Benjamin Mills

Son of Samuel Mills and Frances Blossom

Benjamin's Home-Town of Dedham Massachusetts

     On March 20, 1651 Samuel Mills and his wife had a child named Benjamin Mills.  Twenty-two years later Benjamin Mills married Mary Thorne on May 1, 1673 in the town of Dedham, Massachusetts.

    Soon after their marriage Samuel Mills gave Benjamin and Mary twenty acres of land by the Charles River.

In the years that followed we are not quite positive how they were making money. We do, however, know for a fact that he had farm land which tells us that he probably did some farming. 
     We also know that during this time, Benjamin’s town had a lot of wolves, and that the town would pay people money if they killed wolves. Samuel liked to take Benjamin, and his other kids on hunting trips to hunt wolves and then collect the reward.

     We are not sure why, but we do know that in 1675 Benjamin’s town gave him land for free. Maybe he had done something good or maybe the town was being nice. We don’t know.

     Six or so years after his father Samuel died, Benjamin got a job building, planning, and fixing highways. Even though there were no cars in 1702, people still needed good streets to ride horses on.  The next year Benjamin Mills gave his son Joseph the same piece of land his father had originally given him, only it also included extra land.  Two years after this a man named Jonathan Gay sold Benjamin and his brother Samuel farmland. Samuel bought fifty acres of orchard with a house and Benjamin bought fifteen.

Old Barn with Gambrel Roof

     In 1842 Benjamin’s home was still a popular sight.   It had a gambrel roof, something that many 18th century houses had. It was passed down from generation to generation of Mills.  It later burned down.


Written by Isaiah Scoll



Sources:

History of Needham, Massachusetts, 1711-1911
      By George Kuhn Clark

American Marriages before 1699
 By Ancestry.com