William Henry Mills (1746 - 1834)

Born 10 Nov 1746 in James River, Albermarle, Virginia

Ancestors

Husband of Eleanor (Morris) Mills — married 12 Oct 1765 in Wateree, Richland, South Carolina

Descendants

Died 10 Nov 1834 at age 88 in Green River, Rutherford, North Carolina

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Biography

(1) Colonel William Mills was a son of Ambrose Mills. He emigrated to the "Block House" on the Catawba and thence to Green river, in Rutherford county, in 1766. He was of English extraction and was born on James river, Virginia, in 1746. He married Eleanor Morris, of South Carolina, with whom he lived sixty-nine years, and died in 1834, and is buried near Edneyville, in Henderson county, N. C. He was a man of small stature, but very compact and sinewy, with strong constitution and indomitable courage. He was a very benevolent, industrious, kind-hearted, honest man. When he first settled in the country the Indians were very numerous and, like all new settlers on the frontiers, he had to fight his way with the savages. Several times they pillaged and burned his houses and left him and his wife without a shelter. Mills Gap and Mills River, in Henderson County, took their names from him.

(2) MILLS, WILLIAM Died November 10, 1834. Obituary of William Mills, published in a contemporary Hendersonville NC newspaper: "WILLIAM MILLS son of Ambrose and Mourning Mills, immigrants to the U.S. from England,' born on James River, Virginia, November 10, 1746, moved to Wateree, S.C., where in 1763 he married Elleanor Morriss; later moved to Green River, Rutherford County; a participant at King's Mountain, Cowpens, and Ninety-Six; the first white man to cross the Blue Ridge into what is now Henderson County; moved to Buncombe County in 1788; died November 10, 1834. "Buried in LUCIAN EDNEY CEMETERY, HENDERSON, NC, (Now called the WILLIAM MILLS FAMILY CEMETERY, (Contributed by Edwin E. Peeler)

(3) William Mills, was born on James River, Virginia, November tenth, 1746. He was very popular, and served in 1776 against the Indians. He acted as Major under his father at King's Mountain, where he was badly wounded, and left for dead ; and was subsequently saved from being executed by the interference of leading Whigs who knew his worth and goodness. In after years, he settled in the mountain region of the south-western portion of North Carolina on Clear Creek, in now Cleveland County.

Mills' River and Mills' Gap, in that section, were named after him. He married early in life Eleanor Morris, by whom he had two sons and five daughters. He was a handsome, noble, generous man. He died, in consequence of a fall from his horse on his birthday, November 10, 1834, at the age of eighty--eight years. He had lived a happy married life of sixty-nine years — his venerable companion surviving him.

Military

(4)Major William Mills served with Loyalist forces at the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780, where he was wounded in the leg. He served under his father Lt. Col. Ambrose Mills who was captured by the Patriot forces and was hanged at Biggerstaff farm with eight other Loyalists who had been captured.

William Mills had served earlier in the War, in 1775, with the Patriots in the Cherokee Wars. He was paid as a private in Porter's Company from Tryon County for service under Gen. Rutherford during 1775. His family was of English descent and, once the War became against the English Crown, he chose to remain loyal to the Crown.

William Mills is said to have avoided capture after the Battle of Kings Mountain by playing dead while the Patriots were collecting prisoners and escaped to Sugar Loaf Mountain, in what is today Henderson County, where he hid in a cave for a period of time. He sent emissaries back to the Committee of Public Safety for Rutherford County offering to serve the balance of the War with the Patriots. He was seeking to save his land (located back near Mills Spring, which had been named for his father) and have it exempted from confiscation by the new government.

Holdings

William Mills was politically nimble. Buncombe County was formed in 1791 and included almost all NC land west of the Continental Divide William Mills' lands, now part of Henderson County, were then in Buncombe. By the time of the first census of Buncombe County in 1800, Mills had the largest labor supply in the county in the form of 20 slaves. But, Mills never held political office, probably because of his loyalist activities during the War.

Mills was credited ^[1] with being the first white settler in what is now Henderson County, NC. It is not known whether he was the county's first white setter, but it is true that when he fled to Sugar Loaf Mountain in 1780, after his Tory activities, there were few if any white settlers in what is today Henderson County.

Apple industry

The apple industry is today the major industry in the area where his lands were located. In 2013, Henderson County produced 65% of the apples sold from North Carolina. Mills has been credited, by some historians, as being the first settler to plant apple trees in the area. But, even if this is true, apples would not have been a major commodity for him on his farms. Apples are perishable and, other than as cider, could not be marketed extensively before refrigeration. In the time of William Mills the major agricultural commodity produced in the mountains of NC was livestock which was driven on foot to the Charleston SC markets. Mills lands were located on the eastern end of the Blue Ridge Escarpment and he may have produced corn and other feed for sale to farmers fattening livestock as it was droved to South Carolina markets.

Issue

Children of William Mills Eleanor Morris Mills:

• 1. John Mills (1766-1843) married Sarah Robertson. He was not a doctor. His son, John Columbus Mills, Jr., was the doctor. Obituary: "Died, Col. John Mills, February 16, 1843, at his residence in Hendersonville." He owned an early hotel in Hendersonville. He also owned extensive properties in Polk County, N.C. His grave site is not known.
• 2. Amelia Mills (1768-1811) married Richard Yielding. Her grave site is not known.
• 3. Marvel E. Mills (1771-1849) married Mary Dickerson Chamblis or Chamblee. His grave site is at the Mills Cemetery in Polk County, NC.
• 4. Mourning Mills (1773-1827) married Henry Graves Lewis. Her grave site is at the Mills Cemetery in Henderson County, NC.
• 5. Sarah Mills (1774-1848) married Rev. Asa Edney. Her grave site is at the Asa Edney Family Cemetery (Townsend) in Henderson County, NC.
• 6. Eleanor "Nellie" Mills (1776-1842) mrried Rev. Samuel Edney. Her grave site is at the Edney-Coston Cemetery in Henderson County, NC. Her name is misspelled on her grave stone and the birth date is incorrect on the grave stone. This grave stone was placed in the 20th century by well-meaning descendnts using incorrect information. The original stones were discarded.
• 7. Elizabeth Mills (1780-1865) married George Washington Jones. Her grave site is at the "Jones at Walker Farm" Cemetery in Polk County, NC.
• 8. Phalby Mills (1782-1854) married David Myers. Her grave site is at the Myers Cemetery in Richland County, SC.
• 9. Mary Mills (1788-1862) married William Dimsdale. Her gravesite is at Mills Cemetery in Polk County, NC.

Sources

1. ↑ by Sadie S. Patton in her 1947 book " The Story of Henderson County"

• Genealogy of the Lewis Family in America
• https://www.historicpathways.com/download/MillsWilliamofAmbroseResearchNotes.pdf
• http://www.ncgenweb.us/henderson/records/obituaries/william-mills

• King's Mountain and it's Heroes
• Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 27 February 2018), memorial page for Maj William Mills (10 Nov 1746–10 Nov 1834), Find A Grave Memorial no. 114368978, citing Mills Cemetery, Henderson County, North Carolina, USA ; Maintained by Holt Felmet (contributor 48009720) .

• Anne Phillips, firsthand knowledge. Click the Changes tab for the details of edits by Anne