Person:Alexander Miller (18)

  • HRev. Alexander Miller1720 - 1785
  • WJane EvansEst 1730 -
m. Abt 1748
  1. John Miller1749 -
  2. Alexander MillerAbt 1751 - Aft 1821
  3. Brice MillerAbt 1757 - Abt 1818
  4. Joseph MillerAbt 1762 - Abt 1823
  5. Margaret MillerBef 1769 -
Facts and Events
Name Rev. Alexander Miller
Gender Male
Birth[1] 1720 Macosquin, County Londonderry, Northern IrelandBorn near Coleraine. The entry for Rev. Miller in 'The American Festi', (a listing of Irish Presbyterian ministers who went to America), says that Rev. Alexander Miller was born near Macosquin, which is about 4 miles south of Coleraine and is in Co. Londonderry.
Marriage Abt 1748 Ardstraw, Tyrone, Ireland to Jane Evans
Death? 29 Mar 1785 Dayton, Rockingham, Virginia, United Statesburied at the old meeting house location near Dayton, VA where Silver Lake is now.
Burial[1] Harrisonburg, Augusta, Virginia, United StatesMemorial at Cooks Creek Cemetery, Miles Southwest of Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States|Cooks Creek Cemetery, 4 miles southwest of Harrisonburg, Virginia

Alexander Miller was one of the Early Settlers of Augusta County, Virginia

Contents

Welcome to
Old Augusta

Early Settlers
Beverley Manor
Borden's Grant
Register
Data
Maps
Places
Library
History
Index

……………………..The Tapestry
Families Old Chester OldAugusta Germanna
New River SWVP Cumberland Carolina Cradle
The Smokies Old Kentucky

__________________________

Early Land Acquisition in Augusta County, VA

Acquisition of Land in Virginia:

  • Alexander Miller, 175 acres, Cooks Creek. Adjoining Benjamin Harrison, Daniel Loves, William Bowyers and his own land. December 1, 1767. [Abstract of Land Grant Surveys, 1761-1791, Augusta & Rockingham Counties, Virginia, by Peter Cline Kaylor, pg. 51].
  • Alexander Miller, 90 acres, Drafts of Cooks Creek. Adjoining Daniel Loves, Daniel Harrison, William Bowyers, and his own land. May 5, 1770. [Abstract of Land Grant Surveys, 1761-1791, Augusta & Rockingham Counties, Virginia, by Peter Cline Kaylor, pg. 59].

Estate Records

  • 29 March 1786 - Rockingham County Court Minute Books, 1778-1878, pg. 505; Administration of the Estate of Alexander Miller Deceas(ed) was granted to John Miller and Samuel Miller, they having Complyed with the Law. Its Ordered that John Ewin, John Hardman, Jacob Boshong and Col Benjamin Harrison, or any three of them being first sworn, do Appraise the said Estate and make return according to Law.

Peaked Mountain Church, Augusta VA

  • Second Pastor of the Peaked Mountain Church
He had been a member of the Londonderry Presbytery, in Ulster, Ireland, and was deposed from the ministry because of misconduct, and then came to America. He settled near Dayton, Virginia in 1753, and the Peaked Mountain congregation made an application to Donegal Prebytery for his services in 1754, which was refused, but a second application in 1755 was granted and he was allowed to accept the call.
  • BAPTISMS by Rev. Alexander Miller
Betsy Semple
Eleanor Semple
Jean Semple
Mattw. Semple
From - The Session Book of Peaked Mountain Church, 1759 - Alexander Miller, Minister

Records in Rockingham County, VA

  • Claims allowed: Alexander Miller, for 725 lbs. beef, Nov.15, 1780. [Source: History of Rockingham County, Virginia, pg. 94]

Supported Britain's Cause During the American Revolution

  • When the Revolution came on, Mr. Miller was a loyalist. He was indicted for treason in Augusta County Court, and found guilty, but he appealed to the General Court at Richmond, the records of which have been destroyed and the result of his appear is not known. Mr. Miller died a year or two after the War of the Revolution.
  • Waddell's Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871: Chapter 9: The War of the Revolution, etc. from 1775 to 1779. - Page 238 -
Silas Hart, an old justice of the peace, whose residence was within the present county of Rockingham, was chairman of the Augusta county committee. On October 3d this committee met at Staunton, and, pursuant to summons, Alexander Miller appeared before them to answer charges. Miller was an Irish Presbyterian preacher, who had been deposed from the ministry, and was accused of having denounced as rebellion etc., the popular opposition to the measures of the British Government. He was solemnly tried and pronounced guilty. His punishment anticipated the recent policy in Ireland called "boycotting." The committee subjected the offender to no restraints, and advised no violence toward him. They only recommended that “the good people of this county and colony have no further dealings or intercourse with said Miller until he convinces his countrymen of having repented for his past folly."—[American Archives, Vol. III, page 939.]
  • Was placed under house arrest.
Leo B. McDowell
http://leomcdowell.tripod.com/id29.htm
References
  1. 1.0 1.1 Custer, Milo. The Reverend Alexander Miller of Virginia and some of his descendants. (1910).

    The Reverend Alexander Miller of Virginia and Some of His Descendants
    by Milo Custer (1910), pp. 4 - 6

    Rev. Alexander Miller was of Scotch descent and was born at Antrim, Ireland, about the year 1720. His wife's maiden name was Jane Evans and she was a native of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Rev. Miller was a graduate of Edinburgh University, having the degree of M.A. He was a minister of the Presbyterian Church, and was first licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Route, and his licensure reported to the General Synod of Ireland of 1745. He was ordained by the Presbytery of Letterkenny at the "New Erection" in the Parish of Ardstraw, (Clady Congregation,)County Tyrone, Ireland, November 4, 1746. He was pastor of Clady Congregation until June 21, 1749. He was also at one time a member of the Synod of Dungannon. He emigrated to America sometime between the last mentioned date and the 25th of May, 1753, at which time he appeared before the Synod of Philadelphia and asked to be permitted to preach as a member of that body. Owing to certain technicalities which had to be observed his request was not granted until May 26, 1756, when in answer to a repeated supplication from the congregation of Cooks Creek and Peaked Mountain, in that part of Augusta now called Rockingham County, Virginia, he was admitted to the Synod of Philadelphia, and Presbytery of Donegal, Pa., and was installed as the first regular pastor of Cooks Creek (near Dayton, Va.) and Peaked Mountain, August 1, 1757.

    On the 17th of November, 1756, Rev. Miller purchased three hundred acres of land of Samuel Semple for a consideration of ninety shillings. The boundaries of this tract as described in the record of the deed at Staunton, Virginia, are as follows: "Beginning at two Pines and a Hickory on the South side of the Hunters Spring, draft thence North West one hundred and Sixty Poles crossing a Branch and Meadow to two Pines and South thirty-five Degrees West one Hundred and eighty Poles to a Pine and South East Eighty-four Poles to two white (oaks?) and South two hundred and thirty Poles to two Pines and South East Sixty Poles Crossing a Branch to three White oaks and North Seventeen Degrees East three hundred and Eighty-five poles to the Beginning." This tract is situated in Rockingham County, Virginia, about four miles southwest of Harrisonburg. A peculiar clause relating to the property, probably required by the laws and customs of the time, was inserted in this deed as follows? "And during the full term and time of one whole year from thence next ensuing, and full to be complete and indeed Yielding and Paying therefor the Rent of one Pepper Corn on the feast of St. Michael the Archangel, if the same shall be lawfully demanded."

    Rev. Alexander Miller served the congregation of Peaked Mountain as their pastor until October 7, 1762, and Cooks Creek until May 1, 1763. He was one of the ten members of Hanover, (Va.,) Presbytery when it was reorganized in 1758. He was appointed to several missionary stations in southwestern Virginia and western North Carolina in 1771, and the latest mention of him in the records of the Presbyterian Church in America is found in a report made to the Synod of Philadelphia by the Hanover Presbytery in 1774. He appears to have been a man of strong opinions and staunch convictions and was possessed of an extreme independence of the wills of other men. The last mention I find of him in any record is dated October 3, 1775. {additional information listed in this source]

  2.   Find A Grave.
  3.   Chalkley, Lyman. Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish settlement in Virginia: Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County, 1745-1800. (Rosslyn, Virginia: The Commonwealth Printing Company, 1912-1913 in Three Volumes)
    Vol. 2, Page 456.

    CHRONICLES OF THE Scotch-Irish Settlement IN VIRGINIA EXTRACTED FROM THE ORIGINAL COURT RECORDS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY 1745-1800
    AUGUSTA PARISH VESTRY BOOK.
    ADMINISTRATORS' BONDS.
    page 456
    ____________

    Page 444.--1767-1768: Processioned by Robt. Cravens and Jeremiah Harrison: For Daniel Smith, for Lennard Herren, for Samuel Sample, for Thomas Harrison, for John Harrison, for Wm. Snaddone, for John McClure, for Saml. Briggs, for John McGill, for John Fowler, for Saml. Hemphill, for Jeremiah Harrison, for William Gregg, for Pat. Guin, for Jno. Cravens, for Robt. Cravens, for Daniel Love, for Daniel Harrison, for John Brown, for David Ralston, for John Hinton, for Vaulintine Saveyer, for Francis Hughes, for Alex. Harrison, for James Fowler, for Edward Shanklin, for Jennett McDonald, for Alex. Miller, for Jno. Hardman, for Henry Ewen (Erven), for William Ervin, for Andw. Ervin, for Walter Crow, for Michael Waren, for John Curry.

  4.   http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/a/v/Margaret-Savage-OR/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-1161.html