Miles Henry Amerine was a merchant and mineral land salesman. He was born April 21, 1847, at Camp Hill, Tallapoosa County and died February 15, 1914, in Montgomery. He is buried at Magnolia Cemetery in Greenville, Butler County, Alabama. He was the son of John Porter Warner and Lucy Ann White (Meadows) Amerine, the former a native of Tennessee, probably Paris, moved to Troy where he practiced medicine prior to 1861.
He was colonel of the 57th Alabama infantry regiment, C. S. Army, having risen to that rank through successive promotions from a captaincy. Miles was the grandson of Henry H. and Jane (Porter) Amerine, who lived at White Plains, and of Miles Robley and Susan (Parker) Meadows of Upson County, Ga.
The Amerine family were originally from Pennsylvania, whence descendants migrated to Tennessee and later to Alabama. The first American ancestor was John Henry Amerine coming upon the ship “Halifax,” from Rotterdam, last from Cowes. His descendant, Abraham Amerine, served in the “Rangers on the frontiers,” 1778-83, in Bedford County, Pa. Other descendants fought in the Revolutionary Army. Family tradition preserved the statement that the family was originally from one of the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland.
Captain Amerine received his education in the schools of Pike County, including a course in the Troy high school. He was for many years a prosperous merchant in Greenville, later removing to Montgomery, where in 1884 he became a member of the firm, J. R. Warren and company, wholesale grocers. Seven years later he entered the land business, specializing in the sale of mineral lands.
He was captain of the “Greenville light guards,” 2nd infantry regiment, Alabama State troops, from 1876 to 1883; lieutenant-colonel of that regiment, 188384; captain “Montgomery greys,” of that regiment, 1884-88. During his command of the latter the company became nationally famous for excellence in drill, receiving competitive awards of handsome swords and medals. He was elected to honorary membership in some of the oldest military organizations in the nation.
This celebrated old company at various times, while he was captain, was called upon to serve against rioters and strikers in the Birmingham district, including the famous Hawes riot, and also served to restore order during a negro uprising at Sandy Ridge. During the reconstruction disorders, Captain Amerine was wounded while aiding in the restoration of white supremacy.
He was a Democrat and an Odd Fellow. Married: May 21, 1867, in Elba, to Cynthia Selena, daughter of Charles Stephen and Mary Elizabeth (Broughton) Lee, of that place, the former a native of Virginia, soldier of the Indian Wars, and whose sons were officers in the Confederate Army, related to the distinguished Lee family of Virginia, the latter a native of Georgia, descended from a celebrated English line; granddaughter of Stephen D. Lee, of Virginia.
Their children were:
Edward Porter Amerine, secretary Georgia casualty company, m. Zadie Brown, Macon, Georgia;
Mary Elizabeth Amerine, m. William Henry Seymour;
William Henry Amerine;
John Lee Amerine, deceased by 1921;
Elizabeth Amerine, deceased by 1921.
SOURCES
History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, Volume 3 By Thomas McAdory Owen, Mrs. Marie (Bankhead) Owen
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![Did you know Greenville, Alabama was first named Buttsville? [see vintage photographs]](https://www.alabamapioneers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/W.-N.-Manning-Photographer-June-12-1935.-Front-and-Side-View-S.-E.-Tavern-Stage-Inn-Greenville-e1414892538110.jpg "Did you know Greenville, Alabama was first named Buttsville? [see vintage photographs]")
