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Lawrenceburg - Condit Mill

Located on Otter Creek, Liberty, Township 75N, Range 23W, in the SE corner of the NW quarter of section 7. [Zoom in this 1859 map of Liberty Township (provided by the Library of Congress) to see surrounding areas.]

Lawrenceburg Mill - 1859

Condit Mill - 1872
Listed as "S.M." for saw mill

James A. Read owned a sawmill by Lawrenceburg, Liberty Township, Warren County, Iowa. He sold the mill to Thomas H. Childs and Daniel Nysonger, however; they were unable to pay for it and the mill was sold at a Sheriff's sale to Reuben C. Condit. Reuben Clark Condit was the miller-sawyer at the Lawrenceburg Mill (aka Condit Mill) from 1859 until after 1880.  Clark or R.C., as he was known, was born in New Jersey Feb 5th, 1821 and came with his parents, Silas D.  & Phoebe Condit, to Iowa in 1858.  R.C. lived with his brother, Daniel M. Condit, and his family, from 1860 to 1870 working in the Lawrenceburg Saw Mill.  He never married. In 1880 he continued as a sawyer, living with his 82-year-old mother.  By 1885 Clark, age 63, still lived with his mother in Liberty Township, but no occupation was listed.  Reuben Clark Condit died on Feb 12, 1888 in Greene County, Iowa and was buried in Patton Cemetery, Greene County.  His mill was sold in July 1888.

Sources: compiled from census of 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1885, Genealogical Record of the Condit Family, Descendants of John Cundit,… by Jothan H. and Eben Condit, 1916, p.55, Patton Cemetery gravestone for  R. C. Condit (1821-1888), see newspaper articles listed below.

The Advocate-Tribune, Indianola, Iowa, Thurs., Feb 23, 1888, p.2, col.3
R. C. Condit, one of our oldest settler, is dead; he died in Green County.  We have no particulars.

Indianola Herald, Indianola, Iowa, Thurs., July 19, 1888, p.2
For Sale or Trade – The Lawrenceburg mill property will sell altogether or the mill without the land.  Will trade for young stock of any kind at fair price.  Inquire of A. B. Condit, Paton, Greene County, Iowa or J. Condit, Indianola, Iowa.

The following is a discription of an 1858 Sheriff's sale of the Lawrenceburg Saw Mill which had been sold by James C. Read to Thomas H. Childs and Daniel Nysonger, but who were unable to pay the debt.

Indianola Weekly Visitor, Thurs., Dec 16, 1859, p.3
Sheriff’s Sale
By virtue of an execution to me directed, by the Clerk of the District County of Warren County, Iowa; I will, on the 31st day of December, A.D. 1858, between the hours of 10 o’clock, A.M. and 4 P.M. at the Court House door, in the town of Indianola, Warren County, Iowa, offer for sale at public outcry to the highest bidder for cash in hand, the following described real estate, to wit: Beginning at a point on the half-mile line, running east and west though section seven (7) in township seventy-four, (74), north of range twenty-three (23) west, near an oak tree being near twenty-five (25) rods east of the S.W. corner of the E ½ of the NE ¼ of said section, thence west forty (40) rods, thence north twenty (20) rods, thence east forty (40) rods, thence south twenty (20) rods, containing five acres, with the Steam Saw Mill situated thereon with all the machinery and fixtures thereunto belonging.  Taken in execution as the property of Thomas H. Childs and Daniel Nysonger to satisfy said execution in favor of James C. Read.
Tabor W. McKee, Sheriff of Warren County, Iowa, Dec 2, 1858