Samuel Miles (207)

Samuel Miles (11 March 1740–29 December 1805) was a soldier, merchant, and public officeholder, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768. Born to a farming family of Welsh ancestry, Miles grew up in Whitemarsh where he received a functional education of reading, writing, and arithmetic. He did not stay on the farm for long, choosing instead to enlist with British forces at the age of sixteen. He spent the remainder of his adolescent building forts in the Ohio Country to bolster British imperial claims against those of the French between 1755 and 1757. His services eventually impressed a visiting Governor Robert Hunter Morris, and the Governor subsequently offered Miles an ensign’s commission; by 1760 he was promoted to Captain. After the hostilities of the Seven Years’ War cooled, Miles relocated to Philadelphia and soon married. His new wife’s family provided Miles with a lucrative start in the mercantile business. With his financial successes, Miles purchased a country home at Spring Mill and, when not spending him time there, became active in public life. Year by year he rose up the civic ranks from warden of the city in 1766, city commissioner in 1769, and the Provincial Assembly in 1773. When violence loomed again, however, Miles quickly aligned with the fight for Independence. Beginning as a delegate to the Provincial Convention from 1774-1775, acting on the Council for Safety from 1775-76, he finally returned to military operations in 1776. His time on the battlefield was cut short, however, when the British took him prisoner on Long Island in late August of 1776. Fortunately for him, his rank included the option to serve his parole at home, which he did, all the while lobbying to send supplies to the prisoners of war. Even as a parolee, he continued to support Independence, first by his appointment as Auditor of Public Accounts in 1778, followed by the vital role of Deputy Quartermaster General for Pennsylvania in 1780. After the war he remained active in public office and was eventually elected as Mayor of Philadelphia in 1790, while continuing to contribute to community endeavors such as the Pennsylvania Hospital, the College of Philadelphia, the Humane Society and APS’s own Silk Society. (PI)