Until the Freeman family could complete their own dwelling they lived in a bark hut which had been constructed by Native Americans.
It is believed that Samuel Freeman was born around 1756 in Woodbridge, New Jersey. His parents’ names are uncertain.
Freeman married Priscilla Rittenhouse about 1777 in Hunterdon County, New Jersey
In the book History of Greene County by R. S. Dills there is a letter written by a grandson of Freeman. He says the family came from New Jersey to Fort Washington now called Cincinnati in 1795 when there were only three shingled houses in the town. General Wayne’s army was stationed there. The author quoted his father, John as saying he could have bought the best lot in town by catching fish with a hook and line and selling them to the soldiers.
In 1801 Freeman sold his Cincinnati property and moved to Greene County. There the family settled on Little Beaver Creek. In the fall of 1806 they sold the Greene County property and moved to Miami County.
The Freemans built a water race and on it erected a grist mill and a sawmill. The first grist mill, according to an article in the 1880 History of Miami County Ohio, had one buhrstone. Buhrstones were hand-chiseled from porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone or limestone. The stones ranged from two to seven feet in diameter and from about four to twelve inches in thickness. Two stones were used and were placed one above the other. The lower one was stationary and the upper stone revolved over it. The rough surfaces ground the grain.
The Miami History goes on to say the Freemans’ later used a bolt and the person having grain ground had to turn the bolt. A bolt was a device used to shift the ground product in order to separate the fine flour from the courser pieces.
Eventually the Freemans built a four story mill with three runs of buhrs.
Samuel Freeman died in Nov. of 1821. His wife died May 22, 1826. They are both buried at Mills Cemetery, Tipp City.
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