John Miller Reverend

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ⁷⁰¹
The first inhabitant of Groton took with them, or were immediately followed by Rev. John Miller as their minister.

"At a general town meeting, March 18 166e, it was generally agreed as followeth:
"1. Voted, That Mr. Miller is by the consent of the town, manifested by vote, to be desired, if God move his heart thereunto, to continue still with us, for our further edificatio."
"2. That Mr. Miller shall have a twenty acre lot set out to him, according to the town's grant to him."

It would seem by these votes, that it was intended Mr. Miller should be the settled minister of the town, but he was suddenly removed by death. In the first return of births and eaths, by the town clerk of Groton to the clear of the courts, his death is thus stated:
"Mr. Jno. Miller, minister of God's holy word, died June 12, 1663."

Mr. Miller, according to Mather, had been an ordained minister in England; his name is among the early church memebers of Roxbury; he preached some time in Rowley, as assistant to the Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, was afterwards settled at Yarmouth, and after this came to Groton.

~History of the Town of Groton, pp. 154-155

• Background Information. ⁷⁰²
The earliest documents relating to any inhabitant of Groton, found amount the Middlesex County Probate Office, are those belonging to the estate of the Reverend John Miller, the first minister of the town. Power of administration was granted to his son John Miller on 3 Jul 1663; and his library was appraised at £6 5s 7d.

Mr. Miller graduated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, England, in the year 1627, and came to this country in 1637. In the first return of deaths, made by the town cleark of Groton to the recorder of the County, it is stated:

"Mr. Jn. Miller, minister of Gods honly word died. June 12th 1663."

~Early Church Records of Groton, Massachusetts, 1761-1830, p. 186

• Background Information. ⁷⁰³
In the church records of Roxbury, kept at the time by Reverend Samuel Danforth, and containing references to events throughout New England, it is written that - Jun 14 [1663] Mr. John Miller Preacher of ye Gospell at Groyton, sometime Pastor to ye church at Yarmouth rested fro his labours.

John Miller lived for a short time in Roxbury, where he was one of the elders in the ministry at Rowley, from the year 1639 to 1641, and perhaps later, as an assistant to the Reverend Ezekiel Rogers; and during this time he filled the office of town clerk. He was made a freeman of Massachusetts, 22 May 1639. In the autumn of 1641, he was waited on by messengers from Wobrun, who desired his services for their church; by they found "Mr. Roggers loth to part with him.

John, in his "Wonder-Working Providence of Sion's Saviour, in New England." refers to him both in prose and in verse. In Chapter 11, page 131 is found:
"With Courage bold Miller through Seas doth venter,
To toyl it out in the great Western wast,
Tey stature low on object high doth center;
Higher than Heaven thy faith on christ is plac't"

Mr. Miller was appointed, in 1642, to go to Virginia, but declined because of "bodily infirmities." His name appears in the list of grantees of Newbury, 7 Dec 1642. A lot of land in Rowley was granted him in Jan 1643/44. From Rowley he moved to Yarmouth, where he was the settled minister. His daughter, Susannah, was born at Yarmouth, 2 May 1647. In the Summer of 1662, he was a memeber of the council that convened at Barnstable to consider the case of John Smith and others who had seceded from Barnstable church.

John Miller's wife, Lydia, died in Boston, 7 Aug 1658, leaving a large family of children, one of whom, John, was born in England. Mr. Miller was a man of decided literary attainments, and a devoted servant of Christ.

~Three Historical Addresses at Groton, Massachusetts, pp. 73-74

John married Lydia Coombs before 1632-1638 in Massachusetts. (Lydia Coombs was born about 1610 in Kent, England and died on 7 Aug 1658 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, British American Colonies ⁷⁰³.)