Major Hiram Mills (–1882) was an American-born philanthropist. Originally from

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, Mills moved to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

at the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

in 1861. Mills inherited a substantial sum from his father, who had been a

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

owner, but generally declined to discuss his previous career and asked that no obituary be published for him. Mills was a generous, but eccentric, philanthropist. ''The Irish Canadian'' newspaper reported that he had been a board member of every

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

charity in Montreal, and in 1879 he helped finance the establishment of a new hospital in the western end of the city. At one point, Mills offered $20,000 to the city to purchase bread for the poor, but attached so many conditions to the bequest that it was refused. Mills joined a Southern

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered ...

in 1819 and, upon his death in 1882, it was reported that he had been amongst the oldest, if not the oldest, Freemason in Canada. Mills bequeathed $43,000 to McGill College (now McGill University) to establish a gold medal, a scholarship, and an endowed chair in classics. Mills left a further $30,000 to the Western Hospital and $20,000 to the

Anglican church Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

, but left no provision for his widow. McGill College and the Anglican synod established a pension of $450 ''per annum'' for Mrs. Mills. Mills is interred in a mausoleum at Mount Royal Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Hiram 1796 births 1882 deaths People from Montreal People from Virginia 19th-century Canadian philanthropists Canadian Freemasons 19th-century American philanthropists