| Title | |  Miller family fonds |
| Dates of creation | | 1676-1944, predominant 1804-1889 |
| Physical description | | 12 m of textual records | | | | 5 maps |
| Administrative history or biographical sketch | | Jacob Miller (1742-1825) arrived in New York from Germany ca. 1770 and emigrated to Halifax, N.S. in the 1780s as a Loyalist. Jacob and his wife, Elizabeth Bentley (1747-1817) had six children: son Garret (1770-1840) and five daughters, Abigail (d. 1834), Ann (1771-1859), Elizabeth (1774-1857), Margaret (1779-1864), and Mary (d. 1833). All of the daughters were unmarried and resided at the family's home in Halifax. Garret was a merchant and worked at his father's exporting business, Jacob Miller and Son, later becoming a member of provincial parliament for Lunenburg County, 1837 to 1841. He married Catherine Pernette, daughter of Colonel Joseph Pernette of LaHave, and had seven children who survived to adulthood. They were: Augusta (1804-1883), m. Jason Mack, Mill Village, and had three children; Garret Trafalgar Nelson (1805-1897), m. artist Maria Morris of Halifax and had five children; Frances (1807-1885), unmarried; Elizabeth (d. 1881), m. Daniel Owen, New Dublin, in 1837 and had six children; Joseph Pernette (1808-1881), merchant, MPP and justice of the peace in Bridgewater, m. Margaret C. Allan of Scotland and had four children including daughter Jennie, m. William D. Hall, miner and prospector; Jacob Pernette (1803-1893), m. Miss Daniels and held several government offices, including superintendent of quarantine and customs officer; and John (1811-1898), unmarried. |
| Custodial history | | Dr. Elizabeth Hall inherited records of the Miller and Pernette families and donated them to Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management in 1959 with her own Hall family records. Other Miller family material was deposited at the archives by McGrigor Miller of Bridgewater and his mother in 1961. This material was officially donated along with another accrual of Miller records in 1969 from McGrigor Miller and his sister Margaret (Miller) McKee. |
| Scope and content | | Fonds consists of records documenting five generations of the Miller family of Halifax and Lunenburg County and related families. The bulk of the fonds contains correspondence, accounts, and bills relating to the business affairs of Jacob Miller, his son Garret, and his grandsons Garret, Jacob, and Joseph. The records also document the public offices held by the Miller men including their involvement in the Lunenburg County Court of General Sessions and militia and local church. The fonds also contains family letters, deeds, indentures, briefs and other legal records, memo books, journals, scrapbooks and ephemera relating to various members of the Miller family and several generations of related families including Pernette, Allan, Aitkens, Hall, Godard, Mack, Owen, Erad, and Zouberbuhler. Journals kept by William D. Hall describe gold prospecting and mining activities and include mention of the Central Gold Mining Co. Also included are maps of Nova Scotia counties, Bridgewater and the Miller estate property, and Pernette property in Petite Riviere. |
| Existence and location of originals | | Some legal documents in Latin and German. |
| Availability of other formats note | | Microfilm copy of records from 1755-1874 available. |
| Finding aids | | File list available. |
| Retrieval code | | MG1, vol. 582-695; microfilm reels 10, 906 |
| Provenance access point | |  Miller (family) search view |
| Last modified | | January 25, 2008 |
|