Thomas Smith Miller was born on March 5, 1893, in Relief, North Carolina. Miller was a farmer in the Relief community of Mitchell County when he registered for the draft (World War I) in June 1917. He was subsequently inducted into the service in May 1918 and served with the 156th Depot Brigade until honorably discharged March 1919. Miller died in Erwin, Tennessee, on April 8, 1919.