Ritchie County, WV: Early Mills ******************************************************************* USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ******************************************************************* The following article is courtesy of: THE RITCHIE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY SEPT/OCT 1974 NEWSLETTER VOL. II NO. IV EARLY MILLS IN RITCHIE COUNTY Thomas Maley, son of Lawrence Maley, is recognized as the pioneer miller of Ritchie County. He erected the first mill about 1812, two miles north of Harrisville on the North Fork of the Hughes river. Later Enoch Leggett owned a mill on this same site, which was burned in 1871. William Wells was the builder and owner of the second mill in this section, which stood near the mouth of Bunnells Run. this mill was owned by three generations of the Wells family. Sugar Grove Mill, a flouring mill, was built in 1842 by Isaiah Wells, son of William Wells. This mill stood less than a mile north of Harrisville and was one of the most noted mills in West Virginia. A saw-mill and a carding machine, the first in this section were operated in connection with the grist mill. The well known Webb Mill (Smithville) was one of the oldest landmarks in the county, having been in operation as a grist mill - cabin fashion in 1812. Tharp's Mill, which Timothy Tharpe erected as the first mill in Auburn was a corn cracker with a saw mill added in 1849. John Sinnett settled at the foot of the King Knob hill in 1824. Here he erected the first and only powder mill that was ever in Ritchie County. The mill was washed away after a few years. Holbrook Mill was built in 1857 by Christopher Nutter and was destroyed during the early days of the Civil War. The Holbrook Mill was then rebuilt by the Brown family in the late 1860's by David E. Brown and his sons, John M. Brown and Edward M. Brown. John M. Brown brought and rebuilt a mill near Hannadale, which he operated from 1882-1912. Edward M. Brown rebuilt the old flour mill at Berea in 1890 and operated it for several years. The Browns came to Ritchie County in 1854 from Lewis County, where the father, David E. Brown, had been a millright and had helped to rebuild Jackson's Mill. The first grist mill at Burnt House was erected in 1882 by the Stalnaker brothers, John R., Draper C., and Sanford. William Pyles operated a water mill on Bonds Creek in 1850. The first tannery in Ritchie County was erected in 1827 by Thomas Chancellor. In 1839, it was bought by Zackquill Pierpoint, who operated it until his death in 1882. The tannery was on the site of the Frank Patton home (now owned by Mr. & Mrs. Ben Sweet.) John Rawson was one of the earliest millers on Husher's Run. He first owned a horse powered mill and then later secured steam power and ran a grist mill and saw mill combined. This mill was establised about 1830. The first mill at Goffs was a water mill built by Perry Gainer and E. C. Goff. Harmon Sinnett erected the first grist mill on Chevauxdefrise, about 1850. This mill stood a little above the mouth of Chevauxdefrise on Indian Creek. The mill was washed away twice by floods. Hiram Sharpnack settled near the old CALIFORNIA HOUSE in 1848, where he built and operated a flour mill. He was a skillful worker both in wood and iron and a cabinet maker. William McKinney was the owner of the first grist mill in what is now Grant district (1823). Jefferson Broadwater is credited with the first mill in Clay district about 1855 near Tollgate. He owned and operated this mill for 20 years and was also the owner of the Valley Flouring Mill near Pennsboro. ***********************************************************************