This item is a census record for Hugh D. McMillian, showing that in 1830, he owned 19 slaves on a plantation in Chester County, South Carolina. Hugh McMillan was a reverend and served as minister of Cedarville Presbyterian Church from 1829 until his death in 1860. While doing so, he served on the Miami Board of Trustees from 1839 to 1854. Other secondary sources dispute this. His family's handbook, written in the 1950s, claims that he had “strict views on the subject of slavery”, and that his wife raised abolitionist children. Other accounts on his ministry in South Carolina, before he moved to Ohio to form the Cedarville church, claim his move was motivated by his “antipathy to slavery soon made his position untenable.” These accounts contradict each other, yet the census makes it clear he did own slaves in 1830, after he had moved to Ohio. McLoughlin's thesis argues that he “maintained his estate in South Carolina, while also having residences in Ohio, seems most correct.
This item is an image of the grave of Rev. Hugh D. McMillan, and on the inscriptions it notes he was the Pastor for the Cedarville Reformed Presbyterian Church. As he died in 1860, this would mean that he moved and established the church in 1829. This lines up with another secondary source which claims in the fall of 1828 he discussed with his family a move to Ohio, as his “antipathy to slavery soon made his position untenable.” Yet this antipathy to slavery is contradicted with our 5th item, the census record which notes he owned slaves in 1830.
