Follow
MILLER: one who owned or operated a flour mill
"Grist mills constructed in the early 1600's to grind corn and wheat to make flour for the early English settlers of coastal areas. Two words in this sentience reveal was the mill was constructed to do. These words are: corn and flour. To English speaking people of the 1600's and 1700's a corn mill means a mill that grinds corn and makes flour. Corn is the English generic word for grain. More specifically meaning a mill that grinds wheat, rye, oats, and or barley into flour and meal. The common American word "corn" meaning maize the English and Puritan settlers would have called it maize and not used the word corn. In America the English use of the word corn did not change until the War of 1812, when the people of the United States wanted to separate themselves from England."
"Wheat was grown in New England primarily along coastal areas. The rocky soil and climate of New England never made New England a large wheat growing center. Wheat was a more important crop in the areas of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. Early milling centers of America was New York (first by the Dutch and then later because of Rochester and the Erie Canal), Wilmington (along the Brandywine River), Baltimore (along the Patapsco River), Georgetown (along the C & O Canal), Richmond (on the James River and the Kanawha Canal). Then after the Civil War the wheat growing areas sifted to the Midwest. The Mennonites brought hard wheat from the Ukraine and the milling methods changed, places like Minneapolis (the largest ever in the world) became milling centers."
"Many early water wheels were enclosed inside of the building or under roof for protection from winter's snow and ice. The above photo is of the Lee Mill, Stratford Hall, Virginia. The Fitz Water Wheel Company claimed that this was their best and most accurate mill restoration. A roof is over the water wheel in the classic illustration Winter at the Old Grist Mill, a Currier & Ives print. Is this more nostalgic than reality and how much does nostalgia become a factor in mill restoration?"
"New Englanders traditionally preferred rye over wheat and a common New England dish was 'Rye' & 'Injin,' meaning corn bread with rye flour instead of wheat flour. The problem unknown at the time was the hallucinations fungus (LSD) ergot commonly found in rye, and not effected by the milling, sifting and baking process. The New England food Johnny Cakes originally was called journey cakes. Over time the word journey cake was bastardized into Johnny cake. Buckwheat is not a grain, grass or member of the wheat family is actually an herb. It was brought to New Amsterdam in 1626 by Dutch and German settlers. Buckwheat spread down from New York, into Pennsylvania, western Maryland, West Virginia and into Michigan. In the North and New England the type of corn used for milling is yellow field corn, while in the South white field corn is used. When corn is milled into corn meal the bran is sifted out to make bolted corn meal. Coarser corn meal contains the bran and is called unbolted corn meal. In the South the middlings is used as a cereal and is called grits."
"Soft wheat or English wheat was grown and milled. Wheat was sifted or bolted into white flour. In sifting the bran and middlings (cereal) is removed. The middlings also was called ships stuff or red dog, was used for ships biscuit. Red dog was named after a New England Native American who was named Red Dog. He made a deal with a New England miller in trade for all of the middlings the miller could supply his tribe. Bran was tossed into streams considered worthless. whole wheat has the bran sifted out and came into existence in the mid-1800's with the popularity of Sylvester Graham's Graham Flour. Around the time the Pilgrims were building Plymouth Plantation a patent was issued in Great Britain for the making of woven wire cloth. A century later a Scotsman named John Milne invented a sifting reel that rotated instead of being shaken. So after about 1730 most mills of any size operated their flour sifting machinery by water power rather than being hand sifted. So the reconstructed mill probably and a flour sifter (bolter) on the second floor of the mill that was water powered."