Excerpt from The Reverend Alexander Miller of Virginia and Some of His Descendants

Rev. Alexander Miller served the congregation of Peaked Moun tain as their pastor until October 7, 1762, and Cooks Creek until May 1, 1763. He was one of the ten members of the Hanover, Presbytery when it was reorganized in 1758. He was ap pointed to several missionary stations in southwestern Virginia and western North Carolina in 1771, and the latest mention of him in the records of the Presbyterian Church in America is found in a report made to the Synod of Philadelphia by the Hanover Presbytery in 1774. He appears to have been a man of strong opinions and staunch convictions and was possessed of an extreme independence of the wills of other men. The last mention I find of him in any record is dated October 8, 1775.

Settling in Virginia when that country was new and infested with many hostile bands of Indians, his experiences must have been trying to say the least. His remains, those of his wife and his son Alexander and wife lie buried in the old Cooks Creek Cemetery, ' four miles southwest of Harrisonburg, Virginia, (near the town of Dayton.) In later years this old cemetery was aban doued and a mill dam was built across the creek below the burying ground in such a way that the water of the dam backed up and completely covered all the old graves. The old church where Miller and several of his successors preached was torn down about the year and the stones of which it was constructed were used in building the mill-dam. A new church, (the second build ing on the present site, ) was built in 1834, at a place about four miles north of the site of the first one, and to it was given the name of New Erection, probably in memory of the old New Erection in Ardstraw, County Tyrone, Ireland, where Miller first preached. The name was also probably bestowed by Rev. Miller's son, Alexander, who was the chief supporter of the enterprise and the donor of the land upon which the new church was built. The latter is referred to as the founder of this church.

The exact date of Rev. Alexander Miller's emigration from Ireland to America is not yet known, but it is probable that he settled in Virginia about the year 1750, as the first mention of him in the records of the Presbyterian church in America occurs under date of May 25, 1753, and it is said that he had preached as an assistant to the Rev. John Craig for several years prior to that date. Of his immediate family very little is now known, but he had (at least) two sons, whose names were John and Alex ander. The son, John Miller, was born in County Tyrone, Ire land, January 10, 1749, but the date of birth of the other son is not known to me.

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