Back to New Brunswick Books Contact Ruby
RUBY'S BOOKSHELF
Mills, Hills and Early Settlers of Springfield Parish Kings County, New Brunswick by Ernest G C Graham
A 103 page history of the early mills and settlements of Springfield Parish, Kings County, New Brunswick. Particular attention is given to the settlements of: Back Bull Moose Hill, Bull Moose Hill, Cromwell Hill, Huggard Hill and Pigeon Hill. Photo of the Clark family. Types of Water Mills constructed. Partial list of surnames mentioned: Adams, Benson, Brittain, Case, Charlton, Crawford, Cromwell, Dibblee, Drake, Elliott, Fairweather, Fowler, Ganong, Gillies, Gray, Hatfield, Hughson, Jones, Ketchum, Kirk, MacLean, McKenelley, Micheau, Mullin, Northrup, Perkins, Pickett, Raymond, Redstone, Robertson, Sartell, Scovil, Secord, Sharpe, Sherwood, Spragg, Titus, Vail, Veale and Wiley. Lots of genealogical and biographical information on the early settlers of this parish.
Chapter Headings
MILLS
HILLS
BULL MOOSE HILLS
WHERE I LIVE - AND DATA
One photo is supposedly Clark family of Connecticut who bought the house circa 1908 that was built by Joseph W Perkins - Mrs Mortimer Clark and Mr Mortimer Clark, Edward Clark, Mrs Henry Clark, Ruth, Henry Clark Sr. and Selton Clark
NONE ON HAND AT THE PRESENT Contact rmcusack@nbnet.nb.ca
Payment is accepted by credit card online through PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/ (My account rmcusack@nbnet.nb.ca) or cheque, or Canadian or International money order
According to Ernest Graham's "Mills, Hills and Early Settlers of Springfield Parish", there were at least four good water mill sites on the Belleisle Bay when the first settlers took up their farms in this area in 1784. The Census for Springfield Parish in 1851 lists 14 grist mills, 10 saw mills and 2 carding mills all powered by water.
Isaiah Kierstead had a mill on the Redin Brook near Long Point. He brought the stones for this grist mill from England and then by sailboat to Belleisle Bay from Saint John. Oxen were used to transport them along the trail cut through the woods. The first grain to be ground there was in the Fall of 1795. In payment for the service farmers left one-twelfth of their grain with the miller.
The first saw mill in Upper Midland was built in 1875 by Gilbert Titus on a small stream running into Sherwood Brook. This mill was run by a large overshot wheel which had buckets on every spoke. The water was dammed up and then was directed to the wheel through a sluice. As water poured over the spokes, the top buckets were filled and the lower ones emptied. It was the weight of these full buckets which caused the wheel to rotate.
The Charlton Mill on the Pascobac stream was likely the largest and most powerful of any water mill in this area during its sixty years of existence.
The Wiley Mill of Stewarton or West Scotch Settlement Road was built by John Lewis Pickett about 1835.
The McKenelleys built a steam grist mill to grind buckwheat flour but ran into financial difficulties. The Hon. George Scovil foreclosed on the mortgage and got Caleb Northrup who had gained steam engine experience as he owned a donkey engine with which he traveled around the countryside sawing fire wood, to operate the mill from about 1908 until he stopped in 1911 on account of the poor stones.
Operating a water mill was a frustrating and time-consuming occupation. There were problems from the ice, snow and freshets, which destroyed the dams and water wheels. Old logs, weeds and other debris floated down the stream to plug up the flumes and waterways.
In the book, information is given on the settlements of Pigeon Hill, Cromwell Hill, Huggard Hill and Bull Moose Hill as well as the families of Adams, Crawford, Cromwell, Mullin, Vail, Spragg, Raymond, Perkins, Delongs, Dibblee, Ganong, White, Benson, Northrup and others.
Ernest Graham spent years of his life researching his beloved Springfield Parish with no effort spared to unearth the hidden treasures of the past. His journeys took him not only to museums and archives but to dusty attics and as far afield as London, England.
If you have roots in Springfield Parish, this publication has lots of grain for your grist mill of genealogy.
Payment is accepted by credit card online through PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/ (My account rmcusack@nbnet.nb.ca) or cheque, or Canadian or International money order