George Mason Miller

George Mason Miller was a threefold graduate of Columbia: college, law, and university. In 1862 he went to the front with the Seventh Regiment, served as a private through its short apprenticeship, returned as a captain on Meagher’s staff, and served in that capacity until after Antietam, where, as in other battles, he was distinguished for courage. Broken in health, his enforced resignation was presented in a letter endorsed by his commander with the highest possible encomium. Though a lawyer by education and profession, his intellectual bent was toward science and he now entered upon chemical research, first at Heidelberg and afterward at Göttingen. His success was such that he was made assistant in his alma mater. From this position, however, he soon resigned because other duties demanded a large share of his energy. But chemistry remained his avocation to the last, absorbing his interest and eliciting his highest powers. His son was enabled to do what the parent could not and became a devoted, successful teacher of that science. Mr. Miller became a member of this association just forty years ago and, though a resident of Nyack, he came here as opportunity served and relinquished membership only with life. His sterling character, his many accomplishments, his unaffected modesty and unfailing cheerfulness expressed themselves in a charm of manner which endeared him to many associates.

William Milligan Sloane
1909 Century Association Yearbook