Francis was born at sea on a voyage from Philadelphia to Charleston, SC according to his pension affidavit dated March 5, 1834 and can be found there. He enters the Rev. War in 1775 and had married Jane. His first battle to subdue the Scotch Tories lasted 3 months and 5 days at Cross Creek in NC. By Spring of 1776 he was a Captain of the Riflemen Rangers with 100 men under his command. They fought the Cherokee Indians for 3 months and 16 days. In Fall of 1780 Francis and his riflemen marched from Mecklenburg to Rugley's Mill in SC where he, at the request of Colonel William Washington made a wooden cannon about the size of a six pounder and when drawn up in sight of the fort held by the British, they surrendered without firing a gun. This episode is confirmed in The Pictorial Field-Book of The Revolution by Benson J. Lossing in 1855. The Captain also fought in two other important battles in the Southern Campaign: the Battle of Hanging Rock fought in SC on August 6, 1780 and at the Battle of Guilford Court House in Guilford County, NC on March 15, 1781.

Francis and family lived in NC, SC, TN, KY and settled in Greene County, IL in 1820. Sons James and David with families also settled in Greene County. Francis and Jane had 12 known children. Some sources relate that it is believed the family was from Ireland but this fact has not yet been proven (2019).

Information on the ancestry of Francis Miller (1753-1843)was passed through various family members of Nancy J. Miller's family and is as follows:
1. "Francis Miller was the son of a sea captain and was born at sea off the Atlantic Coast. He was a Captain in the Revolutionary War in NC in 1775. He also immigrated to Kentucky and later came with the Gotts, Powells, and others to Illinois and went to the north central part of the state and his remains lie in the North Cemetery (Oakwood) at Greenfield, Greene County, Illinois."
2. Lucinda Powell Gott and her mother Margery Miller Powell stated that Francis Miller was of Irish and French descent. He was born at sea off the Carolinas Coast. His father was Lemuel Miller and left the sea on the Maryland coast the date is not known but died there and his son Francis was Captain of two companies of American Soldiers in the Revolutionary War and also emigrated with the Gotts from Maryland to Kentucky, later to Illinois, settled in the City of Greenfield, Greene County, Illinois and his remains are buried in the North Cemetery at that place."
3. Margery Miller Powell indicated that the family records were destroyed in the 1913 flood (Norris City, White County, IL). Beginning with Francis Miller, who was a Captain in the War of 1776, he was born in 1753 and died in 1843. . . Margery Miller Powell was a daughter of the said soldier. I have been intimately acquainted with all the generations since 1866. I attended school in Greenfield in 1866 and 1867 and boarded with my Great Uncle David Miller (James' brother) who was a son of the soldier and my grandmother's brother. I was born in 1846 just 3 years after the soldier died. I read letters written by the soldier to my mother that she had preserved when I was ten or twelve years old and I saw the records that my Uncle David Miller had of his Father's family but the whole family has passed away and no one has the records. . ."
Quotes made about 1940 by: David Henderson Gott (1846-Feb. 1940), great grandson of Francis/Jane (through their daughter, Margery Miller Powell), who visited in Greene County, Illinois with the family.
4. "Tracing descent through her father (Lemuel Greene Miller, 1822-1879 grandson of Francis), we find that this branch of the Miller family originated in Ireland, coming to this country about the middle of the eighteenth century."
(Taken from obituary of Mary Jane Miller Potts (1844-1926), first child of Lemuel Greene Miller)
5. "Lemuel MillER, Ship Capt. (Irish-French) settled Md. about 1730 ----Capt. Francis Miller, born aboard ship between MD & SC 1753 - d. 1843 Ill."
Quoted by a Miller descendant/researcher in Carrollton, TX (this information is repetitive of the above.
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This will give you the connecting generations and years they were together:
Francis Miller (1753 - 1843)
James Miller, son (1778 - 1851)
(David Henderson Gott descends from James' youngest sister and had visited with the family in Greene County.)
Lemuel Greene Miller (1822 - 1879)
Mary Jane Miller Potts (1844 - 1926)
Francis, James and Lemuel all lived in Greene County from 1820 until Lemuel moved to Montgomery County, IL about 1854. We feel confident about the story of the origins of this Miller family knowing that they stayed together for so many years and apparently remained close during that time.