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{{Short description|American businessman}}
{{for|the professor of insect population ecology|Nicholas Mills (academic)}}
'''Nicholas Mills Sr.''' (23 November 1781 – 13 September 1862) was a prominent businessman in [[Richmond, Virginia]]. He built a 13 mile tramway known as the [[Chesterfield Railroad|Chesterfield Railroad Company]](forerunner of Virginia's first railways) to connect the coal pits of [[Chesterfield County, Virginia|Chesterfield County]] to the [[James River (Virginia)|James River]]. A staunch Unionist, over his house flew the last Union flag in Richmond, April 1861.
He was at one time the owner of the Chesterfield Coal Pits and president of the [[Tredegar Iron Works]]. When he died in 1862 he is reported to have had $800,000 in gold (roughly $19,955,000 USD in 2017<ref>This number comes from an internet inflation calculator located at https://westegg.com/inflation/. This site uses the Consumer Price Index from ''Historical Statistics of the United States'' (USGPO, 1975).</ref>) stored in his vault, probably making him the wealthiest man in [[Virginia]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Couper |first1=William |title=Claudius Crozet - Soldier-Scholar-Educator-Engineer - (1789-1864) |date=1936 |publisher=The Historical Publishing Co., Inc. |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ioBIAAAAMAAJ&q=vault |accessdate=2 November 2018}}</ref>
He was born in [[Hanover County, Virginia]] on November 23, 1781<ref>Or 1782, as is listed in some books. On his tombstone 1781 is recorded.</ref> and moved to [[Chesterfield County, Virginia|Chesterfield County]] in 1803.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Taylor-White |first1=Alyson L. |title=Shockoe Hill Cemetery: A Richmond Landmark History |date=2017 |publisher=The History Press |location=Charleston, South Carolina |isbn=9781467118644 |pages=50–51 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CcgmDwAAQBAJ&dq=nicholas+mills+1781&pg=PA50 |accessdate=31 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=McGhan |first1=Judith |title=Genealogies of Virginia Families - From Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine - Volume 1 - Albridgton to Gerlache |date=2007 |publisher=Genealogical Publishing Co. |location=Baltimore, Maryland |page=696 |isbn=9780806309477 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55I38FXWyPgC&dq=nicholas+mills+richmond&pg=RA1-PA697 |accessdate=31 October 2018}}</ref>
On August 8,<ref>Or 5th. Family Search.com's "Virginia Marriages, 1785-1940" gives the date as August 8, 1805, while a Virginia Families Genealogy book gives it as August 5, 1805.</ref> 1805, at the age of 22 or 23, Mills married Sarah Payne Ronald (1788–1857), the daughter of attorney Andrew Ronald and Sally Payne Ronald, a cousin of [[Dolley Madison]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Virginia Marriages, 1785-1940 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1708698 |website=familysearch.com |publisher=Family Search.com |accessdate=31 October 2018}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{cite book |last1=McGhan |first1=Judith |title=Genealogies of Virginia Families - From Tyler's Quarterly Historical and Genealogical Magazine - Volume 1 - Albridgton to Gerlache |date=2007 |publisher=Genealogical Publishing Co. |location=Baltimore, Maryland |page=697 |isbn=9780806309477 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55I38FXWyPgC&dq=nicholas+mills+richmond&pg=RA1-PA697 |accessdate=31 October 2018}}</ref> In 1811 Mills joined a firm involved in the Chesterfield County coal mining business called Bott and Cunliffe (named after Miles Bott and John Cunliffe and subsequently called Mills, Bott, and Cunliffe).<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto">{{cite book |last1=Green |first1=Bryan Clark |title=Lost Virginia: Vanished Architecture of the Old Dominion |date=2001 |publisher=Howell Press |page=48 |isbn=9781574271270 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3-NPAAAAMAAJ&q=cunliffe |accessdate=31 October 2018}}</ref> In 1815, Miles Bott had to sell his share in the firm to Mills as a result of some financial difficulties.<ref name="auto"/>
In 1814, he served for three months and three days as Brigade Quartermaster in the 1st (Chamberlayne's) Brigade, Virginia Militia, during the War of 1812.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/norfolkcity/warof1812/warof1812vareg.html|title=warof1812va1.html|website=www.usgwarchives.net|access-date=2016-05-24}}</ref> Thereafter a staunch [[Union (American Civil War)|Unionist]], over his house flew the last [[flag of the United States|Union flag]] in Richmond, in April 1861.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
*"Nicholas Mills", The Quarterly of the Virginia Genealogical Society, 1965.
*"Forerunner of Virginia's First Railway", Virginia Cavalcade Winter 1954.
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==External links==
*[https://books.google.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Nicholas}}
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[[Category:1862 deaths]]
[[Category:1781 births]]
[[Category:19th-century American businesspeople]]
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