I found a newspaper article the other day from the Sheridan News:
“Hortonville—The daughter of Clark Millikan is a fine shot. She is not married and we are a little uncertain as to her age. She is staying in the home of Wm. Stanley on the township line. The other morning a hawk swooped down and grabbed a chicken which caused Miss Millikan to grab a gun and follow that hawk to his den, climbing over a barb wire fence. Taking a long shot, she killed him at the first fire, says she learned to shoot in Carolina.” –May 31, 1912 p7
The article doesn’t name the “daughter of Clark Millikan,” but it is pretty obvious to me that it was referring to Nancy Angeline Millikan.
This is one of the few pictures I have of her by herself. And she’s holding a rifle. She also has a few squirrels, which I’m sure she shot.
Nancy Angeline was the only child of Clark Millikan (1824-1926) and his first wife, Nancy Adams (1816-1852). She was born September 30, 1852 in Randolph county, North Carolina. Sadly, her Mother died when Angie was only 11 days old.
I can’t find her in the 1860 US Census. She is not listed in her Father, Clark’s household. Perhaps she was visiting someone.
In 1870, she shows up on the US Census with her Aunt & Uncle, Close & Annie Davis in Back Creek Township of Randolph County, NC. By then her Father and family had moved to Indiana. So I wonder if she was just visiting or if she lived with the Davis family. (I also haven’t found the Davis’ in the 1860 Census. So if I ever do, it may answer the question.)
After this, she is listed with Clark, and she reportedly lived with her Father until his death in 1926.
I copied this photo from a relative’s collection. The photographer’s mark on the back of the photo is from “G.N. Glass, North Side Gallery, Sheridan, IN.” The website, LangdonRoad.com, which is “Langdon’s List of 19th & Early 20th Century Photographers,” indicates that this photographer was in business from the 1880’s to 1890’s. So that gives a general time frame for this photo.
I don’t have much other information on Angeline. My Grandmother, Margaret Millikan McKinley, said, “Aunt Angie was bald. She wore a straw hat everywhere. For more formal gatherings, she had a hairpiece or bonnet that she wore.” I can’t tell from the few pictures I have if this is the case.
Nancy Angeline died from Influenza April 17, 1926 at the age of 73. She died 4 months after her Father. She is buried in the Union Grove Cemetery not far from Clark Millikan’s farm near Sheridan, IN.
One more picture of Angeline, here she holds a trophy—I wonder if it is the hawk mentioned in the newspaper article? By the way, she would have been almost 60 years old when she chased that hawk over the barb wire fence!
© MJM 2017
Chasing Ancestors 