George Miller

George Miller (November 25, 1794 – August 27, 1856) was a prominent convert in the Latter Day Saint movement and was the third ordained bishop in the Latter Day Saint church.

Early life Miller was born on November 25, 1794, in Standardville, Virginia, to John Miller and Margaret Pfeiffer and was raised in Virginia and Kentucky. He was trained as a carpenter and later operated a mill and a steamboat,

Conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints In 1839, Miller learned of Latter Day Saint refugees arriving in Illinois from Missouri. He allowed some of these exiles to temporarily reside on his farm. Miller converted to Mormonism, being baptized by John Taylor

Succession crisis and break with Brigham Young Upon hearing about the death of Joseph Smith, Miller returned to Nauvoo. A succession crisis ensued whereby a variety of men vied for the leadership of the Latter Day Saints. The majority of Latter Day Saints accepted the leadership of Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve, and Miller provided lukewarm support for this decision. Miller was appointed to be a legal trustee-in-trust for the church in 1844.

Miller petitioned Brigham Young for approval to construct a building for the high priests quorum in Nauvoo, but Young rejected Miller's plan. This signaled the start of cool relations between Miller and Young which eventually led to Miller's abandonment of the organization led by Young. Although Miller left Nauvoo under Young's instructions in 1846, and came as far as Winter Quarters, Nebraska, Miller informed Young in January 1847 that he would not follow him to the Salt Lake Valley, as Young had planned. Rather, Miller accepted the leadership claims of apostle Lyman Wight and emigrated with Wight and his followers to the Republic of Texas. Miller was excommunicated from the church on December 3, 1848.

Later life By 1849, Miller had become convinced that Lyman Wight and his "Wightite" church were apostate. He became convinced that James J. Strang was the true successor to Joseph Smith, and in 1850 he left to join Strang's followers in Wisconsin. Miller arrived in Voree, Wisconsin, on September 4, 1850, and shortly thereafter moved with Strang and his followers to Beaver Island, Michigan. In Beaver Island, he was an active member of Strang's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. When Strang was assassinated in 1856, Miller left Beaver Island with the other departing "Strangites". Miller died in the second half of 1856 in Marengo, Illinois at the age of 60. He was en route to California at the time.

Marriages Miller's first wife, Mary Fry, was sealed to him in the Nauvoo Temple on 13 January 1846. Miller practiced plural marriage, and he was sealed to Elizabeth Bouton and Sophia Wallace on January 25, 1846.

Status in LDS Church: Presiding Bishop? There is debate as to whether Miller should today be accepted as a former presiding bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The office of presiding bishop was not established as such in the church until the tenure of Edward Hunter. Nevertheless, Edward Partridge, the first bishop of the Latter Day Saint movement, is usually regarded as the first presiding bishop of the LDS Church. On the same day that Miller was sustained as the "Second Bishop" of the church, Newel K. Whitney—who was the second ordained bishop in church history—was sustained as the "First Bishop" of the church; therefore, Whitney is usually recognized by the LDS Church as the de facto presiding bishop until his death in 1850, with Miller as a subordinate or assistant to Whitney until his break with the LDS Church in 1848.