I was looking through some of my old genealogy files, trying to organize things & I opened the file of old letters. This letter seemed simple enough and I wanted to find out more about the author, and while I did find some records to fill in his story, I didn’t find enough to complete it. 

The letter: To Arza Millikan (1883-1964), my paternal Great Grandfather. From Wm. C. Millikan. It was postmarked from Newport, R.I. on Nov 20, 1909. And the first page gives more information as to the origin: Fort Adams, R.I. The salutation is “Dear Cousin.”

The transcription is:

Port Adams, R.I.; Nov. 18” 09.; Mr. Arza Millikan, Sheridan, Ind. 
Dear Cousin.
After a long silence on my part I will endeaver to write you a few lines to let you know I am still living and geting on fine, truly hoping you the same. I guess you think I am an interesting one
(2) to correspond with, don’t you?
Well I must admit I am very careless about writing sometimes I fail to write home for weeks at the time and they will wonder what has become of me, You see after a fellow has been away from home so long as I have he gets negligent and fails to write to his own people.
Well I would like to be out in the good
(3) old state of Ind. for a short time anyway and visit all of my kin people I think if nothing prevents I will take a trip out there next spring and see if I can’t find me a nice little Ind. girl. You see I can get 3 month furlough any time I want it now for I have been in the service over seven years and never had a furlough yet
(4) and I know quite a number of fellows in Ind. I have met since in the Army and of course I would go and see them while out there. I may quit Soldiering after I get this enlistment in and if I do I am coming out and settle down in old Ind. I think. So if you know of a nice little Lady friend that would like to correspond with a soldier
(5) just put me wise and I will try and interest her through the mail ha ha enough on that, well old Cus. I like R.I. fairly well and New Port certainly is one good place in the summer-time but cold and windy in winter oh my. I certainly do get good and sick of it here in winter but we don’t have much duty on the outside
(6) in winter time you see we have indoor instructions here in the cold weather we do guard duty of course but we only go on guard about once every three weeks and then only lasts 24 hrs at the time 2 hours on duty and 4 off so we certainly have an easy time and more fun in the summertime than a little.
I think there is more girls in the state of R.I.
(7) than any state I was ever in in all my life. Say Cus when are you going back to New Mexico to live and how do you like that part of the country write and tell me all about yourself and don’t forget to get me a lady friend to correspond with in Ind.
So give all my best regards and tell the Riggs family hello for me.
Your cousin Wm. C. Millikan

So, of course the question is, “Who is Wm. C. Millikan?” Clues in the letter indicate he is a “cousin” of Arza’s. He has been in the military for 7 years. He is familiar with Indiana, where Arza lives & would like to visit again. He is looking for a girl—so he is single. He mentions the Riggs family. There were Riggs who show up on the same page as Arza in the 1900 and 1910 census records for Hamilton County, Indiana. I assume this is who he mentioned in the letter.  

First, perhaps his military service records would give more information as to who he was. I was able to find through Ancestry.com some “US Army Register of Enlistment” files from 1798-1914. These files had a William C Millikan listed for several years:

In 1902 he was listed as enlisting on October 8, in Tampa Florida by Lt. Smith for 3 yrs. He was born in Randolph Co, NC; age 26 & 2 months; occupation Farmer; eyes Blue; hair light brown; complexion fair; height 6ft 1 1/2 inches. This connects w/ 7 years in the military as the postmark on the envelope was 1909. 

Looking at the clues from this register, William was born in Randolph County, NC in roughly 1876. I went back to my genealogy files for Millikan’s from Randolph County, NC—there were a lot of them. One that fit the date of birth was William C. Millikan, son of Thomas Franklin Millikan (1846-1924). This William was the grandson of John Kelly Millikan (1826-1908) who was the brother of Clark Millikan (1824-1926), the grandfather of Arza Millikan (1883-1964), to whom the letter was written. William and Arza would have been 2nd cousins. One assumption is that William may have visited Indiana to work on Clark Millikan’s farm for a season. There were other relatives who did this. 

I don’t have good sources for William C Millikan. Records from other researchers indicate he was born in 1876. He shows up as a 3-year-old in his father’s household in the 1880 US census in Randleman Township, Randolph County, NC.

The 1900 US Census has him listed with his brother, Joseph. They are still in North Carolina, Randleman town of Randleman Township, Randolph County. He is listed as a 23-year-old farmer. His birth date was listed as July 1876. So this seems to coincide with the other records regarding age.

But this is about where the family record ends. I found an obituary for Thomas Millikan,  father of William C. He died in 1924 and the obituary stated that only one of his children, Joseph, was still living. W.C. is in the list of deceased children. The obituary of another brother, Samuel Bentley, who died in 1915, also indicated that all other siblings except Joe had passed away. Other siblings of William had passed away before this letter was written. I have not been able to find an obituary for William. But right now the indication is that he died before 1915. 

So, now that I have some idea of who William might have been, I figured I would look a little more at his military records. As I mentioned, I found records of enlistment on Ancestry.com. The first record from 1902 stated that he was in the “CA” or Coast Artillery, Company 107-117. (The Coast Artillery Corps was a US Army corp established in 1901 to defend the coastlines using heavy artillery.) Continuing on with the enlistment records, William re-enlisted in 1905 and again in 1908. 

Fold3.com had additional records for William’s military service. The “US, Returns from Regular Army Coast Artillery Corps Companies, 1901-1916” records essentially gave a status report of William’s service through the years. 

The first record for Company 117, Coast Artillery for February 1903 has William joining on Feb 3, ’03. He was a private. He was a Sergeant on the report from May 1905 and on Detached service at Ft. Monroe, VA. The report from October 1905 showed that he was discharged on October 7 and reenlisted on October 8 at Fort Fremont, SC. His character was “excellent.” He transferred to the 127th Company at Ft Fremont, SC on June 8, 1907.

In 1908, William was listed as a Private again and was discharged from the 127th Company, Coast Artillery Corps at Ft. Fremont on October 7 with final statement given of his service being “honest & faithful” and his character “very good.” He reenlisted with rank of Private to the 117th Company Coast Artillery Corps at Fort Slocum, NY on October 16th. 

He was on detached service to Ft. Wetherill, RI in January 1909. Then in 1910, he is at Fort Adams, RI which is just across the harbor from Ft. Wetherill. As a side note, most of the forts mentioned are no longer military installations, but several have been preserved as state parks. 

He shows up again in the US Census in 1910 in Newport city, Newport County, RI, Ft Adams. This entry has him listed along with the other soldiers at Ft. Adams. He is reported as being 30 years old.

The last Coastal Artillery return reports that I can find reference his desertion July 8, 1910 from Ft. Adams. The next report indicates that he was “apprehended at Newport, RI and returned to Military Control at Fort Adams RI Aug 6, ’10.” The final “Return of the 117th Company of the Coast Artillery Corps, for the month of September 1910”:

William is listed as being sentenced by a General Court Martial on September 25, 1910 to be Dishonorably Discharged. His services was “not honest and faithful.” So I wonder what happened to William during his time in the Coast Artillery that he went from being a Sergeant with faithful service to a Private, dishonorably discharged for desertion and service that wasn’t honest & faithful. 

This seemed to end what I could find about William. Then I took one more look on Familysearch.org & used their “full-text” search tool. I found some general index cards for Adjutant General communications. There was an index card for his reenlistment in 1908. Then there were cards regarding his desertion July 10 and apprehension August 9, 1910. The last card was from January 24, 1911 regarding clemency. William was listed as a “Mil. Convict, Ft. Adams, R.I.” I then looked at the National Archives to see if the Adjutant General Communication files were listed there but did not find files for 1911. 

So this is the end of the trail on “cousin” William C. Millikan. I haven’t been able to locate any more records for him. My assumptions for his identity may be correct or not. Maybe someday I’ll be able to find another record that completes this unfinished story.

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