Gavin Miller

• formal_name:
• first_date: 1812
• last_date: 1813
• function: Printer, Bookseller
• locales: Staunton
• precis: Bookseller and job-printer at Staunton (1812-13); likely employed previously at the Henkel Press in New Market.
• notes: Printer & Bookseller
  Staunton
  Bookseller and job-printer at Staunton (1812-13); likely employed previously at the Henkel Press in New Market.
  Miller has left only a fleeting presence in Virginia's print trade. In 1812, he issued a single small pamphlet – The Bible Federalist – which condemned both Deism and Republicans as anti-Christian; but no other imprint has been found with his colophon. However, Miller does appear in correspondence with Solomon Henkel (218), the proprietor of the Henkel Press in New Market, soliciting employment at Henkel's press and help in selling his book stocks, including his sole imprint, in the winter of 1812-13. The familiarity in those letters implies that this Miller was related to Rebecca Miller Henkel, Solomon's wife, especially in light of the extensive links between her large Winchester family (father Godfrey and uncle Abraham Miller supplied the Henkel Press) and the equally large Henkel family of New Market. If so, it is also likely he had worked at the Henkel Press prior to this exchange. Miller reports that he was about to travel to Richmond to seek work there in early 1813, but no trace has been found of him among the capital's tradesmen. His fate thereafter is uncertain, though a clue may be the only Gavin Miller in the 1820 census – a single man living in nearby Lexington of about the same age as Solomon and Rebecca Henkel.
  
  
  No Personal Data yet discovered.
  
  Sources: Imprint (Shoemaker 24858); Henkel Family Papers at University of Virginia; Henkel Family Memorial; 1820 Federal Decennial Census.
  
• Related Bios:
  • Rev. Ambrosius Henkel
  • Dr. Salomon Henkel
  • Laurentz Wartmann

This version of the Index of Virginia Printing was a gift from the estate of the site's creator, David Rawson. The content contained herein will not be updated, as it is part of the Library of Virginia's personal papers collection. For more information, please see David Rawson Index of Virginia Printing website. Accession 53067. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.