Carpenter’s Mill
The Advocate-Tribune, Indianola, IA, Thursday, Dec 17, 1903, p.2, col.1
Palmyra -according to Old Scratch (Geo. A. Epps)
One day last week your scribe (writer) on the invitation of H. J. Switzer went to the home of James Carpenter who lives in the southeast corner of Richland Township. We found Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter seated by the fire in their comfortable home. Mr. Carpenter is now 78 years old, his long white beard and hair reminded us of the patriarch of old. He settled on the banks of South river, north of Sandyville, at what was known as Carpenter Hill in 1848, having come from Ray County, Missouri. In 1849 he and his brothers, Charles and Norman, built a saw and grist mill on South River. The burrs [grindstones] for grinding grain were brought from Ray County, Missouri. One of the burrs or millstones is now in the possession of Mr. Switzer and Joseph Morris has the other one. Mr. Switzer remembers when a small boy he would accompany his father when he took corn to this mill to procure meal to make bread for the family. The Carpenters first used water power and later steam. The mill was burned shortly after the war of the rebellion. At one time there was a town laid out at this place. It is related that a man, who lived in Palmyra in those days, went to the mill one day to get some meal but neglected to take a sack so he took off his shirt, tied the collar and sleeves, put a half bushel of meal in his sack and went home rejoicing. In 1851 Mr. Carpenter was justice of the peace and many humorous incidents occurred in his court. [Read more of this story on the newspaper archives of the Warren County Historical Society at http://warrencounty.advantage-preservation.com/]
Old Grist Mill History by Merva T. Mosier, 1929 [from the Warren County Historical Library]
An old mill was built in 1849 by Charles H. Carpenter and his brother, James, three miles north of Sandyville where for years farmers could go with their wheat and corn and have it ground. The Carpenter brothers had come here from Ray County, MO., where their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles N. Carpenter resided. They completed the mill and then returned to Missouri to get their families, settling here in 1852. The burrs [grindstones] used in this mill were made by the father, Charles N. Carpenter, out of a flint-like rock. The burrs were chiseled out with a set of stone cutter tools, and had to be furrowed perfectly true. It required a keen eye and knowledge of tools to get them just right. They were hauled from Ray County, Missouri to Iowa, a distance of some 170 miles, with a team of oxen. While the Carpenter brothers were at work one day on the roof of this mill, a lone horseman drove up and without a word of greeting from the Carpenter men, was asked what was wrong, as only in case of great importance was any news ever sent. This time it was to tell them that the cholera had broken out in the father’s family and that eight members were already dead. A child of Charles H., one of the brothers, was also a victim of the dread disease. |
