Miles Christopher Horton, Jr., son of Miles Christopher Horton and Theodosia Liipfert Taliaferro, was born in Raleigh (Wake County), North Carolina, on August 7, 1916. Following his parents' separation, the younger Horton and his brother Frank were raised in the Winston-Salem home of their grandfather. The 1936 University of North Carolina yearbook lists him as a freshman. By 1939, Horton was living in Clarksville (Mecklenberg County), Virginia. On January 23 of that year, he married Julia Caroline Heick (1914-1981) in Raleigh; the couple would have one daughter. The 1940 census shows the Hortons living in the home of Miles Horton's mother in Clarksville, with Miles Horton employed as an insurance agent. The 1950 federal census lists the family as residents of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and describes Horton as a census enumerator crew leader. According to other sources, Horton operated a bookstore in Virginia Beach, Virginia, during this period, then owned a bookstore in Norfolk. By 1953, Horton was employed as a librarian at Woman's College of the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. On June 27, 1953, Horton married Edna Ruth Cline (1920-2012), a registered nurse, in Arlington, Virginia. In 1956, he became a reference librarian at Virginia Tech, retiring in 1959. After traveling extensively, the Hortons in 1964 moved into their home, "Nightmare Abbey," on Salt Pond Mountain in Giles County, Virginia. Heir to a tobacco fortune, Horton became a philanthropist, and the Hortons were frequent benefactors of Virginia Tech, particularly in the fields of science and the arts. In addition to funding various programs, the couple donated donated 150 acres and several buildings on the mountain for the university's research use. Miles C. Horton, Jr., died in Giles County on February 7, 2001, and was cremated.