Miles, Frederick William

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Richard Wilbur, “MILES, FREDERICK WILLIAM,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/miles_frederick_william_7E.html
  • DCB profile:
    • Baptist minister and educator; b. c. 1806 in Maugerville, N.B., elder son of Elijah Miles and his second wife, Elizabeth Harding; m. first 29 Oct. 1832 Charlotte Mears in Boston, and they had a daughter who died young; m. secondly Eliza Billings, née Moore, of London, and they had one daughter; d. 2 Feb. 1842 in Fredericton.
    • In 1830 Miles left Saint John to study at the theological seminary in Newton, Mass., where he probably met his first wife, a native of Boston. He returned briefly to serve at his first charge before being called in 1833 or 1834 to the Fredericton Baptist Church. Miles’s arrival in the New Brunswick capital coincided with a growing attack on the privileges of the Church of England, especially in education. In 1833 the established church dominated state-supported schools and its interests were staunchly protected by members of the Legislative Council, which in contrast to the elected House of Assembly was composed of crown appointees.
    • Miles and William Boyd Kinnear, a Fredericton lawyer and mha, are credited with first suggesting a Baptist seminary for New Brunswick. Their proposal was discussed and accepted at the annual meeting of the New Brunswick Baptist Association held in St George in July 1833, and both were included on a seven-member committee requested to draft a prospectus. In September a public meeting in Saint John formed the New-Brunswick Baptist Education Society and elected the Reverend Joseph Crandall president and John McNeil Wilmot vice-president. The society chose Fredericton as the site for the seminary and upon completion of a building in December 1835 appointed Miles first principal.
  • Son of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=5836
  • Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/61335681/frederick-william-miles