Landmarks in Ancient Dover, New Hampshire by Mary P. Thompson, 
Durham, N.H. ©1892, Printed by the Republican Press Association, 
Concord, N.H. 

LANDMARKS: Gerrish's Mill

NAMES: GERRISH, Capt. John; WALDRON, Maj. Richard; GERRISH, Timothy; 
GERRISH,Capt.  Paul; HANSON, John; HAYES, Daniel; MESERVE, Sarah; GERRISH, 
Benjamin; DEMERIT, Eli; SAWYER, Messrs.

	Gerrish's Mills. the first mills of this name were at the lowest 
falls in the Bellamy river.  Capt. John Gerrish, through his wife, daughter
of Major Richard Waldron, acquired one half of the water privilege here, 
Oct. 17, 1683, and became sole owner at a later day.  At his death this 
property fell to his sons Timothy and Paul, who had two mills on the lower 
part of the Bellamy in 1719, and seem to have acquired exclusive possession
of all the mill privileges on the river, within the limits of ancient 
Dover.  (See Demerit's Mill and Bellamy Falls.)          
	Another Gerrish mill, frequently mentioned in the Dover and Madbury
records, also stood on the Bellamy.  It was in Madbury, below the Hook, 
directly southwest of Barbadoes Pond.  A record of Jan. 7, 1758, speaks of 
it as "set up by Capt. Paul Gerrish and others."  Among these was John 
Hanson, of Dover, who that same day, sold Daniel Hayes, of Madbury, one 
sixteenth part of this mill.  "Log hill, adjacent to the mill," is spoken 
of in the deed of conveyance.  A grist-mill was also erected here.  One of 
these mills was swept away by a flood in 1798, and the other, June 24, 
1799; but they were both rebuilt soon after. Mrs. Sarah Meserve, of Dover,
March 28, 1804, sold Daniel Hayes of Madbury, one twenty-fourth part of 
Gerrish's sawmill" the same," she says in her deed, "that was set up by my
father, Benjamin Gerrish."  Benjamin was the son of Paul.  This sawmill 
became a day mill in time, and was taken down about 1833.         
	 "The grist-mill and falls, with the privilege belonging to the 
same," were in the early part of this century, acquired by Eli Demerit,¹ 
who sold them at auction in 1832.  This mill is now gone.  The dam was 
removed in 1865 by the Messrs. Sawyer of Dover, who had acquired control of
all the mill privileges on the Bellamy.          		

¹This Eli Demerit was the great-grandson of the Eli who built the first 
sawmill at Bellamy Hook.					

PG 83




- Submitted by C. Parziale
****************************************************************************
* * * * Notice:  Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals
and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter informa-
tion is included.  Any other use, including copying files to other sites 
requires permission from submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites.
We encourage links to the state and county table of contents.

* * * *
The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the
information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information
must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence.  It is
always best to consult the original material for verification.