Background
Mills inherited a substantial sum from his father, who had been a plantation owner, but generally declined to discuss his previous career and asked that no obituary be published for him.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Hiram Mills
Edit Profile
Career
Originally from Virginia, Mills moved to Montreal at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. Mills was a generous, but eccentric, philanthropist. At one point, Mills offered $20,000 to the city to purchase bread for the poor, but attached so many conditions to the bequest that it was refused.
Mills joined a Southern Masonic Lodge in 1819 and, upon his death in 1882, it was reported that he had been amongst the oldest, if not the oldest, Freemason in Canada.
Mills bequeathed $43,000 to McGill College (now McGill University) to establish a gold medal, a scholarship, and an endowed chair in classics. McGill College and the Anglican synod established a pension of $450 per annum for Mistress
Mills. Mills is interred in a mausoleum at Mount Royal Cemetery.
