Paul and all,
        I'm a little late (ok, a lot) at finding this short series of comments
but I thought that I would throw in my two cents worth.
        Paul, this family was probably doing pretty good but perhaps not as
well as you seem to have initially thought.
        The problem is that the word "mill" in this case probably doesn't mean
a large
manufacturing facility.  It can be as small as today's "pepper mill" or
"coffee mill", now more usually called a "grinder".
        The "18 saw mills" were probably "sawing stages"...a sort of framework
in which one man could be above and another below the log or boards
which were being cut.  Sine they do seem to have a goodly number of
them, they appear to have a sort of assembly going, probably with
different lengths being cut at different stages or "mills".  The "15 oil
mills" are going to be small presses
for extracting either cotton seed oil or linseed oil.  The "47 cotton
factories" are probably early machines which were intended to help
separate out the seeds from the cotton or to help comb the cotton into
its long staples.
        So, while we do have a fairly good sized operation, it would seem, it
is not, for example, 18 separate saw mills as we think of the term today.
        It is interesting to note that the inventory makes no mention of
spinning wheels or looms yet includes 45 years of woven wool and 12
yards of cotton or linen "made in the domestic manner".  By domestic
manner, I believe that what they meant was that it was done on a hand
(or foot) powered loom.  And that is probably the clue to most of what
else is listed.  This business was probably all hand powered and may not
have required a major stream for power and for which one acre was
probably more than sufficient.  Since there is no indication in the info
given that they did spinning or weaving, probably they worked as
jobbers, doing the work of preparing cotton and woo (the fulling
machines) fibers to be spun and woven by others.  The yardage many
represent payment for a job.

Hope this is helpful even if very late.

Renee L. Dauven


Paul Drake wrote:

> Astonishing, Susan  !!!!!!!!!!!!!   Have never in my 50+ years of
> research learned of any Drakes (or ant other family) who would have
> been of such affluence and wide manufacturing activity.
> May we have their given names and dates of birth and death, etc.,
> please????????  Paul
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Susan
>   To: [log in to unmask]
>   Sent: Sunday, May 30, 2004 9:04 PM
>   Subject: [DRAKE] Mills
>
>
>   Paul,
>
>   My information concerning the different mills in my Drake family
> came from the 1825 New York State census for Steuben Co.They listed
> 18 saw mills, 15 oil mills, 11 fulling machines, 26 carding machines,
> and 47 cotton factories owned by the family. They also listed 45
> yards of flannel and other woolen material manufactured in the
> domestic way and 12 yards of linen, cotton or other thin cloths.
> ther families on the census seemed to have rather large
> numbers of these mills as well. Others only had 2 or 3 mills
> or machines total.
>
>   Susan
>
>
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