Like a farmer, J. W. wore denim overalls and smoked a corncob pipe, at times preferring chewing tobacco. Even when someone would give him a new pipe, he would set it aside for his corncob pipe. J. W. was only 21 years of age, when he, married Mary Davison, 30 years of age, on November 28, 1888, at the St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Josephville, in St. Charles County, Missouri. They rented their home on a local farm where J. W. was a sharecropper. On the farm he harvested corn, wheat and oats.

J. W. and Mary were married a year and a half when their first daughter, Elizabeth, was born, June 12, 1890. The following year, Emma, was born on August 26, 1891. J. W. and his family were always on the move. Not long after Emma’s birth they packed up their household belongings into a covered wagon and set up their team of mules and moved their family to Corpus Christi, Texas. Mary’s health was not very good and J. W. hoped that the change of climate would improve her condition. They lived on the King’s Ranch in Texas. While in Texas, two more children were born, Roger, on June 10, 1893 and Mary Willa, November 9, 1895. After living in Texas for about 4 or 5 years, J. W. longed for his hometown in Missouri. They packed up their belongings and their animals into a rented boxcar and returned home by train.

This time, their move was to Lincoln County, which is situated on the north border of St. Charles County. J. W. and Mary had another daughter, Anna, in December 1897. This birth took its toll on Mary’s health, she died the following year, June 15, 1898, of consumption. On June 17, she was buried at the St. Theodore Catholic Church cemetery in Flint Hill, St. Charles County, Missouri.

After Mary’s death, J. W. found himself with five young children to raise. His sister-in-law, Emma Davison, moved into their home. As his daughters became older, they found jobs working at people’s homes, and then later they married. His son, Roger, who served in World War I, and he lived together until J. W. married a second time.

Since J. W. lived to the age of 95, one can say that he lived two lifetimes. He was only 51 years old when he married Bertha Nora Kitson on January 19, 1918 in Troy, Lincoln County, Missouri. After the wedding, they moved to Marthasville Route in Warren County and purchased 100 acres of land. J. W. owned three mules, Mike, Katie, and Judy and 5 cows in which he bred to sell the calves. They kept one cow to provide milk for the home. The street in Marthasville Route was known as “Mills Country”—that was the nickname for the neighborhood. Their neighbors were Jim Mills and his wife Annie, who had the second farm west of J. W. Mills. Tom Mills and his wife Maggie and their son Wilford and Charlie Mills, and Will Mills and his wife Emma, their daughter Lucy were all cousins of J. W. Mills and neighbors on Marthasville Route.

On March 20, 1920, J. W. and Bertha became the parents of twin boys, Homer and Hubert. The boys eventually obtained nicknames. Homer was known as Jack and Hubert as Pete.

When automobiles became the mode of transportation, J. W. owned a 1923 Model T Ford. He didn’t feel comfortable driving it and always had his cousins drive it until Jack or Pete were old enough then they drove him around in it where ever he needed to go.

After the depression, J. W. Mills lost his land. This brought on the need to move again. They moved 4 miles down the road and rented a 240-acre farm. Again, J. W. became a sharecropper.

Homer Mills described his father, as a hard-headed man, who never had more than a dollar to his name. J. W. believed in the Lord, he had a Bible, and was active in the Shilo Methodist Church, which was located on county highway “T” from Foristall, Missouri near the St. Charles and Warren County borders, not far from where they lived.

Bertha, died March 21, 1961. J. W. died October 17, 1962, in a nursing home in Elsberry, Missouri. He lived a long and healthy life to the age of 95. J. W. Mills is buried with his second wife, Bertha Mills at Linn Cemetery, Wentzville, Missouri.