Miller-Walton-Wiley-Thompson Families

Miller-Walton-Wiley-Thompson Families
Bob Thompson

Contents

	Introduction
	Surnames
	Contact
	Home Card
	Index
	Sources

Introduction

My grandmother, Virginia Miller Clark, was a daughter of George Miller and Kate Wiley of Oxford, Mississippi. Although far from wealthy, my grandmother was particularly proud of her lineage. The families of her four grandparents--Hugh R. Miller, Susan G. Walton, Yancy Wiley and Anna Eliza Thompson--all were prominent in Pontotoc, Monroe and Lafayette Counties in northern Mississippi before the Civil War. Pictured above (from left to right) are Hugh R. Miller, Susan G. Walton, Yancy Wiley and Jacob Thompson, Eliza Thompson's brother.

Hugh R. Miller of Pontotoc was a lawyer, state representative (1841-1843) and circuit judge (1845-1853) who commanded the Pontotoc Minute Men (Company G, 2nd Miss. Inf. Regt.) from Jan. 1861 until April 1862 and the 42nd Miss. Inf. Regt. from May 1862 until July 3, 1863 when he was mortally wounded during the Battle of Gettysburg in Pickett's Charge. His wife, Susan G. Walton Miller, was the sister of Mary Walton Gordon, wife of Robert Gordon of Pontotoc and the mistress of "Lochinvar," their magnificent plantation home still located outside of Pontotoc. Susan and Mary's father, Jesse Walton, was an early setter of Cotton Gin Port, Mississippi and a friend of George Colbert, a chief of the Chickasaws. Kate Wiley Miller's father, Yancy Wiley, was one of the leading landowners of Lafayette County, and his home, Cedar Hill Farm, still stands near Oxford. Virginia Wiley, another of Yancy's daughters, married James Gordon, son of Robert and Mary Gordon, who briefly served as United States Senator from December 1909 to February 1910. Anna Eliza Thompson, Yancy's first wife and mother of Kate and Virginia, was the sister of Jacob Thompson, U. S. Congressman from 1841 to 1851, Secretary of the Interior from 1857 to 1861 and Commissioner to Canada for the Confederate States in 1864-1865. Jacob Thompson initially practiced law in Pontotoc, and for a time was Hugh R. Miller's law partner.

There are other interesting folks among these relatives. Walton Miller, son of George and Kate, was a favorite hunting companion of William Faulkner. John Raulston, a descendant of Ann Miller, Hugh R. Miller's aunt, was the judge of the famous Scopes "Monkey Trial" in Dayton, Tennessee. Robert Miller, Jr., Hugh's uncle, was a lieutenant in the Tory Militia in South Carolina who fled to the Natchez area after the Revolutionary War. Felix Hughes, another uncle, was a leader of Mississippi Territory as the Secretary to the Legislative Council. Dr. Wesly Norwood, who married Hugh's sister Jane Miller, formulated Norwood's Tincture, one of the most prominent medical remedies of the middle and late 1800s. Two Pickens cousins were governors of South Carolina, including Francis W. Pickens, who ordered Confederate guns to fire on Fort Sumter to start the Civil War.

I welcome any e-mail comments or any additional information on the families shown on these web pages. Most of my sources are shown, but some of the information is unverified, and should be confirmed by the user.

Contact

bfthompson@mac.com