John Varner and my connection to his family

John Varner (1792 - 1870) was born in the Commonwealth of Virginia the same year that the western wilderness known as Kentucky was admitted to statehood. The young Varner (a German surname, not sure of the timeline of immigration) became acquainted with that wilderness south of the Ohio River and joined the Kentucky Militia, serving during the War of 1812, and continuing his service as private for a period of five years.

In April 1813, he married Rebecca McCarty, a Pennsylvania native born in 1795. They lived in Harrison County, Kentucky, at the time, in the central part of the Bluegrass State, between Lexington and Cincinnati.

The following year, due west some 230 miles, upon the banks of the Wabash River, the Rappite community, known as Harmony, was springing to life. Founded by George Rapp in 1814, the river town would become home to a utopian society and renamed New Harmony in 1825. It was during this rapid period of growth, 1814-25, just as Indiana was becoming a state, populated along it's southernmost rivers, that my Mills family moved there from nearby Gibson County.

John Mills (1809-1897), my fourth great uncle, was intrigued by the growth of the town and it's new owner Robert Dale Owen. He married my aunt, Elizabeth L Varner (1814-1894), in Posey County, 22 Mar 1831, and they became involved in the community theater. Elizabeth was the eldest daughter of John Varner, of Virginia. He'd relocated to Harmony (Posey County, IN) sometime in the 1820's during the town's boom. The Varners and Mills obviously became well acquainted by this time and both families appear on the 1830 U.S. Census there.

Uncle John Mills was a member of the Thespian Society (1839) and active in politics. Later, he became a government surveyor and worked to survey lands across the Wabash River in Southern Illinois. My Mills became pioneers of White County, IL, and are written about in the county history. The Varners also moved to Illinois, settling in Saline County, some 50-plus miles southeast of New Harmony. That's where John Varner died in 1870. His wife, Rebecca, died three years later in Eldorado, same county. There is no record of their burial.

Elizabeth (Varner) Mills also had two siblings who married into my Mills and Hussey family (my Gibson County pioneer ancestors). Her younger sister, Sarah Ann Varner (1821-1908), born in New Harmony, married John's younger brother, my 4G Uncle Samuel Corson "SC" Mills (1812-1887) in Posey County, 10 Sep 1837. Sam and Sarah also moved to White County, IL, in the 1840's. The 1850 U.S. Census shows Sam was a Grayville innkeeper. From there, they settled in Menard County, IL, further north.

Elizabeth and Sarah had a younger sister, Mary Sneed Varner (1823-1904), also born in New Harmony, and she married George Buell Hussey (1819-1843) in 1840. George is my first cousin and his mother was a Mills (John and Samuel's sister, Aphia, in fact). His uncles probably influenced his move to Posey County from Gibson and introduced him to the Varner family. But unfortunately, he died three years into his marriage before the families moved to Illinois. His widow did move and remarried in White County in 1847.

Interestingly, John and Rebecca Varner had a son in New Harmony in 1827. They named him Robert Dale Varner (1827-1913). He didn't marry into my family, but I found his name interesting. Robert Dale Owen had purchased New Harmony from the Rappites two years earlier.

So my family was very connected to the Varner family, from the moment they arrived in [New] Harmony around 1820. John Varner started out as a shoemaker, according to his Kentucky Militia record, but soon went into farming, an occupation he held in Indiana and Illinois.

My Uncle Samuel "SC" Mills, remained connected in business to my 4G Grandfather, Dustin Mills, his brother in Gibson County, IN. They developed a chain pump for wells, which they sold in Port Gibson when the Wabash and Erie Canal was in operation. Both men were carpenters, by trade, and farmers.

My Mills arrived in Gibson County from Kennebec County, Maine, circa 1811. The Husseys arrived a short while later from the same area of Maine, coming by way of Ohio, where George B. Hussey was born. The Mills were pioneers in Southern Indiana and Illinois.

ARE ONE-PERCENTERS SCARED, YET?!?!

 

They know how the French Revolution started, right?

Are they scared, yet?

Back at the beginning of the 19th century, it was the "Second Estate" who held all of France's wealth, well them and the Church (i.e. "The First Estate"). They represented TWO PERCENT of the nation's population. In 21st century America, the wealth holders are an even more elite ONE PERCENT. They know what happened to France's Two Percenters, right?

So have they learned nothing from history? You can only stand on the necks of the other 99% for so long before a grumble becomes a revolt becomes a revolution that totally topples your government. I feel we are on the verge.

Ever since the George Floyd riots and the BLM movement came on like a storm, we've seen a shift in the national consciousness. It stands to reason. My daughter's generation is one of the most liberal we've seen since the civil unrest of the 1960's. Millennials are about to take over at the ballot box. And they don't like the choices they are being given--a convicted felon/wannabe dictator or a mostly dead old money Democrat/career politician/baby sniffer. There is no winner in that two-ticket scenario. I'd rather vote for a rotting carcass.

The one-percenters have done their damndest to hold onto power. But rich, old white dudes, I've got news for you. The clock's ticking and you're not getting any younger. Shoot yourself up with collagen, dye your hair, hell, cryogenically freeze yourself and blast your frozen self into space, your time is up. The revolution is coming for you!

I've been preaching this to my daughters since they were in middle and high school. "Get involved and TAKE BACK YOUR GOVERNMENT!"

They want to see a government that works for them and regular people and stops treating corporations like they are the weary and poor. Sidenote: Why do we call it socialism only when it benefits real, breathing human beings??? STOP CORPORATE WELLFARE AND BANK BAILOUTS!!!

Start listening to the populous or they'll be forced to demand your attention at guillotine point. How fond are you of your heads?

Are you even listening one percenters?

Those who don't learn from history...and we've been going down this Revolutionary Road for some time now. If January 6, 2021, taught us nothing else, we are ripe for another 1776 moment. Instead of fighting a monarchy and parliment an ocean away, it'll be our very own government on these shores...on the very steps of our Capitol. Sad that it has come to that, but do you see another way out? (NOTE: I don't condone the Jan 6 attacks in ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM. It's not the politicians who are to blame anyway, it's their corporate backers. Go after them!)

The one percenters aren't going to let go of the levers of power, not until we pry them from their cold, dead fingers. Yet the vast majority of you will sit there, all cozy, in your whitewashed suburban paradise with two cars tucked safely in your garages, thinking nothing can be done to fix Washington DC.

Well, Trump certainly wasn't the answer. He didn't drain one centimeter of the swamp. Nor is the mostly dead Commander-in-Chief. WE NEED NEW BLOOD! And if you think AOC is "out there," wait until you see what's coming!

Millennials are hardcore leftists, by and large. They could give a shit about your blue blood or your institutions. AND I'M HERE FOR IT!

Housing prices are astronomical, as are groceries, fuel and other staples of our Western civilization. You can't keep expecting hard-working people to hold three jobs while trying to raise children and maintain a home. It's just not sustainable. And why should it even be that way? So rich, white, old men can keep lugging their 350-pound frames into their Wall Street brokerages, smoking thousand dollar stogies and laughing at the rat race we continually run for their amusement? 

We're tired of running on the hamster wheel. It's time to get off.

We've let them control the narrative for too long. And look what they've done with it! Divided us, that's what. They've painted us into left and right boxes, playing on our fears to keep us separated, when there's a whole lot more that unites us. Our hatred of the one percent, for example. But like sheep...

I'm not a sheeple. I see the writing on the wall.

Do they?