Generation
...."A visitor recently called on Allen Maltby, for information about Mitchell's Mills. In the course of the conversation the old man said: 'I was born in a log shanty a mile west of the Mormon Temple, at the foot of Waite Hill in Kirtland. I came here from Kirtland with my father, Allen Maltby, early in September, 1836, when I was 14. James Brunson had built the first sawmill in 1825. He owned 200 acres of land here. Brunson was a shoemaker by trade.
Levi Edson, father of Seth, youngest of the family, built a grist- mill near here later. Levi Edson was a good surveyor, but a very old man. Seth was great to learn from books, but natural wit he did not have. Martin Mitchell, after whom this place was named, came here from Bloomfield, Trumbull County and built the old mill yonder in 1838.....Daniel Hagar, who previously had a mill over yonder for mak- ing wooden bowls, built the dam and dug the race for Martin Mitchell's mill in 1836. Then Williston Murphy came here from Mayfield in 1839 and built a woolen factory with its spinning-jenny, 120 spindles and two looms for weaving woolen cloth.....Murphy lived on the Stebbins farm nearby. Sold out and went to Rock Creek where he died...During the dry season of 1845, farmers came here with their grists from Bloomfield, driving ox teams and they had to wait their turn. There was another dry season of 1854, but not so bad. Austin Mitchell, a son of Martin, lives in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
"I have built mills, bridges, engines and water wheels, as my father did before me. It seemed to be natural with me. These things come to me in the night. My grandfather Baldwin was the same way. He could make a house from the stump. My health has always been good. I have worn a straw hat summer and winter since I was 30 and I haven't shaved or cut my hair since then. Wearing a beard on the upper lip preserves the eyesight. Nature does her work well but men make fools of themselves.
"John Harrington, the trapper and Indian fighter, I knew well. He worked for my father in Kirtland. He was 18 years old when he served under Harrison at Fort Meigs. He came to Kirtland several years after the War of 1812. He couldn't read or write, or tell the figures on his square, but he was a good imitator. The story of three Indians disappearing suddenly, who came here to kill Harrington, is true. We always believed the reverse happened, but Harrington never told. He later built mills and water wheels along the Maunee River and died in that section in the 30's.....The Carvers were here before my day. Ren Carver lives up there on the side of the Moun- tain"....."I have held the deed to it (the mill) for 65 years, and I'll not sell. My son helps carry on the work now and it shall be Maltby's mill after I am gone." (This was Irwin Maltby).
Children of Allen and Charity (Holt) Maltby: VIII.2856. Clarence Maltby, b. June 9,1852; d. Apr. 18,1876; no child. VIII.2857. Erwin Horace " b. Aug. 14, 1856. VIII.2858. Emma A. " b. Jan. 6, 1861. Living 1916, no children.
Note. The "grandfather Baldwin" mentioned above, was Brewen Bald- win, b. 1752 (Samuel, Nathaniel, Samuel). The name Brewen at so late a date is interesting. "The Ancestry of Daniel Bontecon, of Spring- field, Mass.," pub. 1887 by John E. Morris, traces his ancestry back to Pepin the Old, b. about A.D.560. The 35th generation is Mary Bruen who mar. John Baldwin, Sr., of Milford, Conn. Their daughter, Abigail Baldwin, b. 1658, married Samuel Baldwin, son of Nathaniel, one of the first settlers of Milford, Conn. This appears to be the
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