Board of Trustees
Hugh D. McMillan was an enslaver who, according to the 1830 South Carolina census record, owned 19 slaves in the Chester district. His term on the board of Trustees lasted from 1839 to 1854, and he served as pastor of the Ohio Cedarville Reformed Presbyterian Church from 1829 until his death in 1860. The census is a primary source that proves he owned slaves in South Carolina while living in a free state. Yet this is contradicted by secondary sources, including family history handbooks and webpage histories of the Reformed Presbyterian community he belonged to and lived with in Chester County, South Carolina. His family history notes he had “strict views upon the subject of slavery.” The histories of the Reformed Presbyterian community note that the church enacted a rule in 1800 prohibiting slaveholders from receiving communion. Many enslaved people were freed in Chester County then, yet the webpage notes that many “did not accede to the wishes of the Presbytery,” yet the secondary source this is taken from does not identify whom, as “it can accomplish nothing good to give the names of these persons.” Other secondary sources listed on the webpage note that Hugh’s “antipathy to slavery soon made his location untenable,” as he was still in Chester County, and in the Fall of 1828, decided to move with his family to Ohio. His gravestone notes he served as pastor for the Cedarville church from 1829 to 1860, which aligns with this.
1830 US Census, South Carolina, Chester District
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.
Rev. Hugh D. McMillan Gravestone Inscription
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.