Hills Mill

On Sept. 24, 1683, five hundred acres of land was surveyed to Nicholas Newlin, which, lying to the south of the Hitchcock tract, extended from the eastern township line westward to Concord Street road, which ran north and south, dividing the township in the centre. Within this estate, which was patented to Newlin May 1, 1685, a part of the headwaters of the west branch of Chester Creek were embraced, and through the lower part of Newlin's land, running east and west. Providence and Concord road was laid out Aug. 15, 1715. Twenty-two years prior to this highway being approved, Aug. 21, 1693, a road still in use, beginning east of the present school-house on that road, and running thence northward to the Thornbury line, was laid out by the grand jury. On April 2, 1703, the tract was resurveyed to Nathaniel Newlin, the son of Nicholas, and was found to contain five hundred and fifty-two acres of land. The following year (1704) Nathaniel Newlin built a stone grist-mill on the west branch of Chester Creek, now owned by Samuel Hill. In the walls of this old mill is a date-stone marked "Nathan and Ann Newlin, 1704." This mill passed from Nathaniel or Nathan Newlin to his son Thomas, and in 1817 was sold to William Trimble as twenty-seven acres, and the "Lower Mill." Thomas Newlin having for many years previous to that date been the owner of the "Upper Mill," or Society Mill, as it was known in early days, and now as Leedom's. The terms Upper and Lower Mills being used to designate the one from the other, after they had both become the property of Newlin. The Lower Mill later came into possession of Abraham Sharpless, who operated it several years, and after his death it was sold by Casper W. Sharpless, executor of his father, Abraham Sharpless, in April, 1861, to John Hill and Son. The junior member of the firm, Samuel, operated it until the death of his father, John Hill, when the latter's interest was acquired by his son, Samuel Hill, who is the present owner of the mill.[bib]703[/bib]