William Miles Builds His Mills
In 1800, William Miles selected a site on French Creek about a mile below the residence of Matthew Gray (now Concord Street) to build a mill. He also planned to build a house there in the summer and move his family in as soon as he completed it. And he intended to build a grist as well as a saw mill since these were of great importance to the settlers.
William opened up a road from his Oil Creek farm to the site of his future residence and made it wide enough to admit a wagon sled. Then he built a large house for his family and hired help and moved his family to Union. He spent the remainder of the summer and fall clearing away the timber and preparing to build his mill. When winter came, little could be done toward building the mills except hew timber and cut and clear away trees from the mill site and from around the house.
In addition to making a dam, a long mill race had to be dug above the mill and below it and it was tough digging. The men had to dig through green stumps and roots all of the way and there was no sawed timber for anything. Even the braces for the frame and all of the small pieces used in making the running gears had to be worked out by hand. For many years the head race was blocked by ice every winter because when the ice got thick or broke and fell in and when the water was drawn off as it sometimes was when the ice was thin, water could not come down in sufficient quality.
In building the mills and all of the houses then and many years to come, nails and spikes were used and all had to be drawn out on a blacksmith’s anvil, for cut nails were not yet invented.
Fortunately for the mills and the neighborhood in general, Abel Thompson in 1801 bought 40 acres of land from Miles and set up a blacksmith shop within a half a mile of the mill site. Miles was a man of great energy and by the winter of 1801, the mills were both in running water.
Next Miles built a distillery. At the mouth of a little stream which emptied into the creek on the south side nearly opposite the mill, he proceeded to build a log house and put in the equipment necessary for making whiskey.
Then the mills burned. Popular opinion held that the mills had been set afire by someone who bore ill will towards Miles and many suspected the man whom he had hired to run the distillery. But no one was certain and Miles never revealed whom he suspected. At any rate, the culprit was never found.The mills were rebuilt as quickly as possible since construction wasn’t as difficult the second time because the dam and race still remained. The fire had spoiled the stones, however, and a new set had to be made.
Miles didn’t make whiskey because he was overly fond of it – he didn’t even drink excessively. But many men in the area did drink and the harmful effects of whiskey were not as well understood then as they came to be in later years.
Roads were cut from all of the farmhouses in the mills and the grists were generally carried there on horseback. However, people on the south side of the creek were forced to go to the mills when the water was low or when the stream was covered over with ice.
As it was, it turned out to be a fortunate thing for Hugh Wilson that Miles had built his house so close to the mills. One day when French creek was very high, Wilson started to cross with grist on a borrowed horse. When the horse got into deep and rapid water, it began to get angry and afraid and it threw off both the rider and the load. Then it plunged at Hugh with its forefeet, sending him to the bottom.
Hugh became partly drowned and unable to help himself and floated with the current to the south side of the creek. Mrs. Miles saw the accident from her window and ran down to see what she could do to help, since she was the only person around. She held on to the bushes with one hand and caught Hugh’s coat shirts with the other, and pulled him in and onto the bank, unconscious. She then called for help and Hugh was revived.
The mills had only been standing for about a year when they burned down. This affected the people of the immediate settlement and also people in the southeastern part of Erie County and eastern Crawford County for there was no other mill around for grinding grists and such except for Culbertson’s Mill on Conneautte Lake.
Early Happenings in Union Mills
From 1819 to 1826, the population of Union increased but not very rapidly until 1836 when a Mr. Coles built a carpenter shop near the junction of the Waterford and Wattsburg Road. This was enlarged and made into a tavern by Webber and Walton and later Abraham Tourtellot. This was also the first house in Union village.
Around 1826, the only school house in the township stood on the hill in the east part of Union. It was made of planks. Students attended from distances of three miles and it was also used for a church for there was no church in the county.
Mail was brought in on a weekly basis. There was a route from Franklin to Waterford by way of horseback. The mail came up on Friday and was returned on Saturday. It would usually consist of one copy of the National Intelligencer, two or three letters and three or four copies of the Erie Gazette.
In the early years more grain was consumed than was raised by the settlers, so they had to export lumber shingles and sugar to help make up the difference.
Prices for wood in those days varied. Clear or high grade pine was worth ten dollars per thousand board feet; common or lower grade pine was worth four dollars; shingles were worth one dollar per thousand board feet; sugar six to eight cents per pound; butter seven cents; wheat seventy five cents a bushel; corn fifty cents a bushel; oats twenty five cents and potatoes from 18 to 25 cents.
The first dry goods store was established by Fleming and Brewster of Erie in 1832, under the management of Julius W. Hitchcock. It was begun in the culinary department of the old Miles House south of the creek and later moved to a new building northwest of the mills. This was the second house in the village.
William opened up a road from his Oil Creek farm to the site of his future residence and made it wide enough to admit a wagon sled. Then he built a large house for his family and hired help and moved his family to Union. He spent the remainder of the summer and fall clearing away the timber and preparing to build his mill. When winter came, little could be done toward building the mills except hew timber and cut and clear away trees from the mill site and from around the house.
In addition to making a dam, a long mill race had to be dug above the mill and below it and it was tough digging. The men had to dig through green stumps and roots all of the way and there was no sawed timber for anything. Even the braces for the frame and all of the small pieces used in making the running gears had to be worked out by hand. For many years the head race was blocked by ice every winter because when the ice got thick or broke and fell in and when the water was drawn off as it sometimes was when the ice was thin, water could not come down in sufficient quality.
In building the mills and all of the houses then and many years to come, nails and spikes were used and all had to be drawn out on a blacksmith’s anvil, for cut nails were not yet invented.
Fortunately for the mills and the neighborhood in general, Abel Thompson in 1801 bought 40 acres of land from Miles and set up a blacksmith shop within a half a mile of the mill site. Miles was a man of great energy and by the winter of 1801, the mills were both in running water.
Next Miles built a distillery. At the mouth of a little stream which emptied into the creek on the south side nearly opposite the mill, he proceeded to build a log house and put in the equipment necessary for making whiskey.
Then the mills burned. Popular opinion held that the mills had been set afire by someone who bore ill will towards Miles and many suspected the man whom he had hired to run the distillery. But no one was certain and Miles never revealed whom he suspected. At any rate, the culprit was never found.The mills were rebuilt as quickly as possible since construction wasn’t as difficult the second time because the dam and race still remained. The fire had spoiled the stones, however, and a new set had to be made.
Miles didn’t make whiskey because he was overly fond of it – he didn’t even drink excessively. But many men in the area did drink and the harmful effects of whiskey were not as well understood then as they came to be in later years.
Roads were cut from all of the farmhouses in the mills and the grists were generally carried there on horseback. However, people on the south side of the creek were forced to go to the mills when the water was low or when the stream was covered over with ice.
As it was, it turned out to be a fortunate thing for Hugh Wilson that Miles had built his house so close to the mills. One day when French creek was very high, Wilson started to cross with grist on a borrowed horse. When the horse got into deep and rapid water, it began to get angry and afraid and it threw off both the rider and the load. Then it plunged at Hugh with its forefeet, sending him to the bottom.
Hugh became partly drowned and unable to help himself and floated with the current to the south side of the creek. Mrs. Miles saw the accident from her window and ran down to see what she could do to help, since she was the only person around. She held on to the bushes with one hand and caught Hugh’s coat shirts with the other, and pulled him in and onto the bank, unconscious. She then called for help and Hugh was revived.
The mills had only been standing for about a year when they burned down. This affected the people of the immediate settlement and also people in the southeastern part of Erie County and eastern Crawford County for there was no other mill around for grinding grists and such except for Culbertson’s Mill on Conneautte Lake.
Early Happenings in Union Mills
From 1819 to 1826, the population of Union increased but not very rapidly until 1836 when a Mr. Coles built a carpenter shop near the junction of the Waterford and Wattsburg Road. This was enlarged and made into a tavern by Webber and Walton and later Abraham Tourtellot. This was also the first house in Union village.
Around 1826, the only school house in the township stood on the hill in the east part of Union. It was made of planks. Students attended from distances of three miles and it was also used for a church for there was no church in the county.
Mail was brought in on a weekly basis. There was a route from Franklin to Waterford by way of horseback. The mail came up on Friday and was returned on Saturday. It would usually consist of one copy of the National Intelligencer, two or three letters and three or four copies of the Erie Gazette.
In the early years more grain was consumed than was raised by the settlers, so they had to export lumber shingles and sugar to help make up the difference.
Prices for wood in those days varied. Clear or high grade pine was worth ten dollars per thousand board feet; common or lower grade pine was worth four dollars; shingles were worth one dollar per thousand board feet; sugar six to eight cents per pound; butter seven cents; wheat seventy five cents a bushel; corn fifty cents a bushel; oats twenty five cents and potatoes from 18 to 25 cents.
The first dry goods store was established by Fleming and Brewster of Erie in 1832, under the management of Julius W. Hitchcock. It was begun in the culinary department of the old Miles House south of the creek and later moved to a new building northwest of the mills. This was the second house in the village.