Hi Sue,
Enjoyed reading about "Old Abe" - Just a few snippets you may or maynot have already. You have probably seen this entry or been in touch with the McCann Family - Re Zelphia McCann wife of Columbus.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/09mw/ and the McCann website
http://users.ap.net/~chenae/mccann.htmland a couple of archive entries from way back - also named Sue, perhaps that could be you. (if it is - you seem to have hit a proverbial brick wall since 2002 and could do with a break-through)
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/WICHIPPE/2002-03/1017165808OBITUARY - ZELPHIA [MC CANN] MILLER - Mrs Columbus Miller
Had Been Ill for Over a Year. On Tuesday, April 20th, at one o'clock p.m., Mrs. Zelphia Miller, passed away at her home in this city. Mrs. Miller has been confined to her bed most of the time for the past thirteen months, and at times during her long illness she showed signs of improvement, but in all cases they were temporary.
The deceased was born at Eagle Point in Chippewa county, Wisconsin, on October 19th, 1857, and she was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas McCann, hardy pioneers of the then wild district of upper Wisconsin. She married Columbus Miller, a veteran of the Civil War, and he survives her, as do also their four children, namely; Walter and Clarence E. Miller and Mrs. Mary Leifeste, of this city, and Mrs. F. E. Springer, of Seattle, Washington. She is also survived by two sisters, Mrs. Sarah Reney, of Itasca, Wis., and Mrs. George Lord of Gainsford, Alberta, Canada, two brothers who reside in Wisconsin, and also by thirteen grandchildren and five great grandchildren.
The Miller family came up here from Chippewa Falls in the early "homestead" days and they setttled on a claim about ten miles north of the village of Iron River. For 30 years or more, the family has resided in town. Mrs. Miller has long been a member of the Congregational Church and has taken an active interest in the Ladies Aid and Missionary Society. She was a member of the Rebekah Lodge and the Samaritan and Beaver orders.
The funeral will be held Saturday afternoon at 2 o;clock from the Congregational Church, and the interment will be at the City Cemtery. The brief home services will take place at 1L30.
In the death of Mrs. Miller, the community loses a generous, neighborly woman, who was ever kind to those particularly who were in distress.
The Iron River Pioneer Thursday, April 22 1925
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wibayfie/obits-m.html