpa's shop.

Ed bought a house on Roosevelt Avenue just south of Liberty Park and built a small house. At that time, this was considered ''way out in the country." The next spring, 1911, Lula became seriously ill after a play practice at school. When she arrived home, she was shivering, so she sat on the large oven door to get warm. Still she shivered, then she lost consciousness with a high fever. She was put to bed with double pneumonia for almost three weeks. Ada made a poultice of Denver mud and put on her chest. Her hands were tied to the bed so that she would not scratch her chest. The doctor told Ed and Ada nothing more could be done. It was Thanksgiving day when Grandpa James Williams came into the bedroom and laid his hands on Lula's head and gave her a blessing. He said, "You will get well. You are to bring to earth some of God's choicest spirits and you will have a long and wonderful life." Lula said she heard every word of the blessing. Lula did recover and lived a long life. However, during the illness, Lula lost all of her hair. Ada made her an Indian headpiece out of braided black silk stockings, and Lula was still able to be Pocahontas in the school play.

In January 1912, Ed took an option to buy 120 acres of dry farm land located in the southernmost part of Tooele County, just two miles directly south of the Lofgreen train station on the Union Pacific route. This was part of an area that had once been full of lush grass, but overgrazing by cattle ranchers in the late 1800s had turned the land back into pure desert. Experimental dry farming in this area had recently shown that wheat and lucerne crops might be successfully grown to replace the sage and juniper that now predominated. Ed's interest was piqued, and he thought he might succeed as well. Within two years, Ed and Ada signed a promissory note to Matilda Harding to take formal possession of the Lofgreen property. About the same time, Ed and Ada acquired an extra 80 acres adjoining the first property through a $200 patent obtained from the state of Utah. A few months later, Ed raised some needed
cash by selling the 80 acres to Ada's sister and her husband, Lucy and Angus Price, for $550.

Ed and Ada were also trying to develop an additional 80 acres of homestead land south of the Tooele County line in Juab County, about 10 miles southeast of the Lofgreen properties. Ed and Ada's immediate neighbors in Juabe County were Ada's parents and Ada's brother-in-law and sister, Mel and Olive Wiseman, whose families were attempting to homestead adjoining properties.

Ada and the children moved onto the farmland, but only stayed the summers while Ed remained in Salt Lake. He sold their Salt Lake home to finance the Lofgreen farm and rented another house in the city. At the end of summers, the family moved back in time for school in September. They lived in Forest Dale in Salt Lake until 1918 . During this time, Ada and Ed had three more children: George Lee Miller was born 29 November 1912, but died the next day; Edna Maxine was born 21 September 1915; and Lorraine Beth was born 29 August 1917. Ed and Ada had nine children in all.

Ed and Ada found that the success that previous dry farms had enjoyed in Tooele and Juab Counties had been a transitory mirage. Drought conditions now prevailed, and farmers in the area were fighting a bitter battle with the stubborn desert environment.

In the fall of 1921, Ed traded the 120-acre Lofgreen dry farm for a small farm in Uintah, Utah, at the mouth of Weber Canyon. They raised white turkeys, ducks and chickens. Ed also managed a dairy farm in connection with the Miller Fox Farm. Ed and Ada farmed there for ten years. During that time, Ed served in a number of positions in the Mount Ogden Stake, including stake missionary. He was ordained a high priest in the LDS Church on 23 December 1923 by Fred G. Taylor.

Between 1927 and 1929, Ed and Ada took a hiatus from their farm in Uintah, Utah, and moved to Los Angeles, California, where some of their married children were living, and tried a new enterprise. They opened a small restaurant and pie shop. Their specialty was hot meat pies and fruit pies.

In Ed's younger days, his hair was thick and black, but his hair started to tum grey when he was only 27 years old. By now, it was pure white, making it hard to otherwise obtain jobs. Once, he let his daughter-in-law dye his hair. This was rather a joke, as his hair turned more orange than dark.

In 1931, Ed and Ada sold the farm in Uintah and moved to Silverton, Oregon. There they rented a home for five months. They kept open house for the Mormon missionaries having two with them for much of the time. To help ends meet, the family worked as pickers in the nearby hop fields during the summer harvest. Their next move was to Salem, Oregon. The depression was on, and two married daughters, Lula and Verna, and their young families all came to Salem. They rented a large house for $10.00 a month and went into the baking business. Their three youngest children were still with them, and with grandchildren, 17 people lived together in the large nine-room house.

At first, they didn't have a stove, but they made do by using heavy foil and baking bread on an
old fashioned round flat-topped heater. Finally, they bought a wood range stove for $12.00.
After buying the range, they used Grandpa William's recipe to make Scotch meat pies and
sold them. Soon there were more orders than they could fill. They even catered some parties.
Ed cut the wood while Ada and the girls kept the oven full. They made about 20 loaves of bread
and 30 pies a day. Ada also did sewing to help out. While living in Salem, Ed served in the branch presidency and Ada was the Relief Society President.

Although times were tough, Christmas that year was wonderful with so many family members present. The day after Christmas in 1933, the two sons-in-law left for employment in Oakland, California. The following April, Lula and Verna, with their children, followed their husbands to Oakland. Ada's children Harold and Edna also went to Oakland to get work. Ed and Ada, with their youngest daughter, Lorraine, stayed the summer with their son Ellis on his dry farm about 35 miles southeast of Salem, Oregon.

In the fall of 1934, Ed and Ada also moved to Oakland. Work was still scarce, and Ed had a difficult time finding employment. For about six years in succession, he was the Santa Claus of choice for the H.C. Capwell Company in Oakland. Ed, always cheerful and personable, enjoyed
children and always had a good story. He had a round and chubby build, and with his jovial personality, he was a natural Santa without need of any padding.

Ada was actively engaged in doing genealogy work, spurred in great part by a dream she had one night. In the dream, Ada entered the spirit world and encountered a number of white-clothed spiritual beings. Ada expected to receive a warm greeting; instead, however, she saw each of the spirits coldly and disdainfully tum their backs to her. Ada was dismayed. When she awoke, she took the dream as a warning that she had neglected the temple work of many people, and she decided to make amends.

In 1939, Ada wrote: " ...I have my permanent genealogy book finished up to date. It is grand. I wish you could see it. I mean all the records [are] up-to-date, and now the thing is, get busy and do the work that is unfinished, and keep adding sheets, and work them out in a complete chain ...I wake up in the night doing genealogy. I feel like this is to be the rest of my life's work now, and I am not going to shirk my duty and privilege."

During World War II, Ada and Ed moved to San Jose, California, to be near their daughter Verna while her husband was overseas. They moved again to Oakland in 1944 to be with their daughter Lorraine when her husband was at sea.

On 11 March 1945, Ed and Ada celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary. Their oldest daughter Lula, marked the celebration by giving them an open house at her home in Oakland.

In October 1945, Ada and Ed moved nearby to Alameda, California, and established a permanent home. Ed and Ada were called to be LDS stake missionaries in November 1946. They served faithfully in many callings in the Dimond Ward.

Ada died 24 April 1953 in Oakland, California, while staying at her daughter Lula's home. Ada was 76 years old. She was buried 29 April 1953 in the Bountiful, Utah, Cemetery. Ed survived Ada only five months, passing away on 26 September 1953. He was 81 years old. He was buried beside Ada in the Bountiful, Utah, Cemetery on 1 October 1953.
*******
Ada's patriarchal blessing, given 10 August 1923, is recorded as follows:
Mount Ogden Stake of Zion.
Ogden, Utah
August 10, 1923

ADA MARION (WILLIAMS) MILLER.
Daughter of JAMES CLARKE WILLIAMS, and SARAH PORTER (ROGERS) WILLIAMS. [Born] JULY 14TH, WANGANUI, NEW ZEALAND

SISTER ADA WILLIAMS MILLER.
According to the request and in the authority of the Holy Priesthood I lay my hands upon thy head and give unto thee a Patriarchal Blessing that you may rejoice in the Lord thy God, who has watched over thee and preserved thee all thy days until the present moment of time, that you may receive every blessing that has been promised to His faithful children. For you were numbered among the spiritual Israel before this world was, and was among them who choose the right way before our Father, and have come to earth to receive these gifts and blessings which belong to the chosen seed, as you are of the seed of Abraham thru the lineage of Ephraim, a true daughter of Israel, and will receive every blessing that will enable thee to overcome and sit down in the kingdom of heaven. I bless thee as a mother in Israel endowed with every womanly virtue, worthy of the trust that the Father has reposed in thee by sending thee choice spirits that call you, mother, which is the greatest gift that God can bestow upon His worthy daughters in Israel, to be mothers of his trust and responsibility in the Kingdom of God, workers in Zion, and to their generations there will be no end.

I bless you with the spirit of wisdom, and the desire to comprehend the principles of Eternal Salvation both for thine own good and the blessing of others. Your talent and ability will be greatly enlarged among the people of the Lord, and your influence for good and righteousness will be felt with those with whom you labor among the little ones, and it will bear fruit in their lives in days to come to the honor of our Heavenly Father, as thy teachings will be as an anchor in their souls, and the Lord will accept of this thy labor and crown it with success for His name sake and glory.

I bless thee with the temporal blessings of life to feed thy family and comfort others in their need and help build up Zion. Continue to put thy trust in the Lord and he will overrule all things for thy good, and thy days will be prolonged that you may see the salvation of Zion for the time is near when the Prince of Peace will come to earth to reign in righteousness. The spirit of Elijah will rest upon thee that you may joy in the redemption of thy kindred, who were worthy men and women, who waited for the hour of redemption which has come to this dispensation thru the ordinances of the everlasting Gospel which you and thy family can perform for them in the temples of the Lord.

Listen to the Still Small Voice of the Comforter and it will enlighten thy mind, open thy understanding, and reveal the truths of salvation, and be an anchor to thy soul in all thy trials and afflictions, while the mighty purposes of the Lord in this generation will be made known to thee for thine own good and the blessing and preservation of thy family, for the spirit of discernment will rest upon thee and you shall know the path of duty and safety, and have courage to walk therein, for thru thy faithfulness and integrity the Lord will never forsake thee until you are brought back with thy companion and family into his eternal presence. And when the destroyer passes over the earth, he will pass by thy abode and leave thee and thy family in peace, as he has promised to his faithful ones.

I seal this blessing upon thee with all others that the Father sees will be for thy good and happiness, and enable thee to fill the mission with honor to thyself and the glory of our Heavenly Father and seal thee up to Eternal Life to come forth in the morning of the first resurrection, a savior among thy kindred and friends.

This I do in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Thomas A. Shreeve

Resource: Autobiography of Edward Emerson Miller, 1950
Autobiography of Lula Miller McCarthy
Family records of Bernita Tanner McCarthy
Family records of Lucy Williams Price
Family records of Anna La Vona Cox Topham
Family records of Marilyn Brady Elkins