SAW MILL ON CORY'S BROOK ESTABLISHED BEFORE REVOLUTION [From Warren History, Volume Two, No. 1, Spring 1994] "Willett's Saw Mill Revived," headlined the notice in the February 9, l837, edition of the Plainfield Union. "The subscriber having purchased and repaired the Saw Mill formerly owned by Thomas Willett, deceased, gives notice that he is ready to serve customers in his line at short notice. He has now on hand (and intends keeping) Fencing and Garden Posts, Lath, Boards, Plank, etc. All Frame Timber will be furnished to order at short notice. The patronage of the public is solicited. Joshua Seaman, Warren Township." Although the ad infers that Seaman had just purchased Willett's old mill on Cory's Brook, in fact he took over operation of the works in l833, a date attested by his receipt book, now preserved at the Rutgers University Library, New Brunswick. The first "Stony Hill" entry in the book is dated August 1833. The ad's misleading tone may be explained by the fact that the newspaper only began publishing in January 1837: As a modern businessman, Seaman would have been eager to advertise his sawmill to those previously unacquainted with it. The Willett sawmill existed as early as 1774. On April 11th of that year the surveyors of the highways laid out a four rod road that in part ran "westerly on the direct course to the foot of Jonathan Willets Mill dam and so across the Brook and up the Hill as the path now goes on the front of said Willet's house to the line between him & Thomas Terril & from thence up the hill as the path now goes 20 Rods & from thence on a straight course to the front of the house of Thomas Terril at the Main Road aforesaid to Quibble Town...." This is a description of Reinman Road from Saw Mill Road west to Mount Bethel Road. Whether or when Jonathan Willet (1735- 1811) built the mill is unknown; Thomas was his son. Listed in the l790 reconstructed census of Bernards Township (of which Warren was then a part), Thomas Willet died December 12, l831. In March l833 Seaman purchased 16 acres at public auction from the Willet Estate for $369. While attempts to compare l9th Century prices with today's dollar are admittedly risky, Seaman's bid would be about $4000, evidence perhaps of the low value attached to Warren Township land in the last century, even land that had a dilapidated sawmill on it. Willet's sawmill probably was not Warren's first. That honor may go to Joseph Ross, who owned a sawmill on Dock Watch Hollow Brook just north of its confluence with Middle Brook. "Joseph Rosses New Saw Mill" is mentioned in a l751 road survey. Peter(?) Williamson's mill, also on Dock Watch Hollow Brook downstream from what is now Blazier Rd., appears on a l766 map of Somerset County. The 1766 map also locates Coon's Mill on Dock Watch Hollow Brook, the Williamson and Ross saw mills as well as Hampton's on Green Brook. A l760 road survey of what is now Dock Watch Hollow Road refers to Thomas Bay's mill, which may identify the name of Williamson's predecessor. When these mills were built is not known, although clearly Ross' was new in l751. A third mill on Green Brook, operated by Lawrence Ruth and later (c. l766) by John Hampton, is mentioned in a document dated 1749. A newly-reported map of Middlebrook shows Washington's tent site along with a mill and mill pond at the confluence of Dock Watch Hollow Brook and Middle Brook. The pond lays along Middle Brook. This map also depicts the Saw Mill Road and its mill pond. The Willet mill was an unpretentious affair, nothing more than a rough wooden shed along the stream bank sheltering an up and down saw powered by a water wheel. The sawdust, vibration and screech of the saw made it an unpleasant place to work; but such mills were the advance agents of the villages that spread across Colonial America. Before the sawmill, timbers, boards and shingles were hewn by hand, a slow, arduous task. Mills reduced many fold the labor needed to build houses, barns and public buildings. Moreover, in a heavily-forested area such as Warren, saw mills were usually the first industry, a source of lumber for the buildings being constructed in nearby towns. "The early sawmills," wrote Harry Weiss, "were all powered by the cheapest and simplest type of water wheel, an undershot one known as the flutter wheel. This consisted of a wooden axle fitted with wooden arms or spokes each carrying a wooden paddle. This piece of wooden machinery could be built by nearly everyone who knew how to use a few tools. The flutter wheel was not efficient in transforming the energy of running water but it was good enough for the small, early sawmill, usually operated for a few weeks in the spring when there was plenty of water from rain and melting snow. There was no need for gearing, belting and line shafting. The saw blade, in a wooden frame, was actuated by a wooden crank on the end of a wooden axle. The frame was raised at each half revolution of the wheel and pulled down at the other half revolution. The saw blade, which as a rule was about eight feet long and eight inches wide, cut the log only during its downstroke." "The milldam in most cases was made entirely of earth hauled into place by a crude scraper and trampled down by the feet of the oxen pulling the carts. The main objective was to build an embankment and to have enough planking and timber for the spillway to take care of the overflow without having the earth washed away. This was taken care of by providing a break in the earthen bank, with timber sides and a heavy, plank floor, which extended downstream far enough to keep the dam from being undermined by the overflow. On small streams the break would be 10 or 12 feet wide and timbered so that two or three plank gates, which slid up or down in timber guides, could be raised when the water was high." While we do not know what type of mechanism Willett or Seaman employed, the flutter wheel was the most common in New Jersey, the geared sawmill was expensive and not widely used and the circular saw was not introduced until the l850s. The fact that Seaman advertised a variety of finished lumber is some evidence, however, of a fairly sophisticated operation, perhaps installed when he bought Willett's mill in l833. Township records tell us that Joshua Seaman paid taxes of $2.22 in l833, paid rent to John W. Cross for land on Stony Hill in l837 and paid the taxes due on the Samuel Corrington farm "where he was living" in 1838. In l845 Seaman paid $1.50 for an annual subscription to the Essex Standard, a weekly newspaper published in Elizabeth. Seaman died in July 1849, age 60, survived by his wife, Susan M., his daughters, Sarah, wife of Sampson Placket, and Susan Frances, and sons Thomas, Alexander, Benjamin, Theodore and Joshua. His son, Benjamin, may have married Jane Mariah [Mundy?], who died Feb. 16, l848, age 25, and is buried in the Mt. Bethel Baptist cemetery. Joshua Seaman's will, dated April 21, l843, disposes "of the earthly possessions wherewith I have been blessed, hoping that when I shall have finished my course here below, to receive an inheritance on high through the merits of Jesus." Seaman, whose will mentions his pew in the Presbyterian Church in Jersey City, moved from Jersey City to Warren when he bought Willett's mill. Where he was born or is buried is not known.