George Miller (Latter Day Saints)

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George Miller (November 25, 1794 – August 27, 1856) was a prominent convert in the Latter Day Saint movement and was the third ordained bishop in the Latter Day Saint church.

Early life

Miller was born on November 25, 1794, in

Shortly after his conversion, Miller moved to Lee County, Iowa and then Nauvoo, Illinois. By September 1840, he had become a high priest in the Latter Day Saint church. Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and Newel Knight performed his ordination. In 1840 and 1841, Miller served as a church missionary in Iowa and Illinois.^[1]

Bishop and other service

On January 19, 1841,

In 1843, Miller served a mission to Mississippi and Alabama with Peter Haws.^{[citation needed]} He became a member of the Council of Fifty on March 11, 1844, and, later that year, was sent to Kentucky to campaign for the election of Joseph Smith to the office of President of the United States.^[1] Also in 1844, Miller was named the "second bishop" of the church, a position under the direction of Newel K. Whitney, the presiding bishop of the church at the time.^[4]

Succession crisis and break with Brigham Young

Upon hearing about the

There is debate as to whether Miller should today be accepted as a former presiding bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The office of presiding bishop was not established as such in the church until the tenure of Edward Hunter. Nevertheless, Edward Partridge, the first bishop of the Latter Day Saint movement, is usually regarded as the first presiding bishop of the LDS Church. On the same day that Miller was sustained as the "Second Bishop" of the church, Newel K. Whitney—who was the second ordained bishop in church history—was sustained as the "First Bishop" of the church; therefore, Whitney is usually recognized by the LDS Church as the de facto presiding bishop until his death in 1850, with Miller as a subordinate or assistant to Whitney until his break with the LDS Church in 1848.

See also

• List of sects in the Latter Day Saint movement

Notes

References

• History of the Church
  .
• Bennett, Richard E. (Spring 1989). "'A Samaritan had Passed By': George Miller—Mormon Bishop, Trailblazer, and Brigham Young Antagonist". Illinois Historical Journal. 82 (1): 2–16.

External links

• Grampa Bill's G.A. Pages: George Miller at the Wayback Machine (archived July 23, 2011)
• BYU Studies Mormon Biographical Register: George Miller
• George Miller letter, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
• Brigham Young letter, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University