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Thomas Redd Miller was born 1795 in Stone Knoll, Prince Edward Co., Virginia, the eldest of son of seven children of Armistead Miller and Susanna Redd of Prince Edward Co., Virginia. [1][2] Thomas had inherited land in Virginia, when his father died in 1813, which adjoined properties of his brothers, sisters. [3] Thomas and brother, Richard were doing well with lending money to people. He left Power of Attorney for a brother to sell his land holdings in Virginia and migrated to Texas. He later received $ 500.00 for his share of property. [3]
Once there Thomas filed for land grant and received a single man's grant (one fourth league located on Eastern bank of the Guadalupe in Northern DeWitt Co. He also obtained some additional lots in Gonzales where he had his store and house on block 3, lot 3 of the Gonzales inner town, which was S of the fort. And he purchased land on San Marcos River in the West part of outer town. He was a merchant, farmer, and became the town clerk of Gonzales. [4] [5]
Thomas married Sidney Gaston (1816-1838). They were married by bond March 11, 1832. One child was born but it died in infancy. July 21, 1833, they agreed to separate. (This is noted in an endorsement to the marriage bond. Then the couple separated, 22 Aug 1833. [6][7] Thomas also bought Green DeWitt league No. 4, the Felix Taylor league, José Salinas league, and J. P. Dales one-third league, bit by bit.
Thomas became a Town Clerk of the local city council, had a farm with a general store. By 1834 Thomas had become the road surveyor for Gonzales, they even held the Town Council meetings at his house. Thus he was sindico procurador of the Gonzales Ayuntamiento of 1834. [8][9] Thomas R. Miller was chosen as a member of the Texas Consultation which met Nov. 3 to Nov. 14, 1835 (delegates trying to plan on what they should do about the problems caused by the Mexican government and Santa Anna's actions).
He enlisted in the Gonzales >reRangers, was one of the Old Original Eighteen defenders of Gonzales when that battle occurred, in the refusal to "give the Gonzales cannon" back to the Mexican army. Thomas also bought several leagues of land, bit by bit. The Green DeWitt league No. 4, the Felix Taylor league, José Salinas league, and J. P. Dales one-third league, bit by bit. Thomas was also a supplier for the early Texas revolutionary army. [9]
When the messenger arrived in Gonzales with his letter from Col. Travis, Thomas Redd Miller responded to the appeal for aid, and journeyed with the Gonzales Rangers to the Alamo to provide what aid they could.
Thomas Redd Miller was killed in the Battle of the Alamo along with his brother-in-law, John E Gaston. A memorial is in San Fernando Cathedral.
NOTE: It seems the brothers did not go to Texas to inherit. Many people filed for the inheritance. Finally in 1846 after a lot of land had to be sold to pay court expenses, etc. Edward B. Miller bought the rights to the estate from brothers, and left this to his four children. One son consolidated these, but lost the lands in Texas in a bad investment in 1892.
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1920 acres Bounty. |
Note: In 1838 J.D. Clements, administrator of Miller's estate, petitioned the Board of Land Commissioners of GonzalesCo with signatories Clements, William A. Matthews and Adam Zumwalt, and Gonzales increased his headright of land to a full league which was due all single men who served in the Alamo! [9]
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Anne Virginia Agnew, Papers, 1919–1943, Accession 42287, Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia. Gonzales County Probate Records, Gonzales County Clerk’s Office, Gonzales, Texas. Prince Edward County Deed of Records, Clerk of the Court Office, Farmville, Virginia. Proceedings of The Gonzales Ayuntamiento 1833–1834 (http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/gonminutes.htm), accessed February 16, 2012. Ethel Zivley Rather, “DeWitt’s Colony,” Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association 8 (October 1904). Richard Anderson Miller
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Categories: Texas Immortals | The Alamo | Battle of the Alamo, KIA | Texas Project-Managed