Who Were They?

Up for consideration today is a portrait of Mr Milo Biler – updated: Biles. He was identified on the reverse of the image as having been born Feb 9, 1853, died Mar 16, 1890. With the birth and death dates, you would think I could find more information on him, but Mr Biler is surprisingly illusive. This may be due to a misspelling in his name – possible matches are Byler, Buller, Bailer, Biller, & Bilen. That’s just a few. He was photographed at the Lloyd gallery on Church Street in Wyalusing, PA.

UPDATE: Thanks to my excellent readers, the last name has been clarified to Biles.

Milo Biles was born in 1853 to Lewis and Catherine Biles, of Wyalusing, PA. He was one of four children: Mary (1851), Milo (1853), Sarah (1855), and Willie (1859). Lewis was a farmer and in the 1860 census claimed his real estate to be valued at $2000. By 1870, two more children had joined the family: Jennie (1862), and Puller (1865). Lewis was still a farmer. By 1880, Milo had married Tilla C (abt 1855) and they had a daughter named Olive (1871).

I further found a photograph of the Lewis Biles family:

According to Ancestry, Milo and Tilla (aka Theresa) had the following children: Ossie (1878), Kate (1880), Theresa (1883), Burt (1884), and Raymond (1890).

Tilla/Theresa died April 10, 1890, just a short time after Milo. This leads me to believe there was an illness that took them.