William Miller (1782-1849)

William Miller was an American baptist preacher who is credited with beginning the mid 19th century religious movement called Millerism.

William was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on 15th February 1792. in 1796 the family t moved to Low Hampton. New York.His mother educated him at home until he was 9. He then attended East Poultney District school. He is not known to have further education after he was 18, but he continued to read widely. He had access to several private libraries

In 1803 he married Lucy Smith and moved to Poultney where he took up farming.
In1809 he was elected to the office of deputy sheriff and later elected to be the Justice of the Peace

Shortly after arriving he rejected his Baptist heritage and became a Deist
( a belief in the existence of God based solely on natural reason, without reference to revelation).

At the outbreak of war in 1812 he raised a company of local men and acted as a recruiter. In 1814 promoted of captain. He had a miraculous escape when a bomb exploded killing one soldier. injuring 3 others and he survived without a scratch. On discharge from the army in 1815 he moved his family back to Low Hampton.

He took tentative steps to regain his Baptist faith. With the minister away he was asked to read the sermon. (Read his conversion comment in Religious Life.)

His Diest friends challenged him to justify his new faith. He started at Genesis 1 v1 - not moving until he felt the meaning was clear. He became convinced that post-millennialism ( the doctrine or belief that the second coming of Christ would be preceded by the millennium) was unbiblical and that Christ’s Second Coming was revealed in Bible prophecy.

He based his calculations on Daniel 8 v 14 Unto twp thousand and three hundred days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed

starting date 457 BC the year Artaxerxes I of Persia allowed the rebuilding of Jerusalem
A day represented a year. 2,300
Year of Second Coming 2300 - 457 = 1843 on/before (See charts)

October 22, 1844 became known as *The Great Disappointment *
William apparently never personally set an exact date for the Second Coming.

Millerism from 1840 was transformed from an 'obscure, regional movement into a national campaign. A key figure was Joshua Vaughan Himes, an able and experienced published who printed the 24 issues of*Signs of the Times from March 1840. (See sheet)

William died on 20th December 1849 convinced the Second Coming was imminent, Christians await the day 09/12/2020

Legacy
William Miller’s Home is a registered a National Historic Landmark and preserved as museum

Estimate number of followers 50,000- 500,000

After his death new heirs to his message emerged
Advent Christian Church 61,000
Seventh-day Adventists Church 19,000,000

Sources used
Logos Bible Software
Wikipedia