A Cedar Street Mystery

Why didn’t Benjamin Miller sign the Articles of Association? His three brothers did, part of the 24 East Hampton Millers representing nearly 10 percent of the town’s eligible males who chose to support the Continental Congress at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. How could I not follow this tangent to my initial question?

I prefer to call it prescient procrastination. As I told an instructor once, I never met a tangent I didn’t like. How can you start putting pen to paper if another thread begs to be followed? The history of the Cedar Street house where my mother-in-law was born was the story circle spinning off several tangents. I loved them all.

Beryle Huntting was born in 1904, her mother having moved here in 1901, and her Uncle Jud in 1904. Jud Banister ultimately became chief of the Fire Department, and in 1936 became village mayor, serving for 18 years. He and his wife, Harriet, their house on Cooper Lane, and their camp at Three Mile Harbor provided the family a haven to return to year after year. 

Beryle collected written histories of East Hampton, especially the books and publications of Jeannette Edwards Rattray, her second cousin, who in her “Up and Down Main Street” mentions the David H. Huntting house on Cedar Street. In her copy, Beryle, in pencil, annotated “Where I was born.”

Fred Overton, a former town clerk, sent us a copy of an 1877 map placing the home of S.H. Miller at the correct location. An 1870 map of East Hampton showing the intersection of Cedar Street and the beginning of Three Mile Harbor Road also placed the sole house at that corner-lot property of S.H. Miller. Jeannette Rattray suggested that the Cedar Street house of S. (Samuel) Hedges Miller was built around 1855, following a fire at the old Miller family home in Springy Banks. We believed we had dated the house to at least 1855. 

One problem, though, produced the first tangent.

Knowing Uncle Jud’s interest in the skill and craftsmanship of the Dominys, we discovered that one of the last Dominy tall-case clocks, number 240, had been owned by the Miller family. Bessie Huntting Smith, granddaughter of S. Hedges Miller, transferred the clock to the East Hampton Historical Society. Charles Hummel, the author of “With Hammer in Hand,” which documents many of the clocks produced by the Dominys, dates clock number 240 to 1828. 

The clock raises two issues. The first is, if S. Hedges Miller was the owner, as his granddaughter Bessie believed, he would have bought it as a 14-year-old in 1828. Issue two is the supposed 1855 fire at the Miller house at Springy Banks. Trying to site the 1828 clock in a house that burned 27 years later produced a recurring vision. I kept imagining the Miller family, without the benefit of a fire department and possibly only a distant neighbor or two, yelling to those who came to “Help us get the clock out first!”

The late Sherrill Foster, confirmed by Charles Hummel, knew the answer. She provided information to the historical society showing that Benjamin Miller, S. Hedges’s grandfather, bought the Dominy clock. Benjamin Miller and his family did live for many years in Springy Banks before moving to Cedar Street. But when?

My wife and I went through various avenues, trying to pin down the age of the house at 20 Cedar Street. Insight came serendipitously and by persistence born of “that’s not right” published information. A 2007 real estate listing for the property described the house as an “original vintage cottage built in the late 1890s.” We knew that was wrong but hadn’t pursued more information until now.

Ralph George guided us to Joe Holmes, whose parents, Russell and Martha Holmes, bought the Cedar Street house in August of 1948. Joe was confident that it dated at least to 1840. 

A new real estate listing in 2014 stimulated the next house tangent. Under the headline “Historic Charm on Village Edge,” the listing said, “Originally built in the early 1900s in Springs, this home was moved to its current location over 70 years ago.” A 1904 picture of baby Beryle Huntting sitting on the front step dispelled that myth.

The listing agents graciously arranged to show us the property and let us take pictures of various features in December of 2014. The front door panels on the bottom half are clearly the same that baby Beryle Huntting was sitting beside 110 years earlier. 

Before meeting the agents and discovering that Joe Holmes had died, we learned that his brother, Russell, was living in Florida, and he described how he helped replace roof shingles in 1960. Specifically, he recalled removing one three-foot shingle, turning it over, and reading a date and the roofer’s name: “1840 George Sid Miller.”

The thing about tangents is the good ones spawn more. S. Hedges Miller was adopted and brought up by his uncle Isaac Barnes Miller, who was the key figure in the mystery of the house’s age. Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for us, he was successfully sued by Nathaniel Dominy III over ownership of the so-called “mill lot,” where the Selah Lester house, now owned by the town, sits. 

Robert Hefner, an architectural historian, with research support from Rosanne Barons, found the lawsuit details and, most important, a survey map prepared by Jeremiah Miller in 1860 and introduced as evidence in the lawsuit. 

The survey map provided the most important information. Near its upper left corner, a house, with annotations, faced Northwest Highway (now Cedar Street). Jeremiah Miller’s annotations alongside the drawing of the house listed the sequential ownership from Deacon David Talmage to, first, Gardiner Miller and subsequently to the defendant, Isaac B. Miller. Jeremiah had even drawn the front door on the side as it is today.

Court documents filed with the survey show Deacon David Talmage as the owner of the residence in 1790, having sold it to Gardiner Miller sometime before April of 1819. Most important, the documents demonstrate that Gardiner Miller conveyed the same residence and home lot property to the father of Isaac Miller on April 5, 1833. That October, 83-year-old Benjamin Miller died, the residence passing to his son, Isaac. Beryle Huntting’s great-great-great-great-grandfather Benjamin Miller became the final tangent.

Jeannette Rattray had indicated that Benjamin owned a large farm extending from Cedar Street to Springy Banks, the site of his home before 1833. Additional research suggested that Benjamin Miller worked on Gardiner’s Island, perhaps during the Revolutionary War. 

Following this tangent led to an account book of David Gardiner in the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection. On March 22, 1776, Gardiner closed the account on Benjamin Miller, listing “1 Year Work on Gardiner Is.” and paying 28 pounds for his service. 

The Miller who did not sign the Articles of Association the previous summer was not in town to do so.

As my son might say, “I see we have finally closed the circle.”

Steve Rideout and his wife, Carol Stanley Rideout, live in Hampden, Me. They regularly visit East Hampton to research family history.