The Mill On The Mud

     I promise I will find another blog topic after this one about Milo, you must be getting a wee bit tired of hearing about him.  I've been reading about his business transactions and wondering just where his grist mill in Arcadia, NY may have been situated.  After studying land records, it became clear the mill sat on Mud Creek, also known as Ganargua Creek.  The deeds I found mentioned the mill and included the lot number of 46.  They also gave the location as the south bank of the creek.  I found an ownership map circa 1874 on Ancestry and located lot 46.  Lo and behold there was, "J D Reeves & Co. G. Mill".  Could this have once been Milo's mill?  The map looks as though this mill was on the north bank, but I've seen lots of old maps that put the owner's name anywhere they have room, it's the dots that count and there isn't one on the north bank.  I initially thought I saw one, but it was part of the letter J.  Below the red X marking the mill, you can see lot number 46.

  
     I did a search on the Reeves Mill, and was disappointed to find it was begun in 1803 by Paul Reeves the great-grandfather of JD.  It would appear the mill had been in the Reeves family since it was built.  Milo purchased his mill in 1834, so it couldn't be this one...or could it?  I next did a search for Paul Reeves, and it turns out he sold his mill in 1814 and moved to another town!  It didn't become the property of his great-grandson JD until 1873, well after Milo's death in 1857, and looking at the description of the property in JD's deed, it's nearly identical to the one in Milo's deed.

     Naturally I wondered if anything remained of the mill.  Perhaps the foundation or traces of the mill pond were still there?  My next search was for the words--Arcadia NY Mud Creek mill.  I kept getting hits for a property for sale at 6417 Mud Mills Road in Arcadia, which was beginning to annoy me greatly until for the heck of it I clicked on one of the links and this came up, "Very unique property, 3 buildings on 1+ acre lot bordering Ganargua Creek...Building #3 is a 3 story historic former grist mill...  Holy Moses!  It was the mill and it was still standing!  And there were pictures!

     I know you know what's coming next, I will have to visit this mill-- Uncle Milo's mill.  And I promise I won't blog about it.