The 1851 and 1861 census show that a woman called Damaris Miller lived in close proximity to the family of Henry Miller & Mary Miller and it also seems likely that the ‘Dinah Miller’ listed in the 1841 census is the same person.

We believe that Damaris Miller is Henry’s mother, based on the living arrangements and close proximity that we can see in the 1841, 1851 and 1861 census entries. In addition, the Parish Registers show that her husband’s name was Andrew^[1]. The name Andrew appears on only one other occasion in the family – one of Henry & Mary Miller’s children was named ‘Henry Andrew Miller’.

Assuming that this is the same person, we can tell from the census that Damaris Miller was born in Cove, Hampshire (a parish in the Diocese of Guildford) around 1779 (based on the age given in the census and on her burial). This would seem to match up with the baptism of Damaris Aylls, daughter of William & Elizabeth Aylls of Cove (Yately Parish), who was baptised on 6th December 1781^[2].

Damaris is a rarely used female name^[3] which came into use during the reformation (16th century). It is helpful to us as it is sufficiently rare to allow us to track the family in parish records.

In May 1799 a Damaris Denyer married Andrew Miller in Guildford. At the time of writing it is the only instance of an Andrew Miller marrying a woman by the name of Damaris (it seems hard to believe that there were two women with such a rare name as Damaris marrying Andrew Millers at this time!).

It is possible, but entirely unproven, that Damaris Aylls married a Denyer at an early age, became a young widow and then married Andrew Miller in 1799. At the moment we have no firm evidence to support this theory^[4].

The family tree in this wiki has been built up on the assumption that Henry’s parents are Andrew and Damaris Miller who were married in Guildford in 1799. It is possible that future research may prove or disprove this theory - and as such this should be treated with caution!

To view the full profiles, see the individual entries for:

Andrew Miller

Damaris Miller