Jacob Miller was born in 1768 in Pennsylvania to Joel and Margaret Miller. He moved to Giles County, Virginia at some point and married Sarah Sophia Chapman on November 8, 1794, in Montgomery County, Virginia. They had two boys and three girls: Jacob (b. 1811), Sarah (b. 1814), Maria (b. 1815), Austin (b. 1817), and Sophia (b. 1819).
Jacob died on August 28, 1853. He was buried at Wesley Chapel Cemetery in Trigg, Giles County, Virginia.