Chatham County GaArchives Biographies.....Mills, George J. 7 June 1850 - living in 1913 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 12, 2004, 11:37 pm Author: William Harden p. 551-552 GEORGE J. MILLS. One of Savannah's leading citizens is George J. Mills, who has come to attain an admirable and influential position among the able financiers of the city. The success attained in his business enterprises has been greatly owing to his steady persistence, stern integrity and excellent judgment, qualities which cause him to take rank with the eminent men in this section of the state, besides winning for him the confidence and esteem of the public to a marked degree. Mr. Mills was born in this city on the 7th day of June, 1850, the son of Capt. J. G. and Hettie Mariah (Cope) Mills. Captain Mills was born at St. Marys, Camden county, Georgia. For a long number of years before the war he was a prominent figure in maritime affairs on the Atlantic ocean. Starting as a youth before the mast, he was promoted through his own merit and efficiency to higher positions and became the master of a sailing vessel. Later Captain Mills went into the ocean shipping business for himself; he established and for several years was the owner of the Mills line of sailing vessels, operating between Savannah and Liverpool, and in this business he accumulated a comfortable fortune, all the more creditable from the fact that he started in with nothing. The Mills line of sailing vessels had to go out of business on account of the war, and after the termination of sectional hostilities, Captain Mills became a member, with his brother, of the firm of T. R. & J. G. Mills, cotton merchants of Savannah; which business was continued until about 1874, when Captain Mills retired from active business life. He died on September 24, 1880. Mr. Mills is bound to Savannah by all the most important associations of life. He was reared and educated in the city of his birth and has been in business here ever since he became of age. He found his first field of occupation in his father's cotton business, and afterward, with the elder gentleman went into the private banking business, in which he continued after the demise of Captain Mills. His unusually fine business qualifications have brought success to a number of enterprises. He is a capitalist, having large financial interests in various important commercial and industrial concerns and he is one of the financial bulwarks of Savannah. He is chairman of the Sinking Fund Commission of Savannah. He was made a member of this commission in 1907, and has served upon it continuously since that time. He is a director of the Central ofi Georgia Railway; a director of the Merchants' National Bank; and a director, or stockholder in various other corpora-tons. He has also acted efficiently and with public spirit in various philanthropic movements in the city and is president of the Savannah Hospital Association and a director of the Savannah Port Society. He is chairman of the board of trustees of the Independent Presbyterian church. Regarded as a citizen, Mr. Mills belongs to that useful and helpful type of men, whose ambitions and desires are centered and directed in those channels through which flows the greatest and most permanent good to the greatest number. His sympathies are ever with his less fortunate brothers and with no one is the betterment of the "other half" a more vital issue. Mr. Mills was married in Savannah, Miss Euphemia F. Postell, member of a prominent South Carolina family of that name, becoming his wife. Mrs. Mills is a sister of that well-known gentleman, Col. C. Postell, of Savannah. Their daughter, Sarah C., is the wife of Henry W. Hodge, a civil engineer and bridge builder of New York City. Additional Comments: From: A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA BY WILLIAM HARDEN VOLUME I ILLUSTRATED THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1913 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/chatham/bios/gbs132mills.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 4.4 Kb