Miller, John E

Miller, John E.

a minister of the Reformed (Dutch) Church, was born at Albany in 1792; graduated at Union College in 1812; was licensed in 1817; served the Church as missionary in the South and West in 1817 and 1818; was pastor at Chester, N.J., Presbyterian Church from 1818 to 1823; and then of the Reformed Church, Tompkinsville, Staten Island, until he died, in 1847, in the midst of a powerful revival of religion in his Church. Miller was also chaplain in the Marine Hospital and at the Seaman's Retreat. In this place he exhibited the highest degree of moral courage and religious faith and zeal in times of appalling pestilence, and among sufferers of all kinds. Contagious diseases had no fears for him. He was a simple-hearted, bold, tender, and faithful preacher of the Gospel; a guileless, outspoken, honest soul; a hater of strife; and a brave, calm, earnest, uncompromising lover and defender of the faith once delivered to the saints. His memoir is to be found in a goodly volume, called An Old Disciple and his Descendants, by Reverend F.M. Kip, D.D., which contains brief biographies of his patriarchal father (Christian Miller, Esq., of Albany) and several of his family, who were noted for unusual gifts of mind, character, and piety. Among these was a grandson, Isaac Livingston Kip Miller, a youth of unusually brilliant and powerful intellect, and of great promise, who died in 1846, while studying for the ministry. He was the elder brother of Dr. W.A. Miller (q.v.). (W.J.R.T.)