Nursing Sister Sarah Miller

 

Nursing Sister Sarah Miller

Canadian Army Medical Corps 

Regimental Number: 

 Sarah Margaret Coleman was born on October 9^th, 1867 in Warkworth, Ontario.  She was the daughter of Vincent, a school teacher, and Sarah Coleman.   She received her education at Port Hope and Ottawa.  She later taught school for 13 years around Campbellford, Welcome and Gananoque.

 In 1896 Sarah graduated from the New York Hospital and in 1903 came to Peterborough as the Matron of the Nicholls Hospital, a position that she held for three years.

 Several years later, Sarah at age 39, married David Miller, a farmer from Dummer, in Port Hope, Ontario on October 16^th 1906.  They lived on a farm near Warsaw, Ontario for 10 years.

 Sarah and David were living in Warsaw when she enlisted as a nursing sister in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on July 22^nd 1916.  As a nurse, she was given the officer’s rank of Lieutenant, which brought $2.00 a day pay and a 60 cent field allowance; twice the $1.10 wage of a private in the infantry.  She listed her religion as Presbyterian, and her occupation as nurse.  She has no previous military service.  She was 48 years old, stood five feet five inches and weighed 180 pounds. 

 Sarah left for England aboard the ship Ascania on August 16, 1916 and arrived there safely twelve days later.  She was taken directly into the Canadian Army Medical Corp and posted to Moore Barracks Hospital in Shorncliffe 5 days later.

 By September 22^nd Sarah was put in charge of a Canadian Convalescent hospital in Wear Bay, near Dover.  She was later transferred back to Moore Barracks Hospital on December 24^th 1916, before being posted to No. 11 General Hospital at Moore Barracks October 1, 1917. 

David & Sarah Miller Post War

Sarah finished her wartime experience overseas when she was posted to the British hospital ship Araguaya on Feb 2^nd 1918, to care for the wounded soldiers as they made their way across the Atlantic.  Sarah arrived in Canada on February 16^th 1918, and resigned her commission twelve days later.

 Sarah returned to the farm on the 1^st concession, lot 14 in Dummer, where she continued life with her husband David until 1939.  During that time she was the correspondent for the Peterborough Examiner in Warsaw, as well as an active member of the Women’s Institute, the Legion, the Woman’s Missionary Society and the United Church.   In 1939 Sarah and David moved in to the village of Warsaw where she lived for five years before moving to Lakefield in 1944. Sarah passed away there on September 6^th, 1952, at the age of 84 years.

 Sources

Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Reel: 123. P.74.Canada. "Military Service File of Sarah Margaret Coleman Miller." Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa: Record Group 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 6196-47. Item Number 185831.Warsaw Women’s Institute 60^th Anniversary Binder: “Sarah Miller, Life Member”. Tweedsmuir Community History Collections: Stoney Creek, On, 1963-1977. Library and Archives Canada. Sixth Census of Canada, 1921. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2013. Series RG31. Statistics Canada Fonds.  RG 31; Folder Number: 81; Census Place: 81, Peterborough East, Ontario; Page Number: 9. P 10.Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1891. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2009. Census Place: Seymour, Northumberland East, Ontario, Canada; Roll: T-6357; Family No: 112. P.63.Canada. "Census of Canada, 1881." Statistics Canada Fonds, Census Place: Hope, Durham East, Ontario; Roll: C_13241; Page: 1; Family No: 3. P.1.Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1871. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Year: 1871; Census Place: Hope, Durham East, Ontario; Roll: C-9979; Page: 2.