John Michael Millard was the second child of thirteen, of parents Joshua and Ann Manning Millard , born in 1804, in either Washington, D.C. or St. Mary's County, MD. In 1814, at the age of ten, he would have seen the British Army invade Washington and burn the Capital building and the White House.

Information on his early years in Washington has been hard to find. There is no record of a marriage. The first public record I found for him was in November, 1833 when the Arkansas Gazette newspaper reports his involvement with the "Trail of Tears" movement from the Southeast United States to the Indian Territory of Arkansas and Oklahoma.

In Nov 1833 he leads a group of Choctaws from Memphis to Fort Smith, Arkansas. In May, 1834, when the treaty with the Chickasaws was enacted, he was a witness to the treaty. In July, 1835, he escorted ten Choctaw boys to the Choctaw Academy in Kentucky. In July, 1837, and in December, 1837, he again leads a group of Chickasaw indians from Memphis into Indian Territory for resettlement. By 1840, based upon family correspondence, he has retired from the indian resettlement business and is living in St. Mary's County at the Millard family farm, "Bellville" with his mother and siblings and nephew, Frank C. Armstrong.

His younger sister, Elizabeth, married William F. Hardy, July, 1847 in St. Mary's County. In 1855, William F. Hardy acquired property in SMC known as "Rosecroft" and then set up a trust for the benefit of Elizabeth and their child, Lena. John M. Hardy was named as trustee of this trust.

Following the death of his mother in June, 1866, he became the owner of "Bellville" and retained possession until he died and then the property went through the SMC probate process.

In the 1870 U.S. Census of SMC, he is listed living with his sister, Elizabeth, at "Rosecroft". He is not found in the 1880 SMC census and is probably in Baltimore at that time where his sisters are living.

St. Mary's Beacon newspaper reported 28 June 1883, the following: "DIED At his residence in Baltimore on the 21st instant, Mr. JOHN M. MILLARD, in the 79th year of his age. May he rest in peace!"

The article recounts some facts of his life; serving the goverment, being a farmer in St. Mary's County, moving to Baltimore, mentions his being a Catholic and that he was buried near his old homesite, which would have been the Old St. Aloysious Cemetery.