MILLER, Thomas

The family has been a delight to research, yielding results that genealogists often only dream about.

The family Bible of the Miller family of Maryland and Virginia is available online from the Library of Virginia's Manuscripts Archive pages. The Bible dates from 1850 and traces many Millers in Virginia. There is also a page which goes back to the known beginnings of the Millers in America, beginning with Thomas Miller bc. 1693.

Also available is family memoir, published in 1911. "The Life of Samuel Thomas Miller. Being an Autobiographical Sketch, Edited and Supplemented by his son Samuel H. Miller" J. P. Bell Company, Inc. Lynchburg, VA. The book is 178 pages long. I found it at the Birmingham Public Library, AL.

1. Thomas Miller, (1693 - 1766)

The family Bible of the Miller family of Maryland and Virginia is available online from the Library of Virginia's Manuscripts Archive pages.

The Bible being with Thomas Miller of Cecil County, Maryland, Progenitor of the Millers was born about 1690 or 1693. A small smudge prevents clarity of the last digit of the year. Thomas's wife is Agnes, surname unknown.

Thomas Miller was a staunch Presbyterian of Scots-Irish stock. He was reportedly born in the "north of Ireland" and came to Cecil County, MD between 1720 and 1730.

In 1744 Thomas Miller patented 16 acres of land in Cecil County, MD. He was charged with assault (no known details) in 1747. This temperament seems to have carried down several generations.

The only family story his great-grandson heard told about Thomas Miller was that:

In the company of several other gentlemen, one dark night, as they were riding home they heard groans proceeding from a graveyard. The other gentlemen put spurs to their horses and galloped away. Thomas Miller stopped, dismounted, tied his horse and proceeded to investigate. Guided by the sound, he soon found a drunken man who had fallen into a sunken grave and was lying in an uncomfortable position. There he might have frozen, for the night was cold. Thomas Miller lifted him up, and good Samaritan-like, place him on his own horse, and ministered to his necessities.

Thomas Miller wrote a will on 28 NOV 1762 which was probated in Cecil County, MD on 10 SEP 1766. In it he names his wife Agnes, eldest son Thomas Junr., youngest son Samuel Miller, son-in-law James GORRELL and wife Elizabeth my eldest daughter, and youngest daughter Martha Miller.

Thomas Miller wrote was is apparently a codicil to his will on 15 AUG 1766 and it was probated in Cecil County, MD on 10 SEP 1766. His wife Agnes, children Samuel, Thomas, Elizabeth GORRELL, and Martha Alison, and grandchildren Thomas Miller and 8 children of Elizabeth GORRELL are mentioned.

The children of Thomas and Agnes Miller were:

  1. Martha Miller - married Mr. ALISON.
  2. Elizabeth Miller - married James GORRELL.
  3. Samuel Miller - see the next section.
  4. Thomas Miller, Jr. - went to the northern neck of Virginia and lost touch with this branch of the family.

2. Samuel Miller, (1735 - 1807)

Samuel Miller was born 1 JUN 1735 in Cecil County, MD, about 6 miles south of the mouth of the Susquehanna River.

Samuel Miller married Mary MAFFITT, daughter of William MOFFIT and Mary SCOTT on 10 JAN 1760 in Cecil County, MD.

Samuel Miller served as a Representative of Cecil County to the Maryland Legislature for many years. He served as a Republican (opposing the Federalists) and was finally defeated in election in 1800. He was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church of West Nottingham, Maryland.

The grandson of Samuel Miller describes him as:

...a man of austere bearing and kept his children at too great a distance from him, but I believe he was a strictly honest and upright man of good principles.

Samuel and Mary Miller appear in the 1790 and 1800 censuses in Cecil County, MD. I have not found a will or probate records for either of them at this time.

The children of Samuel Miller and Mary Maffitt were:

  1. Thomas Miller, (RevWar) - b. 20 OCT 1760, married Ann "Nancy" BALL. He was father to Samuel Thomas Miller who began the Miller family book which was finished by his son Samuel H. Miller.
  2. Jane Miller - see the next section.
  3. Samuel Miller - died as an infant.
  4. Dr. William Miller (Warof1812) - married Sophia COX. No children.
  5. Agnes "Nancy" Miller - married Major John HARTSHORN, and Thomas WILLIAMS. No children.
  6. Mary "Polly" Miller - m. Samuel CLENDENIN and had 3 children:Thomas, Nancy and Mary. Polly also married against her father's wishes (see Jane below), but the family kept in touch with her. She was married 7 years before her father forgave her.
  7. Samuel Miller - died as an infant.
  8. John Maffitt Miller - No children. He lived in Pennsylvania until he "became too fond of the excitement of spirituous liquors" and returned to Cecil County to live on a stipend from his father.
  9. James Miller - No children.
  10. Samuel Miller - died at about 30 years in Ohio without children.
  11. Deborah Miller - No children.

3. Jane Miller, (1760-65 - 1832)

Jane Miller was born between 1760 and 1765 in Cecil County, MD. She married against her father's wishes to William KILLEN on 22 AUG 1781. It is unclear why Samuel Miller was opposed to the marriage, but he cut his daughter out of his life. The Killen family left the area and moved to North Carolina. For details about their lives, see the Killen family page.

At some time, Jane Miller Killen did return to Maryland before the death of her father. Accompanied by one of her teenage sons, she went to the Miller home and was reconciled with her father. After a several week visit, she returned south.