How grateful are we when we can find first hand accounts of
events/life written by our ancestors!
Recently, while visiting a third cousin, she shared with me a handwritten
account written by her great grandmother of the Old Mill in Peconic, Long
Island, New York. Unfortunately, I
don’t have the date that Ella Terry Billard, the daughter of the Miller,
Gilbert T. Terry wrote this account. Gilbert,
my paternal great great grandfather, held the position of the Miller from about
1864-1898. Ella, born in 1873 and
married in 1894, had a firsthand view of the happenings at the Old Mill. I am thinking
Ella perhaps wrote this for someone who was going to be writing an article on
the Old Mill. Over the years much has
been written about the Old Mill.
click on images to enlarge
As I transcribed this to post I debated with the best way to
tell Ella’s story. As a genealogist, I
always want to know more about the subject.
I wondered, would I be able to find newspaper accounts about the events
Ella told us about? Are there pictures
that would make the story more interesting?
If I can find articles, can I learn anything new from these additional
accounts?
There were many interesting articles and pictures to be
found. I opted to supplement Ella’s
account with the additional information I have found. While this will make for a longer story, I
believe the value of the additional information helps give a much clearer
account of the story of the Old Mill over the years.
Here is Ella’s account in her own words:
Transcription:
“The old mill at Goldsmith inlet in Peconic was built sorely
as a tide-mill in 1839 with money raised in five dollar shares among the
neighbors who felt the necessity for a grist mill in the vicinity. The heavy round stones to grind the grain was
brought to Greenport in sailing vessel and moved from there in two farm wagons
in September that year to where the mill was under construction. The power of the outgoing tide to the [Long
Island] sound from the [Goldsmith] Inlet had been tested by a temporary bridge
and gates and found satisfactory to run an under-shot or wheel. The farmers also carted the rock for the
water wall which confined the channel to keep it open for a free run of the
rising and falling tides.
The following information from an article entitled He Knew
Peconic Mill published in the Long Island Forum September 1954 helped me
understand the workings of this type of mill:
“In these tide-water-mills the rising tide swept into the
rock-walled channel through the open gates.
As the tide-water retreated the gates would close, storing the water in
the creek for use when it flowed out, turning the big water wheel.”
The heavy winds in winter would blow sand into the mouth of
the channel completely closing it for so long sometimes that the men of the
village would gather there with spade and shovel to dig an opening for the
tides so the mill could operate. The
first miller was John [Ellsworth] Appleby who only ground when sufficient grist
had accumulated to make it worthwhile for in those days there was not enough to
keep the miller busy all the time. After
Mr. A[ppleby]-came Mr. [Richard]Cox, [Gabriel] Bennett and Smith, the last an
Englishman who bought in all the shares and owned it himself. He afterwards sold it to Mr. Walter Terry and
his several sons from Middle Island and Mattituck who were all practical millers. After running it a number of years he turned
it over to his son Gilbert [Terry]
who conducted it for thirty-four years. He widened the channel and extended and
enlarged the sea walls-or piers-by vessel loads of rock from Connecticut. As the tide would only perform during the
fall of the tide from the Inlet about ten hours a day at the most and when
there was a long spell of “low tides” or winter freeze the grist [grain] would
pile high. So he decided in 1870 to make
use of the terrific winds and erected a new part to the mill building on top of
which was a tower and a forty-foot across wind wheel, the largest of its kind
at that time in the U.S.A.photo
found in A Rose of the Nineties by Rosalind Case Newell
After
that on numerous occasions Mr. Terry ground over two-hundred bushels, often a
bu[shel] a minute-which required some very quick work by the miller and his
helper to keep the hopper up-stairs filled with grain and the bags filled with
the ground feed unloaded from the spout below.
Mr. Terry built a shed on the northwest corner of the mill large enough
to shelter 2 teams of farm horses if desired by the mill patrons and that on
the night of Dec. 28, 1866 during a wind and snow storm of tremendous violence
the like of which Mr. Terry says he has never seen since the Steamer Commodore
of the New York and Stonington Line
came ashore off the Inlet-Off Faulkners Island the rudder
having come out of the water-the boat broached to and getting into the trough
of the sea soon rolled the smoke-stack out.
Being helpless and in a northwest wind it drifted toward the Long Island
shore and then over an anchor and being immediately over a rock when it pounded
until day light-being so badly torn that the water entered faster than it could
be pumped out. Some of the crew getting
possession of the liquors at the bar became drunk and mutinied and when the
anchor had been cast off and the steamer drifted toward ashore they seized the
only boat left on board and attaching a line there to drifted toward
ashore. Early that morning Mr. Henry
Squires observed on the beach several barrels of light freight, part of the deck-board
of the Commodore not seeing the steamer he went home and got his team and
wagon, returning he observed the row boat and looking off saw the steamer. Hitching the boat rope to the rear axel of
his wagon he pulled the boat along to abreast the steamer and the passengers
were landed followed by the officers, one hundred and sixty in all were saved. Mr. Terry’s house being the nearest it was
filled to over flowing with half frozen men, women and children many of whom
were immigrants. By nine o’clock in the
morning a two-horse wagon load of life preservers were piled up on his premises
after serving their purpose. A great
part of the freight strewn on the shore for several miles was saved by the
prompt action of the wreck master who arrived on the scene from his home in
Mattituck at an early hour. Much however
was broken up and stolen. The
boilers and walking beam of the steamer could be seen near the shore for many
many years.
The Corrector, 5 January 1867, page 2
The wind mill weathered the 1888 Blizzard but collapsed under
the weight of heavy wet snow and a terrific wind storm of Nov. 28, 1898.
This article helped me understand the severity of
the 1888 storm in the area:
16 March 1888 The Long Island Traveler, page 2
2 Dec 1898 The Long Island Traveler page 3
Numerous other wrecks have occurred in the vicinity-notably
the coal barges that came ashore during the great storm that wrecked the famous
wind mill of Mr. Terry on Nov. 26, 1898. The McCauley directly back of the old
mill near the mouth of the Inlet,
photo found in A Rose of the
Nineties by Rosalind Case Newell
the Neversink and Escort
on the other parts of the Sound Shore. The McCauley was eventually worked off the
beach costing more than it was worth to accomplish it. Mr. Terry retired from milling and moved to Orient to become
a gardener for a sister of his who owned a large farm there. A Mr. Horsfall from ? owned the mill later but owing to its wrecked
condition
photo found in A Rose of the
Nineties by Rosalind Case Newell
and lack of business, farmers were raising less and less
grain and every store keeper was buying and selling grain flour and feed
shipped all over the country from the big steam mills. Mr. H. soon retired too and the old mill was
left to the souvenir hunters and other tackers until the owners decided take
down remains and the timbers, great beams, wheels and irons was converted into
other uses.”
Final thoughts:
- Luckily, Ella’s great granddaughter is very familiar with her
handwriting and was able to verify this was written by Ella. I believe the writing on the last page were
thoughts Ella intended to add in to her writing. Dear Great Aunt Ella, I tried to insert them
where I thought appropriate and hope you’d approve.
- Always search for newspaper accounts of important events that
your ancestors may have been involved in.
When transcribing handwritten accounts, written by our ancestors, there
are frequently unreadable words/phrases. Having additional accounts such as a
newspaper account may help you figure out those unreadable sections.
- Interesting and unexpected to find information about the
wreck of the Macauley on a Civil War site.
- Using census records can be helpful in verifying information
and can help you understand the spelling of a name. I found a Mr. Isaac Horsfall from England listed
on the 1900 census as a Miller living in the area with his wife Fannie.
- Getting started and asking questions can bring about amazing
finds when one thing leads to another and then another. In my experience a lot of people have things
(handwritten accounts, photos, books, postcards, etc.) they may not realize
they have or how important they are until you start asking questions.
- By adding the newspaper articles, photos/postcards, and a poem
the story Ella wrote becomes so much more meaningful. Now it’s more than just the written words on a
page.
- My cousin also had a small book entitled The Old Tide-Mill
On The Sound by Daniel H. Overton. Daniel wrote a poem about the Old
Mill. I thought it appropriate to end
with one of the stanzas from his poem:
Time’s tides flow on resistlessly
And bear old forms away;
New tides, new methods, and new truths
Grind greater grists to-day.
I am so very thankful to Ella for being the
keeper of so much family history and accounts such as this one!
Photos of Ella-possibly while her father was the Miller
If you have any corrections or additions or stories to share, I look forward to hearing them.
Reviewing my post entitled Labor
Day-They Were Millers published 5 September 2016 I see how much additional knowledge
I now have.
