Soldier Information
Name: John R. Miller
Alias: Jackson Hamilton
Place of Birth: Nelson KY Year of Birth: 1845
Occupation: Laborer
Eyes: Dark Hair: Dark Complexion: Dark
Height in Feet: 5 Inches: 11
View Ledger
Enlistment Information
Enlistment Date: October 11, 1864
Enlistment Place: Louisville
Enlistment State: KY
Compiled Military Service Record
Document: View
Congressional District: 4
Company: E & A Regiment(s): 122nd USCI
Mustered Where: Louisville, KY
Mustered Out Date: February 8, 1866
Rank at Muster Out: Private
Notes:
There are two bits of information in the CMSR that appear to be in conflict with the Ledger. In the Ledger, Jackson Hamilton is credited to Congressional District 4 (Nelson County). On page page five of the CMSR, Hamilton is credited to Congressional District 7, and on page six he is credited to District 2. The Ledger states that Hamilton was born in Nelson County, which may be correct. But on page 16 of his CMSR, his Army hospital record states that Brandenburg, Kentucky (Meade County). His affiliation with Meade County makes sense given that his enslaver, Benjamin Hamilton (who was born in Nelson County), resided in Meade County early as 1840. Also note that in 1865, Congressional District 4 included Nelson and Meade County.
Soldier Death Information
Died in war? No
Military Death Date:
Military Death Location:
Military Cause of Death:
Death Date: August 17, 1918
Cause of Death: Organic heart disease
Death Certificate
Obituary
Soldier Pension Information
Pension Card Link: Pension Card
Pension Application Date: March 24, 1890
Application No.: 763402 Certificate No.: 933227
Alternate First Name: John R. Alternate Last Name: Miller
Widow Pension Information
Widow Pension Card: Pension Card
Widow Application Date: August 26, 1918
Application No.: 1126556 Certificate No.: 861748
No other family pension card found
Pension File Information
Pension File:
Pensioners:
Pensioner County: Pensioner State: (Choose One)
Number of Pages:
Pension Notes:
The pension card provides the name used by this solider after his service in the USCI: John R. Miller.
Freedman’s Bank/Freedmen’s Bureau Information
No Freedman’s Bank information found
No Freedmen’s Bureau Documents found
Family Information
Mother First Name: Mother Maiden Name:
Father First Name: Father Last Name: Miller
Siblings:
Wife #1 First Name: Georgiana Maiden Name: Edwards
Wife #2 First Name: Hannah Isabelle Maiden Name: Freeman
Wife #3 First Name: Maiden Name:
Children: Unity Miller 1869
Mildred Jane Miller 1876
Willis S. Miller 1879
Cordelia M. Miller 1892
Adelpphia Lue Retta Miller 1900
Family Notes:
John R. Miller (aka Jackson Hamilton) had at least one child (Unity Miller) with his first wife, Georgiana Edwards, and four children with his second wife, Hannah I. Freeman. Miller divorced his first wife in 1874 in New Albany, Indiana. Unity Miller lived in her father’s household in 1880. Unity Miller disappeared from the record after 1880. Only two of his four children with Hannah Freeman were living as of 1910 (Mildred and Cordelia). Mildred Jane Miller (1876-1954), who married Marcellus C. Elzy (1861-1935), is the only child of John R. Miller known to have had children of her own (seven).
Family Tree: View
View Family Tree on Ancestry.com Please note: this requires a paid Ancestry.com account to view
1870 Census
1870 Census Link: View
1870 Profession: Laborer
1870 Live with/near former enslaver? No
1870 Real Estate Value: 0 1870 Personal Estate Value: 0
1870 Ability to Read? Cannot read Ability to Write? Cannot write
1870 Census Notes:
1880 Census
1880 Census Link: View
1880 Profession: Preacher
1880 Live with/near former enslaver? No
1880 Ability to Read? Can read Ability to Write? Can write
1880 Census Notes:
1890 Census
1890 Census information not found
1900 Census
1900 Census Link: View
1900 Profession: Preacher
1900 Ability to Read? Can read Ability to Write? Can write
1900 Own/Rent: Own 1900 Home Free/Mortgage: Free 1900 Farm/House: House
1900 Census Notes:
1910 Census
1910 Census Link: View
1910 Profession: Preacher
1910 Ability to Read? Can read Ability to Write? Can write
1910 Own/Rent: Own 1910 Home Free/Mortgage: Free 1910 Farm/House: House
1910 Census Notes:
1920 Census
1920 Census Link: View
1920 Profession: Caterer
1920 Ability to Read? Can read Ability to Write? Can write
1920 Own/Rent: Own 1920 Home Free/Mortgage: Mortgage 1920 Farm/House: House
1920 Census Notes:
In 1870, John R. Miller (aka Jackson Hamilton) was living in New Albany, Indiana with first wife Georgiana Edward (1852-unknown), their one-year old daughter Unity Miller (1869-unknown), and his father-in-law, Rev. Charles Edwards (1790-unknown). By 1880, John R. Miller was remarried, had settled in Parke County, Indiana and had a new occupation–preacher, a calling that he followed for the rest of his life and to some acclaim in Indiana. By 1900, he and his family moved to Edinburgh, Indiana (Johnson County) where he owned a home on Kyle Street. The 1910 Census described John R. Miller as mulatto. This is the only Census in which Miller’s race was not entered as “Black.” John R. Miller died on August 17, 1918. His widow, Hannah I. Freeman Miller (1860-1924), survived him and, in 1920, worked as a caterer (out of her own home) and lived with daughter Cordelia Miller in Edinburgh, Indiana.
Enslaver Information
Name: Benjamin Hamilton Location: Brandenburg, Meade County, Kentucky
Previous Enslaver:
Enslaver Notes:
Benjamin Hamilton was born in Nelson County, but as early as 1840, he lived in Meade County. His mother, Jemima Coombs Hamilton (1774-1865) and brother, Lewis Hamilton (1810-1881) also relocated to Meade County by 1840, but returned to Nelson County after 1850. Their exit from Meade County may have been the result of the death of Lewis Hamilton’s son (Benjamin Hamilton’s nephew) William Hamilton (1831-1846), who was stabbed to death by an enslaved woman named Lucy, who was subsequently convicted of murder and hanged in Brandenburg. Lucy claimed self-defense, and was said to carrying William Hamilton’s child. The sensational trial brought national attention to Meade County when abolitionists seized on the circumstances of her enslavement and the injustices she suffered. One juror, Henry P. Byram (1805-1865), who advocated for Lucy’s innocence, was terrorized by a mob and hung in effigy. After Lucy died at the gallows in 1848 (after the birth of her child), the state of Kentucky compensated Lewis Hamilton $500 for his loss of property (Lucy). Benjamin Hamilton was a widower when he died in Meade County on April 16, 1873. Lewis Hamilton outlived his brother and was present in Nelson County in 1880. When Lewis Hamilton died in Nelson County in 1881, he was described as a miser and “one of the most eccentric of all native Kentuckians” (“A Miser’s Death,” Breckinridge News, Hardinsburg, Ky., April 20, 1881: 2).
1850 Enslaver Census
1850 Census Link: View
1850 Slave Schedule Link: View
1850 Number of Enslaved: 8
1860 Enslaver Census
1860 Census Link: View
1860 Real Estate Value: $10,000 1860 Personal Estate Value: $7,155
1860 Slave Schedule Link: View
1860 Number of Enslaved: 11
1870 Enslaver Census
1870 Census Link: View
1870 Real Estate Value: $3,300 1870 Personal Estate Value: $1,000
1880 Enslaver Census
Compensation Information
Compensation Applied? No Compensation Received? No