Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, by H. Levin, editor, 1897. Published
by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago.  Reprinted by Southern Historical
Press.  p. 70.  Bourbon County.

BENJAMIN MILLS, jurist and judge of the court of appeals, was a native
of Worcester county, Maryland, born January 12, 1779, and died December
6, 1831.  He was educated in Pennsylvania, where he entered upon the
study of medicine.  While still a youth he was called to the presidency
of Washington Academy.  He removed to Bourbon county, Kentucky, with his
parents and relinquished the study of medicine for that of law, and
about 1805 began the practice in Paris.
     He was a member of the house of representatives at Frankfort for
Bourbon county in 1806, 1809, 1813, 1814, 1815, 1816, and in 1816 was
within three votes of an election to the United States senate, his
competitor being Isham Talbot.  In 1817 he was appointed judge of the
circuit court of Montgomery circuit, and in 1818, by the unanimous
request of the bar of Fayette, he was transferred to that circuit. In
1820 he was appointed to the court of appeals as associate justice, the
court being composed at that time of John Boyle, chief justice William
Owsley and Benjamin Mills.  These three constituted the court during the
exciting scenes of the contest between the court and those whom the
governor, acting under authority of the legislature, appointed judges of
the "new court."  He resigned in 1828, was renominated by the governor,
but not confirmed by the senate.  He retired from the bench to the
practice of law, in which he was eminently successful.  As a legislator
he gave character to some important statutes, and his efforts in 1816
were of special value, settling a construction of the constitution on the
new election question.
     He was of rather a repellent nature and sought to command
approbation by a course of absolute rectitude, not to win the affections
of men.  He was a profound lawyer and his decisions evidenced a clear and
comprehensive knowledge of the law.  He was a member of the Presbyterian
church and an active participant in the church government.
     His position and adherence to his conviction of right and
constitutional law, in 1825 and 1826, on the question before the court
involving the relief laws, were of utmost importance to the state and were
adhered to in the fact of popular tumult and even of threatened personal
violence.  His life is one that is full of encouragement to the struggling
youth of to-day.  Without aid or advantageous surroundings, he made for
himself an honorable place and name in the history of his adopted state.

Mills Talbot Boyle Owsley
=
Worcester-MD PA

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/bourbon/mills.b2.txt