HON. THOMAS G. MILLS. This very successful farmer and stockraiser of Shannon County, Missouri, is a native of Rutherford County, N. C., where he was born in 1833 to Calvin and Margaret (Jackson) Mills, who were also born in that State and county. When the subject of this sketch was two or three years old they removed to Lumpkin County, Ga., where the father died in 1866, and the mother in 1867, the latter having long been a member of the Missionary Baptist Church. The paternal grandfather, John Mills, had been a soldier of the Revolutionary War, was of Irish parentage, and during his life was engaged in tilling the soil. He died in Rutherford County, N. C., having reared a family of two sons and three daughters. The maternal grandfather, David Jackson, was of Dutch descent, as was also his wife, was a Revolutionary soldier, and was a worthy tiller of the soil, which occupation he was following in Rutherford County, N. C., at the time of his death. Thomas G. Mills was the youngest of six children, the other members of the family being: John, who died in Lumpkin County, Ga., after the war; Caroline, who died in Cherokee County, Ga., the wife of Pleasant Worley; William, who died in Cherokee County, Ga.; Zilpha, who also died there, the wife of David Cochran, and Jane, the widow of William Cochran.
The advantages of the common schools were given to Thomas G. Mills in his youth, and in assisting his father in the work on the farm he strengthened his constitution and learned lessons of industry and economy which were of great benefit to him when starting out to fight life’s battles for himself. He was married in 1849 to Miss Susanna, daughter of Henry and Cynthia Cochran, natives of North Carolina, who removed to Hall County, Ga., and there spent the rest of their lives. Mrs. Mills was born in Hall County, and her union with Mr. Mills has resulted in the birth of five children: Mary, wife of John Bramhall; Martha J., William Franklin, Amanda and Rosa. On the 11th of August, 1861, Mr. Mills joined Company F, Twenty-eighth Georgia Infantry, Colquit’s brigade, Stonewall Jackson’s corps of the Army of Virginia, and was in twenty-two open field, hard-fought battles, but fortunately was never captured or wounded. With his command he surrendered at Appomattox in April, 1865, and during his entire service was not home on furlough. After the war he returned home and resumed the peaceful pursuit of farming, and has followed that occupation ever since. In 1866 he came to Shannon County and located on his present farm, the cultivated portion of which he has increased from 5 to 120 acres, and has 187 acres in all. This farm is exceptionally fertile and well improved, and everything about the place shows plainly that Mr. Mills is a thorough and industrious man. In 1884 he was elected associate judge of the County Court from the Western District of the county, and served one term of two years, but since that time has never sought office, although he has always been a stanch Democrat in politics, and has been an active worker for his party. His first presidential vote was cast for Buchanan in 1856. He is a member of Woodside Lodge No. 387, of the A. F. & A. M., and also belongs to Lodge No. 455, at Eminence, of the I. O. O. F.