Wayne County, NC - Heritage Series Reprinted with permission of the Mount Olive Tribune and cannot be reproduced without permission. Transcribed by Barbara Kawamoto. The Stephen Miller Family "Our Heritage" By Claude Moore The old Miller plantation was located on N.C. Highway 11 on the North East River about 10 miles east of Kenansville. This tract of land of 500 acres originally was granted in 1744 to William McKee and he built a frame clapboard house near the river. McKee was the first sheriff of Duplin and it was at his house that the first county court of Duplin was held. He died in 1751 and his son, Samuel McKee, sold the property to George Miller (born 1728). Little is known about this George Miller, but the tradition prevailed in the family that his family came to New Bern in 1709 with Baron Von Graffenreid. George Miller married Margaret McCulloh, a daughter of Henry McCulloh. They had two daughters, Mary and Sarah, and a son, Stephen (born 1758). George Miller was a captain in the N.C. Militia in the American Revolution and his son, Stephen, was a colonel in the militia and a captain in the Continental Army. Colonel Stephen Miller built in 1812 a fine brick house on his plantation, which I remember seeing in the mid 1920’s. It burned soon after I saw it. The bricks were locally made in a kiln nearby and were not imported from England as some have thought. Colonel Miller had fine furnishings in his home and a portrait painter came and painted all the family. The portraits are highly prized by the descendants. Across the road is the old Miller cemetery with all 32 graves marked. Some are marked with fine marble obelisks. Colonel Stephen Miller married Winifred Whitfield, a daughter of Constantine and Barbara Williams Whitfield and they had the following 10 children: Stephen, Jr.; Richard; James (1796-1799); John; George; Barbara; Rachel (b.d. 1806); William W.; Sara Eliza; and Rachel Whitfield. Stephen Miller, Jr., (1793-1841) was a lawyer, solicitor, and state senator. He married Lucinda Clark, and in 1839, moved to Lake Miccosukee, Florida, where he died in 1841, and is buried in Tallahassee. Richard Miller (1794-1850) married Mary Ann Shaw, a daughter of John and Frances Faison Shaw, and a sister of the Rev. Colin Shaw. They lived at the old McKee- Miller house. They had eight children: John Miller (1798-1865) was a merchant and postmaster at the Town of Sarecta in Duplin. He migrated to Lake Miccosukee, Florida, where he owned a plantation of 2,700 acres and 80 slaves. The census of 1860 shows that he owned 266 cattle, 160 sheep, 250 hogs, 180 bales of cotton, and 5,000 bushels of corn. In 1850 he came back to Duplin and married Sarah Eliza Houston. He is buried in Tallahassee. George Miller (1801-1833) settled in Florida on the Suwanee River, but never married. He was killed by the Indians. Barbara Miller (1803-1879) married first Ezekial Lane, Jr., of New Hanover County and had one daughter, Mary Elizabeth. After he died she married Colonel Simmons Isler of Jones County and had four sons. Rachel Whitfield Miller (1813-1836) married the Rev. Alexander McIver, a Presbyterian minister. They had one daughter, Rachel Louise McIver, who married Captain Lewis Hicks, C.S.A., of Faison and they were the parents of Mrs. Mary Lyde Hicks Williams, Mrs. Annie Witherington, Mrs. Janie Phillips and Dr. Isham Faison Hicks of Dunn. Sarah Eliza Miller (b. 1810) married Dr. James Henry Hicks of Faison and had seven children, two of the daughters married Colonel Christopher D. Hill and another daughter, Martha, married Dr. Henry W. Faison of Faison. William Whitfield Miller (son of Colonel Stephen), born 1807, married his cousin, Rachel Whitfield Herring, and they had 10 children. One of the 10, Rachel Miller married (1) Robert James Murphy and (2) Eugene Frank Hatch and had one daughter, Rachel Eugenia Hatch (1881-1966), who died unmarried and was the last to own the site of the Miller brick home. I am indebted to a cousin, Mary Carr Westbrook White, formerly of Mount Olive, but now in Florida, for much of the data contained in this article. ============================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Barbara Kawamoto ==============================================================