Lee-Ann Hines-Green UE
Loyalist Day Speaker, Dundurn Castle, July 19, 2025
Today, I will be talking more about the generation line that comes down from John and Anne Mills.
James Mills and Christina Hesse
James, born in 1774, was the son of John and Anne Mills. He married Christina Hesse, whose lineage Hess Street was named for.
At one time, James Mills and Christina’s brother, Peter Hess, each held 500 acres of land that bordered on the location of Queen Street and Hess Street. This is why we now have a street called Hess Street! Peter’s section was later named for him.
In the early 1800s ,James Mills and Christina Hesse resided on a large farm on what is now the Scottish Rite. They had substantial farmland with many animals and fruit. Their farm stretched from King Street to Main Street and from Locke Street to Queen Street. Together they would raise their eleven children on the homestead land.
Samuel Sylvester Mills
[You can click on any of the illustrations to enlarge it]
Many of their children were quite successful in helping Hamilton grow, and they made many financial and land contributions. Their second eldest, the Honourable Samuel Sylvester Mills, born in 1806, was very generous. He donated the land across from their homestead to become All Saints Church. He donated the money to build the church and later donated money for a large pipe organ. He also left the land just west of where we’re standing today, Harvey Park. It was originally donated by Samuel Mills and all money was supposed to be generated back into the land. He donated this land here to be used as a cemetery.
Samuel Sylvester Mills had a few grand houses in Hamilton, but unfortunately most have been torn down. One used to sit where City Hall now is, on a section of Charles Street that also no longer exists. That house was demolished in the 1960s. He had built it for his wife, Aurora. It’s also said that the large house on Hess Street, southwest of George, was also his home at one point. He also lived for a time in a house that had originally been Colin Ferrie’s, at the corner of Queen Street at York.
Samuel Mills was a businessman and politician. He served briefly as a Hamilton alderman and, for several years, was chairman of the board of commissioners of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum. At one time, he was one of the wealthiest people in Hamilton.
George Hamilton Mills
George Hamilton Mills, another one of their sons, was president of the Wentworth Historical Society. He and Sara Calder, who later founded the Women’s Wentworth Historical Society, squabbled over building the Battlefield monument. Thus her departure and her decision to found the WWHS. George also made it into the mayor’s office, becoming the ninth mayor of Hamilton in 1858.
James Nelson Mills and Cynthia Gage
James Nelson Mills, another of the Mills boys, would marry one Cynthia Gage, one of Battlefield Gages. Cynthia was the granddaughter of James and Mary Gage. Her parents were Andrew Gage and Martha Wilson. This branch of the Mills family was also quite generous with its money.
Cynthia donated the land that the YMCA on James Street sits, together with the money to build the building. She would also open her wallet anytime a need emerged for more assistance with the YMCA,. There are three separate Gage-Mills family marriages.
James and Christina’s eldest, Marcellas, would marry Celista Sherman of the Sherman Avenue clan. Thet street was named for them.
When James and Christina passed away, they were buried on the homestead farm, but were later reinterred at Hamilton Cemetery, across the street. There is a section off to the left of the cemetery that is the Mills family burial spot.
The Mills Boys
Once we make our way down the lines into the next generation, we come to the Mills boys and their tremendous name across the city. James Nelson and Cynthia Gage had seven children: Charles, Stanley, Edwin, Robert, Andrew, Flora, and Marta, but many didn’t survive to adulthood. The boys, however, made quite the name for themselves here in Hamilton.
When we look at the next generation, it’s interesting and neat to look at it from a genealogical aspect, as the members of this next generation are the great grandchildren of James Gage and Mary Jane Davis of Battlefield. Cynthia Gage, their mother, is the granddaughter of James and Mary, and the daughter of their son, Andrew Gage.
Charles Mills
Charles Mills, born in 1860, is my third cousin, four times removed. Charles is probably the most prominent of James and Cynthia’s children. He studied architecture and took up his education in New York. He was one of Hamilton’s great architects, and many of his buildings are still standing today. You might be familiar with some of these large, gorgeous structures. One is the Landed Bank and Loan Company building, built in 1907, which stands at the corner of Main Street at James. It was built to replicate the Knickerbocker Trust in New York City.
Another one, around the corner, was his brother’s and later his nephew’s store, built in 1903 at 11–15 King Street East. They owned the building consecutively, first as hardware store and later a fine bone china shop.
Oak Hall, at 10–12 James Street North, was built in 1899, and is a true testament to the great architecture of his time.
Another of his buildings that still stands today is at 541 Barton Street, at the corner of Barton Street East and Westinghouse. It is now a restaurant called 541 Eatery + Exchange. I like the place, as it kind of has a neat feel for me. When I was about three we lived in an apartment two doors down from it. When I found out, later on, it was interesting to be able to say that I lived so close to one of his buildings.
One of Charles’s buildings that is no longer standing was the Terminal Station at the corner of Catherine Street and King. He also built the factory that is barely hanging on at the corner of Victoria Avenue and Ferrie Street. It was the Otis Elevator company, and later the Trebor Allan candy company. Ironically, I had a job at Trebor, but at the time I didn’t know I was working in a place my ancestor had built.
Charles also built the Grand Opera House, the Eagle Knitting Mill, and the Bank of Hamilton, to name a few. He would eventually retire from architecture, but he joined his brothers in their endeavour as hardware store merchants. He would have many locations, including one just down the street from his brother’s store at 95 King Street East.
You can still see ghost signage for three of the Mills brothers stores: 11–15 King Street East, 95 King Street East, and over the parking lot at 14 James Street North. I hope the ghost signage stays put and is not painted over. It’s a beautiful piece of our local history, and it would be sad to see it disappear. I have tons of photos of these walls just in case.
Stanley Mills
Another of the next-generation Mills boys was Stanley Mills, who took great pride in preserving our United Empire Loyalist heritage. He was, at one time, president of the United Empire Loyalist Association and, as testimony to his distinct pride in the loyalist lineage, he was responsible for having our lovely United Empire Loyalist statue designed and built in Court House Square. He would be saddened, now, to see that monument in question. He also designed some United Empire Loyalist plates and sold them from his hardware store.
Stanley would host grand events at his residence, which he named Glenfern. The building has since been demolished and the street bearing that name, Glenfern Avenue, is of course just a small token of what once was.
He was a great record- and bookkeeper, and wrote and printed several books on the Mills family’s genealogy. One, published in 1926, was the “Genealogical and Historical Records of the Mills and Gage Families.” Once retired, he would sell the store off to his nephew, Herbert Stanley Mills. Stanley had large paintings of James and Christina on the wall of his home, and would show them off to anyone interested. It has been said that they are now at the Art Gallery of Hamilton but, so far, I have not been able to locate them through the AGH or otherwise. It is kind of sad that something so important to him would just get lost to time.
Some original Stanley Mills Hardware signage hangs over the bar at an event and entertainment venue at 95 King Street East. The venue is named “Mills Hardware” as a nod to the building’s history.
Herbert Mills
Herbert Mills was part of the next generation, and probably the last generation to be recorded before these generations all pass away. He opened a different style of business, as a merchant of fine bone china. His store was definitely worthy of special guests, as even the Roosevelt family made a purchase there, of china for the White House. He would eventually close his doors in 1983. The last remaining evidence for this grand store, outside of photos, is the ghost signage atop of the roof on the west side of the building.
When Cynthia Gage Mills passed away, her sons made a great contribution in her honour, having a stained-glass window installed at St Paul’s Presbyterian Church on James Street. They also wrote lovely articles about their mother and her devotion to their family.
The Next Generations
It’s now a job to continue in Stanley’s footsteps, trying to keep and to update his genealogical research from where he left off, piecing together the subsequent generations. On my Pioneer Families of Hamilton Facebook page, I have many of the cousins and other family that do follow along.
In due time, maybe I too will print a book with updated Mills family history.
Thank you.
Note: the portrait at the top of the page is that of James Mills (1774–1852), the husband of Christina Hesse.