James Weston Miller

James Weston Miller (1815-1888) was an American Presbyterian minister, educator and Confederate chaplain in Texas during the American Civil War. He helped establish the First Presbyterian church in Houston and many Baptist and Methodist churches and schools for blacks. He also taught many daughters of the Southern aristocracy at the Live Oak Female Seminary in Gay Hill, Texas.

Biography

Early life James Weston Miller was born on November 15, 1815, in Erie County, Pennsylvania. His father was Jeremiah Miller and his mother, Elizabeth (Weston) Miller. He then graduated from the Presbyterian Western Theological Seminary in Allegheny, Pennsylvania.

He was a minister to many blacks, included those on the Glenblythe Plantation owned by Thomas Affleck in Gay Hill. During the American Civil War of 1861-1865, he served as a Confederate chaplain under Brigadier General Thomas Neville Waul. Shortly after the war, he helped establish many Baptist and Methodist churches, cemeteries and schools for blacks.

He taught at the Post Oak Academy from 1865 to 1867. He then resumed his ministry in Washington-on-the-Brazos up until 1876. From 1877 to 1880, he was a pastor in Galatia, Texas. He also served as minister in Round Top, Brenham, and Chapel Hill. In 1881, he joined the Board of Trustees of the Stuart Academy in Austin, founded by his sister-in-law, Rebecca Stuart.

He made mustang wine every fall.

Personal life He married Elizabeth McKennan in 1847. They had two sons. She died in 1850, he got remarried to Elizabeth Scott Stuart, his first cousin, in 1852. They had two sons and three daughters.

Death He died on April 29, 1888, in Gay Hill, Texas.

Legacy His private residence, Oak Lodge, also known as "the old Miller Home," was dedicated as a library-museum in 1933.