| Background: |
Peter Miller/Muller (1740-1819) was a Loyalist who settled at St. Armand, Quebec, after the American Revolution. He had come to New York from Limerick County, Ireland, around 1770, and was descended from Germans who had fled from the Palatinate because of religious persecution. Peter Miller was a weaver by trade and a Methodist, and in spite of persecution by the Cambridge Committee of Safety, he remained loyal to the British cause. In 1776 he fled with a group of Loyalists to Crown Point, and served in several Loyalist corps until his discharge in 1781. Two of his captains were Justus Sherwood and Robert Leake. Peter Miller's family was removed from their farm by the rebels and their land and property confiscated. Under a flag of truce, they made their way to Montreal where they lived in a refugee camp for the remainder of the war. In 1784 Peter Miller and his son-in-law Garret Sixby purchased adjoining lots near Missisquoi Bay in St. Armand Seigneury, Quebec, and lived there for the rest of their lives. Both the stately old stone farmhouse, which was built by Peter and his son Charles, and the beautiful Methodist church at Philipsburg, which the family assisted in building, still stand as a testament to the Palatine Millers who remained true to their convictions and played a leading role in the early life of this area of Quebec Province. |
| Contents: |
The Miller Papers consist of two bound volumes of photocopied material. Volume 1 contains: legal papers, 1792-1859, which include wills; agreements; powers of attorney; accounts; assessments; deeds; estate inventories; court documents; and other records. Volume 2 contains: militia papers, 1805-1840; land papers, 1834-1853; correspondence, 1831-1851; business papers, 1827-1860; a few undated documents; and a copy of the Eighth Annual Report of the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company, 1858. |
