History of Low Hampton, (Washington County) New York United States of America

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William Miller, founder of a religious sect, was born at Pittsfield, Mass., Feb. 15, 1782: son of Capt. William and Paulina (Phelps) Miller; grandson of William and Hannah (Leonard) Miller and of the Rev. Elnathan Phelps, a Baptist minister. His grandfather removed from West Springfield, Mass., and settled on a farm in Pittsfield, Mass., about 1747, and his faiher served in the Revolution and removed to Low Hampton, N.Y., in 1786, where William was employed on the farm. His education was acquired chiefly through reading books which he procured with money earned by chopping wood. He was married, June 29, 1803, to Lucy Smith of Poultney, Vt., and engaged in farming there. He served as sheriff, 1809-10, and commanded a company of volunteers sent in 1812 to Burlington, where he was transferred to the U.S. army. He fought in the battle of Platteburg, Sept. 11, 1814, was promoted captain, and resigned from the army, June 25, 1815. During his residence in Poultney he became interested in the writings of Voltaire, Hume, Paine, Ethan Allen and others, and professed to he a deist, but was converted and joined the Baptist church at Low Hampton, to which place he removed in 1816. In 1818, at the close of two years' study of the Bible, he announced his conviction that in twenty-five years (1848 by Jewish time or 1844, Roman), Jesus Christ would appear in person to judge the world, and in 1831 he entered upon his self-imposed mission as a preacher on the topic of the second advent of Christ. He had been licensed to preach by the Baptist church at Low Hampton, but was never ordained. He spoke in Vermont and New York in the pulpits of all denominations, the Episcopal and Roman Catholic alone excluding him. People flocked to hear him and many were converted to his views. In 1839 he delivered his first course of lectures in Massachusetts. On March 14, 1844, he announced the second coming of Christ to he at hand. In Ootober, 1844, after seven months' waiting, work was suspended by the Millerites and all repaired to their tabernacles, where they waited until the end of November, when they dispersed and affiliated with various sects. "Father" Miller continued to hold together about 50,000 disciples, and in April, 1845, a declaration of faith was agreed upon and the name "Adventist" adopted, which sect under various names increased steadily. He helped to establish in 1840, The Signs of the Times and Exposition of Prophecy, published in Boston, which afterward became the Advent Herald. He published many sermons and lectures, and his Dream of the Last Day was widely circulated. See biographies by Sylvester Bliss, James White and Joshua V. Himes. He died at Low Hampton, N.Y., Dec. 20, 1849.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Low Hampton, (Washington County) New York

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