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.