Thomas Miller | |
---|---|
7th Governor of Albemarle Sound | |
In office July 1677 –December 1677 | |
Preceded by | John Jenkins |
Succeeded by | John Harvey |
Personal details | |
Died | October 1685 |
Occupation | Governor of Albemarle County (modern North Carolina) |
Thomas Miller (died in October 1685) was the acting colonial governor of North Carolina for about six months in 1677 during the absence of the official governor Thomas Eastchurch. During Miller's government,the Anti-Proprietors,led by John Culpeper,provoked the Culpeper's Rebellion.
Miller,originally a merchant and apothecary in Ireland,emigrated to North Carolina and settled in Albemarle County in 1673,where he secured leadership of the proprietary political faction. Miller was later jailed for blasphemy,treason,and loathing towards the Lords Proprietors,although the Virginia Council acquitted him in May 1676. After the trial,he travelled with Thomas Eastchurch to London,England,where they convinced the Lords Proprietors that Eastchurch should govern Albemarle County. Miller was granted the titles of council member,secretary,and customs collector. In 1677,Miller and Eastchurch travelled to Albemarle. [1]
Shortly after that,Eastchurch appointed Miller as the Interim Governor [1] and President of the Executive Council of Albemarle,having obtained a commission. [2] Miller was nominated because after leaving London and embarking again to North Carolina together with Eastchurch,they had to stop temporarily at Nevis Island [2] in the Caribbean. Eastchurch met and married a woman on the island before eventually returning to North Carolina and spending his honeymoon there. During his absence,Miller occupied his place in the government of the county, [1] [2] [3] being elected by Eastchurch because he was his fellow proprietary and travelling companion. Miller arrived in Albemarle in July 1677 and claimed the government of Albemarle county. During his role he punished the anti-proprietors for several offences which they had apparently committed. He also increased taxes and diverted public money in order to cover the salary of his armed guards. Miller jailed Zachariah Gillam for customs violations and he also tried to jail George Durant,the leader of the anti-proprietary faction,which led to the Culpeper's Rebellion against him in Albemarle. [1]
The revolt began when Thomas Miller was apprehended by his opponents and imprisoned in a log house of about 10 or 11 square feet,that had been purposely built for him. [4]
Although Eastchurch arrived in Virginia in December 1678,he could not occupy the position of governor of Albemarle because of the developing revolution there. He demanded that the settlers should surrender their weapons,and that all prisoners should be released. Furthermore,he recommended that a delegation should be formed with the aim of teaching those who visited Virginia the origin of the popular revolt,and that Miller's government was to be restored.
Although Eastchurch's demands were rejected,he was able to stop the advancement of the trial developing against Miller. Therefore;although he remained in prison for two years until his friends broke him out,his execution was avoided. Miller travelled to London to complain to the Lords Proprietors,the Commissioners of Customs,and the Privy Council about the events that had happened. Because of this,the leaders of Culpeper's Rebellion,Zachariah Gillam and John Culpeper,were jailed after their arrival in London,although Gillam was released from jail because of the lack of evidence to prove the charges. Culpeper himself was later absolved of his treason. As compensation,the royal treasury paid Thomas Miller. [1]
In March 1681,he was appointed customs collector in Poole,England. However,in July 1682,he was fired from this position and incarcerated for embezzlement. He later died in prison sometime in October 1685. [1]
The Province of South Carolina,originally known as Clarendon Province,was a province of the Kingdom of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712 to 1776. It was one of the five Southern colonies and one of the thirteen American colonies of the British Empire. The monarch of Great Britain was represented by the Governor of South Carolina,until the colonies declared independence on July 4,1776.
The Province of North Carolina,originally known as Albemarle Province,was a proprietary colony and later royal colony of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712 to 1776.(p. 80) It was one of the five Southern colonies and one of the thirteen American colonies. The monarch of Great Britain was represented by the Governor of North Carolina,until the colonies declared independence on July 4,1776.
The Province of Carolina was a province of the Kingdom of England (1663–1707) and later the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1712) that existed in North America and the Caribbean from 1663 until the Carolinas were partitioned into North and South in 1712.
John Jenkins was an English soldier and radical advocate for self-government. He served as governor of Albemarle four times:1672–1675;1676–1677;1678–1679;1680–1681,becoming the only person who has served as proprietary governor so many times.
George Durant was an attorney,Attorney General and Speaker of the House of Burgesses in the Province of Carolina. He is sometimes called the "father of North Carolina".
A lord proprietor is a person granted a royal charter for the establishment and government of an English colony in the 17th century. The plural of the term is "lords proprietors" or "lords proprietary".
Cary's Rebellion was an uprising against the Deputy Governor of North-Carolina in 1711 led by Thomas Cary,who refused to give up his governorship to Edward Hyde. The rebellion was a part of a long-standing tension between religious and political groups in northern Carolina,generally divided between the Quaker party,of which Cary was a part,and the Church of England party,to which Hyde belonged.
Philip Cottington Ludwell was an English-born planter and politician in colonial Virginia who sat on the Virginia Governor's Council,the first of three generations of men with the same name to do so,and briefly served as speaker of the House of Burgesses. In addition to operating plantations in Virginia using enslaved labor,Ludwell also served as the first governor of the Carolinas,during the colony's transition from proprietary rule to royal colony.
Josias Fendall(c. 1628 –c. 1687) was an English colonial administrator who served as the Proprietary Governor of Maryland. He was born in England,and came to the Province of Maryland. He was the progenitor of the Fendall family in America.
Zachariah Gillam (1636–1682) was one of a family of New England sea captains involved in the early days of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Henderson Walker was the Acting Deputy Governor of North Carolina from 1699 to 1704. He is better known for his contribution in the founding of the Church of England in the Albemarle Sound region.
Culpeper's Rebellion was a popular uprising in 1677 provoked by the enforcement of the Navigation Acts. It was led by settler John Culpeper against the ruling Lords Proprietor in Albemarle County,Carolina,near what is now Elizabeth City,North Carolina. The uprising met with only limited success,but Culpeper himself was acquitted of rebellion and became a hero,and the Lords Proprietor subsequently made efforts to strengthen the colony's government.
Robert Quary (1644–1712) was a governor of the English proprietary Province of Carolina during 1685. He would later serve on the provincial councils of several other colonies.
John Harvey was the governor of Albemarle Sound,in The Carolinas,in 1679.
Robert Gibbes was an English Landgrave,chairman and acting governor of the province of South Carolina between 1710-1712. Although he was elected acting governor by the Executive Council between the three proprietary deputies of former governor,Edward Tynte,after his death,received one vote more than his opponent Thomas Broughton,getting it through bribery. This sparked a conflict between both the oppositions and their supporters which finished with the Lords Proprietors declaring the election of Gibbes illegal and the appointment of Charles Craven as governor of South Carolina in 1711,who didn't arrive until 1712.
Thomas Eastchurch was governor of Albemarle County,North Carolina between 1675 and 1676. During his time in office,he imprisoned the former governor John Jenkins for various offenses. Jenkins was later released from prison with the aid of his supporters and reclaimed his position as governor in the spring of 1676. After Eastchurch explained the situation in London to the Lords Proprietors,they reappointed him as governor. In 1677,he left London to celebrate his honeymoon in Nevis Island. During his absence,his fellow proprietary Thomas Miller acted as governor. Miller's crimes created a revolt and Eastchurch,upon return to Albemarle,was unable to help the government recover. In addition,the Anti-Proprietors' leaders decided to send an army to the northern part of the Albemarle County to prevent the new governor from accessing Albemarle. Although Eastchurch sought aid to invade the county,he never got it. He did not return to the government of Albemarle until after the spring of 1676.
Frances Stephens Berkeley Ludwell,most commonly styled Lady Frances Berkeley after her second marriage,was a leader of the Green Spring faction of Virginia politics in the seventeenth century and wife to three colonial governors.
The Revolution of 1719 was a bloodless military coup in the Province of South Carolina which resulted in the overthrow of the Lords Proprietors and the installation of Colonel James Moore,Jr. as the colony's de facto ruler,a post he held until 1721.
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