Spanish American War

World War 2

War of 1812

Marquis de Lafayette Returns to Morristown, NJ

Great Depression

Women Gain the Right to Vote

American Civil War

Morris Canal is First Used

World War 1

Five generations of the Macculloch - Miller - Post family lived at Macculloch Hall. From 1810-1947, this family experienced and participated the events of American history. Learn more about the descendants who lived at Maculloch Hall and their accomplishments by exploring the timeline below.

The George and Louisa Macculloch emigrated from London, England to New York City in 1806. In 1810, they purchased 26 acres and a one-story stone bank house from General John Doughty, a commander in George Washington's Army during the Revolutionary War. The Maccullochs built their Federal style brick mansion, the first significant brick structure in Morristown, in 1810 and added onto it in 1812 and 1819 as their family's influence in local, state, and national history grew.


George and Louisa Macculloch moved into their new home with their two young children, Francis Law (1801-1859) and Mary Louisa (1804-1888). They also brought with them three enslaved adults: Cato, Susan, and Elizabeth, and one enslaved child named Emma, who was just a year old. The Macculloch family Bible records the names and birth year of the three children born into slavery at Macculloch Hall: William (born in 1811), Henry (born in 1814), and Helen (born in 1817).

Both George and Louisa were active members of the Morristown community. George Macculloch had the idea and was a strong supporter of the Morris Canal. Louisa Macculloch worked in the community as a member of the Female Charitable Society. 

Painted by an unknown artist, this formal portrait of George Macculloch depicts him as a classically educated, serious man. George is shown formally dressed in a black suit, seated in front of a column (indicating his classical education) from which a red drape has been pulled to the side. Out the window to George’s right is an image of an inclined plane and canal house, a nod to what Goerge as most famous for and proud of: being the visionary of the Morris Canal.

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Macculloch Hall Historical Museum

George Macculloch

George and Louisa Macculloch Build Macculloch Hall

After Mary Louisa Macculloch Miller died in 1888, her son Henry William Miller (1836-1904) moved into Macculloch Hall with his wife. They would live their until Henry's death in 1904.

Henry William Miller graduated from the Naval Academy in 1857 and sailed to China on the USS Minnesota.  One of his shipmates was Harry Davis Todd, an uncle of W. Parsons Todd.  On his return, he joined the USS Mohican and took part in the capture of a slave ship off the coast of Africa.

In 1866, Henry resigned from the navy and returned to Morristown with his wife Katherine Seton Hoffman. He served a president of the Morristown Safe Deposit Company, town recorder, and mayor of Morristown


Henry William Miller Moves into Macculloch Hall

In 1814, influenced by the Academy Movement and suffering from financial losses resulting from land speculation in Ohio, George opened the Academy, a boys’ Latin school which operated for fifteen years until he helped set up Burlington College.  In 1819, a schoolroom was added to the house. The room was also used for services by Morristown’s Episcopalians until St. Peter’s was completed in 1828.

Schoolroom in the Home

W. Parsons Todd (1877-1976) purchased “the Old House” from George Macculloch’s great-grandson, Henry Wise Miller, in 1949. Todd paid $10,000 for the twenty-room house on three acres and put more than $100,000 into the site’s restoration.

Mr. Todd incorporated Macculloch Hall Historical Museum (MHHM) as a nonprofit museum in 1950. 

Oil on canvas portrait of MHHM founder, W. Parsons Todd.

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W. Parsons Todd Portrait

W. Parsons Todd Purchases Macculloch Hall Historical Museum

In 1825, Mary Louisa married Jacob Miller, a lawyer from Long Valley, New Jersey. Miller had a distinguished political career as state prosecutor, assemblyman, and state counsel. He was elected a U.S. Senator in 1840. He served two terms, and was the last Whig Senator from New Jersey

The couple had nine children over twenty-two years, often cared for by their grandparents, as Jacob’s political career kept him and his wife in Trenton, New Jersey and Washington D.C. for many months at a time.

Jacob Miller purchased Macculloch Hall and its contents from his father-in-law in 1853 for $15,000. Both George and Louisa Macculloch continued to live at the house for the rest of their lives with their son-in-law, daughter, and grandchildren.

When Jacob died in 1862, the management of Macculloch Hall passed into the capable hands of Mary Louisa who became the “Chantelaine of the Hall” until her death in 1888.

Portrait of Mary Louisa Macculloch Miller's husband, Jacob Miller.

Jacob Miller Portrait 2.JPEG

Senator Jacob Miller

Jacob and Mary Louisa Macculloch Miller Purchase Macculloch Hall

When Jack Miller died in 1918, his daughter Dorothea (Dolly), her husband James Otis Post (1874-1950), and three young sons took over Macculloch Hall.  

Otis’ father was the famous architect George B. Post designer of the New York Stock Exchange.

The Posts updated the house by installing plumbing and electricity.

Dolly was president of the League of Patriotic Service and helped to organize the Morristown chapter of the Woman’s Land Army during World War I.  Dolly played both the violin and piano and helped to organize the Morristown Chorale and Orchestral Societies.  As president of the Morristown Garden Club, she took great care of the gardens around Macculloch Hall.

With the Depression of the 1930s and the onset of World War II, Otis Post received fewer and fewer architectural commissions, and he and Dolly had some trouble keeping the large house in good repair.  Dolly’s brother and sister did not live in Morristown and none of her cousins were interested in the old homestead.  After Dolly died in 1947, the decision was made to sell Macculloch Hall.

Dorothea Miller Post and Family Move into Macculloch Hall

Jacob William Miller (1847-1918) bought Macculloch Hall from his brother Henry's estate after Henry's death in 1904. Jack and his wife, Kate, lived in New York City and for them Macculloch Hall was a summer home.

Jacob William Miller graduated from the Naval Academy in 1868 and lead a Naval mission to Nicaragua in 1872 to explore the possibility of building a canal to connect the Atlantic and and Pacific Oceans. His grandfather, George Macculloch advocated for the construction of the Morris Canal in New Jersey nearly 50 years earlier. Jack William Miller contunied his Naval career on the USS Vandalia with former President Ulysses S. Grant, became Commodore Miller as founder of the New Your State Naval Reserve, and participated in the Spanish American War. 

Jack and Kate had three children: Henry Wise Miller (1877-1955), Dorothea 1878-1947), and Charlotte (1880-1942). 

Standards for 1812-1949: Who is living at Macculloch Hall?