Elijah Miles (January 16, 1753 – May 26, 1831) was a merchant, farmer, land owner and political figure in

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. He represented

Sunbury County Sunbury County (2016 population 27,644) is located in central New Brunswick, Canada. A large military base (CFB Gagetown) is located in the western part of the county south of the town of Oromocto. The county also hosts forestry and mixed farm ...

in the

Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick A legislature is an deliberative assembly, assembly with the authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country or city. They are often contrasted with the Executive (government), executive and Judiciary, ...

from 1803 to 1809 and from 1816 to 1827. He was born in

Milford, Connecticut Milford is a coastal city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located between New Haven and Bridgeport. The population was 50,558 at the 2020 United States Census. The city includes the village of Devon and the borough of Woodmont. ...

, the son of Justus Miles and Hannah Olmstead, and was educated there. Miles served in a loyalist unit during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

and came to New Brunswick after the war, settling in

Maugerville Maugerville (, MAJOR-ville) is a New Brunswick unincorporated community located on the east bank of the Saint John River in Maugerville Parish, Sunbury County, in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The settlement is located on provincial Ro ...

. In 1779, he married Frances Cornwell, a descendant of Thomas Cornell.Cornell, John. Genealogy of the Cornell family : being an account of the descendants of Thomas Cornell. 1904, page 195. Miles was a captain in the King's New Brunswick Regiment from 1793 to 1802. He married Elizabeth Harding in 1800 after the death of his first wife. He was elected to the provincial assembly in 1802 after a number of voters who had voted for

Samuel Denny Street Samuel Denny Street (May 16, 1752 – December 11, 1830) was an English-born lawyer and political figure in New Brunswick. He represented Sunbury County in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1795 to 1802 and from 1809 to 1816. C ...

were found to be ineligible by the sheriff. Miles was an unsuccessful candidate in 1809 but was elected in the three elections that followed. During his time in the assembly, Miles never opposed measures introduced by the government. He was a magistrate for Sunbury County and served as a justice for the Inferior Court of Common Pleas. Miles died in Maugerville at the age of 78. His son

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

also represented the county in the provincial assembly. Although Miles himself was a member of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

, his son

Frederick William Miles Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederi ...

became a Baptist minister and was president of the first Baptist seminary in the province. Elija was the great-great-great-grandfather of Richard Miles who served as MLA for Fredericton Silverwood in the province of NB elected in 2006.

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
1753 births 1831 deaths People from Milford, Connecticut Members of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick Colony of New Brunswick people United Empire Loyalists Loyalist military personnel of the American Revolutionary War American emigrants to pre-Confederation New Brunswick Loyalists in the American Revolution from Connecticut Canadian magistrates {{NewBrunswick-MLA-stub