Robert McMillan

Robert was born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland to John and Margaret McMillan. Three years later they immigrated to Philadelphia and he became a naturalized citizen when he was 21. On March 11, 1875 Margaret McPherson became his bride at Scott Methodist Episcopal Church. She was ten years younger than him, and her family had only just emigrated from Ireland in 1873.

He started his career as a tea salesman, while the couple was busy adding to their family. By 1900 Margaret had given birth to 13 with nine surviving, and the four who didn’t were buried here at Mount Moriah. 

Through the 1880s the family lived at 1708 South 11th Street. In the 1890s they were at 1607 South 12th Street, just a block away in the neighborhood known as East Passyunk Crossing. Robert was then a partner in Wolfe, MacMillan & Company, wholesale tea distributors.

By the 1910 census the partnership must have dissolved and he found a new career as vice president of Morris Truck & Wheel Company. Shortly after Margaret died in 1912 he became president of the manufacturing firm. He remained there another ten years when he retired and then went on an overseas trip. The only available photograph, shown above, came from his passport application.

Robert died of myocarditis, an inflamed heart muscle, shortly after his return. Three more children would be buried with him and his wife, along with his wife’s sister and a granddaughter. A “coping” wall surrounds the family plot on Mausoleum Hill.