IRWIN LOUIS MILLER was the husband of Sophia F. Hunter Miller. Irwin's obituary from the Eufaula Times and News, dated January 4, 1900, states: "Mr. Irwing L. Miller died in Eufaula December 29th (1899?). He was born in Orangeburg District, SC, in 1818. He came to Alabama in 1838, located about 20 miles from Eufaula on Cowikee Creek. In 1845, he married Sophia Furgurson (spelled wrong) third daughter of General John Lingard Hunter, also a native of South Carolina. After the war he immigrated with a colony of Southern Families to Brazil, South America….he returned to the United States in 1884 with his wife and little granddaughter, Maude, a daughter of their second son Hayne. His wife died in Eufaula in 1890, and his oldest daughter died in Brazil, of the six children surviving, five are living in Brazil. Mrs. Teresa Miller lives in Eufaula.

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Source:

Find A Grave

# 116046853 

Sophia Ferguson Hunter

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Sophia Ferguson Hunter was the third daughter of General Lingard Hunter. She carries the middle name of her grandmother Sarah Bradwell (Ferguson) Bowler. Sophia married Irvin L. (Louis) Miller in 1845 (Irvin is also referred to as Irvin or Irwing by several writers, her tombstone simply lists I.L. Miller). Irvin Miller was born in 1818 in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He moved to Alabama in 1838. Irvin might have served in the Company D, 2d Regiment, Alabama Cavalry, or Company I, 36th Regiment, Alabama Infantry (there is an I.L. Miller and an Irvin Miller listed on both unit's rolls). Both units were organized in 1862, and Irvin would have been 42 years old, the prime age for serving toward the middle of the war. After the war, Sophia and Irvin, with several of their children, traveled with a colony of other Southern families to Brazil, South America. These emigrants were known as the "The Confederados." The Millers who came with the Charles G. Gunter's colony were known as the Doce (meaning "sweet") Millers to distinguish them from the James Miller Family referred to as the "sour" Millers [Dawey]. The 1930 Alabama Historical Quarterly reprints the diary journals of a Miss. Jennie R. Keyes (Southern Emigration to Brazil), where the Millers are mentioned often in Miss. Keyes' writing.

There was a Robert Miller [possibly the Miller's son Robert Hayne Miller] "who acquired in 1875, jointly with Joseph Jackson Cherry, a coffee plantation in Botucatu, about 120km West of Santa Bárbara." [GenForum] This is believed to be the land the Millers settled in Brazil. Following the death of their daughter Mary in Rio de Janeiro, the Millers returned to the United States. Several sources indicate they departed in October 1885 with daughter Teresa Wilson Miller (possibly married to a Robert Davies Miller who died in Brazil in 1885). Teresa Wilson Miller had by 1885 been widowed twice. Maude "a daughter of Robert" [GenForum] also accompanied the Millers back to Eufaula. The "daughter of Robert" is thought to be Miller's son Robert Hayne Miller's daughter Maude. Robert Hayne Miller married a Helena Schotz in Brazil in 1877, and records indicate they did have a daughter Anna Maude Miller [GenForum].

Sophia died in March 1890 according to her tombstone in the Hunter-Merrill cemetery. Irvin died nine years later. The inscription on Sophia's tomb attests to the love Irvin's love for his wife: "Sad is this 24th Day of March 1890, for the one who walked with me through sun and shadow lives no more."

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Source:

https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/miller/25887/

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From register of non-Catholic marriages at Santa Bárbara SP - 11 June 1877:
Robert H Miller - 23 - American - parents Irving L Miller & Sapphira Miller
Hellen Schotz - 20 - German - parents Ehrenfreid Scotz & Maria Schotz
witnesses Wm P Rolston & Jeronimo de C Freire
married by Rev Richard Ratcliff

There was a Robert Miller [but maybe not the same one] who acquired in 1875, jointly with Joseph Jackson Cherry, a coffee plantation in Botucatu, about 120km W of Santa Bárbara.

It seems that following the death of Irvin's daughter Mary in Rio de Janeiro - her husband, having no children and seeing that Irvin was in difficulties, divided his assets and gave half to Irvin, who used it to return to the US. He apparently went with his wife Sophia, his daughter Teresa (who had been twice widowed), and "a daughter of Robert" [implies that there was at least one other]. They are said to have left Rio on 10 Oct 1885, but I have been unable to identify a ship leaving around then for the US.I wonder why the child was taken?

There is considerable info available on some of the other offspring of Irvin & Sophia Miller, who originally went with Col Gunter to the Rio Doce colony - when that failed they moved to Santa Bárbara and were known as the "Doce Millers".