Bethiah Avery Miller was born in Heath, Massachesetts on February 14, 1815 to The Reverend Moses Miller and Bethiah Ware Miller. She came to Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1837 and remained at the school for one year. She is considered a non-graduating member of the Class of 1839. She married the Reverend Washington Adams Nichols in 1838. She died in Lake Forest, Illinois in 1865.