George Miller was born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Jacob and Elizabeth Miller. He grew up in Alsace Township, Berks County. He lost his father when he was ten years old, and the death of his father was much influenced by his devout Lutheran mother.
Miller attended a Lutheran catechetical class in Reading. Revivalism was then spreading through backwoods Pennsylvania like a grass-fire, but the educated German clergy was relatively incombustible, and for some years Miller's yearning for experimental religion was kept in check. His preparation for the ministry, like that of the other leaders of the movement, was of the scantiest: he had had almost no schooling, he knew no language except his Pennsylvania-German dialect, he had read few books except the Bible.
A millwright by trade, in 1798, Miller bought some land in Brunswick Township, Schuylkill County, and built himself a gristmill. In 1800, he heard Jacob Albright preach and was deeply moved by him. It was not until June 3, 1802, however, that he felt himself assuredly converted. Thereupon he identified himself with Albright's followers, later known as the Evangelical Association, was made a class leader, and became the object of attention of his orthodox neighbors, who filled his mill flume with rubbish, took their custom away from him, leaving their bills unpaid, and at times pelted him with clubs and stones. In April 1805, under the guidance of Albright and John Walter, he became an itinerant preacher. On December 26, 1808, he became seriously ill, returned to his home in Albany Township, Berks, and never regained his health. For the four years before his death, he lived on his farm at Dry Valley, Union County, a few miles below New Berlin, where he is buried.
In his enforced leisure, Miller became the first author of the denomination. Basing his work on the German version of the Methodist Discipline, which Ignatius Roemer had made in 1808 under the direction of Martin Boehm, he compiled the Book of Discipline for the "Albright people" (1809) and did most of the work on the second edition (1817). In consequence, his influence on the Evangelical Association has been great and lasting. He also wrote a devotional book, Thätiges Christenthum (1814), the earliest life of Albright (1814), and a revealing autobiography.
In person, Miller was an uncouth countryman, large of limb and feature, his red eyebrows contrasting oddly with a mat of black hair; but he was earnest and courageous, developed rapidly as a preacher and leader, conducted many satisfactory revivals, and made some converts wherever he went. During four years of circuit-riding, he traveled through nineteen counties in Pennsylvania, but this heroic labor proved too much for him.
In 1800, Miller married Magdalena Brobst, whose father was the proprietor of an iron forge in Albany Township, Berks.
