The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1890-10-08
YE ANCIENT MILLER.
He Csrinds and Saws in the Tenth
Decade Of His Lifo.
His whole I.ifo Spent on tho I:anks of
South EIkhorn Crock. Ky, Where His
Gather Built ~ Flour and Saw-MilI
Tho Old Mans Career.

ington, Ky. there lives perhaps the old
est miller in active service i'll tho United
States. His name is Robert Ryman and
for sevcnty-four years he has tended the
saw and grist-mill that his fathcr Jacob
Ryman built there nincty-four years
ago. A recent visit to this mill found
the venerable owner in charge. lie is
ninety-ono years old about five feet
eight inches high, and will weigh 100
pounds; he is clearly shaven; his eyes
are deep blue and he uses no glasses;
his hair is light brown in color and
rather thin; he is slightly stopped, but
by his lively manner one would not
think him moro than seventy years old.
His head is about tho medium size, and
while not an ideal one would be consid-
cred phrcnologically as belonging to
man OF more than usual intellect. His
movements are quick, and in going up
and down the steps of his mill he shows
as much agility as man of forty He
can handle two-buShel sack of
wheat or corn with apparent case.
His mill is dilapidated. moss-cover-
frame structure, about forty feet long
and twenty feet wide. 1t contains set
of burrs, boiling cloth, elevators, etc,
for making -four and another set for
grinding corn-mcal. 1t has three floors
the ceilings being extremely low
The wheel that sets the machinery
in motion is eleven feet in diam
cter, and is what is known as
breast wheel, tho water striking it
just below the center.
On the north sidc Of tho grist-mill arc
the rains OF tho saw-mi!l. Tho saw used
was an upright and the process of cut
ting lumber with it was necessarily
slow.
My father, Jacob Ryman, camc to
Kentucky from Pennsylvania about
1906, and bought the old mill property
here" said Robert lyman. There
was common tub mill here and my
father tore it down and rebuilt it with
the house You sec before you. That was
three years before | was born. Father
did a big business. both i'll grinding
wheat and corn and in saving lumber
When ! was five years old father died
and the mill was leased until was seven
teen years old. ! then took charge of
it. We had only the scventy-fivc acres
father bought and we were poor Emil
grafton to kentucky was then at it's
height, and l made considerable money
by saving lumber. Nearly all the older
houses in this section were built with
lumber sawed by nc. worked day and
night for many winters, and was thus
enabled to buy $50 acres of land ad-
joining our little farm. l thcn
set to work to buy negroes to till the
land, and before emancipation owned
six men and four women. | made mon
ey farming, but the negroes l found Il
costly luxury, and am better off with
out them. | was too young to enlist in
the war OF 1872 and when the Mexican
war came there were SO many younger
men anxious TO so that | did not desert
my mill. OF course ! was too old to
servo in the war of the rebellion, but
was strong Southern sympathizcr and
was sorry to see the South lose tic day.
My only experience with the soldiers OF
the rebellion was in tho horse line.
Confederate soldier lcfta WORKOUT no rse
on my farm and took my best saddle
horse away with him. ! fed his cast-off
animal and just as | got him nice and
fat Federal soldier camo along and
pressed him into service. My mill was
not disturbed by the soldiers, and con-
tinued to make flour and meal all tho
time the war was going on. | havcdono
SO over since. grind corn for tho
neighbors now, and make the flour we
use at home; besides, many of our
neighbors like the -four this old mill
grinds better than they do the bread
stuff that comes from those ncw-fanglcd
rollermills. Ny father used to ship his
flour III barrels to Now Orleans and all
river towns. Here is the brand he used
81,
see ii reads: j. Ryman, No 1876, Burr
In those days burr -four was scarce.
Father paid $500 for the first set Of
French burrs he put in and they werc
the envy of all the millers in this part
OF the State.
II was married when twcnty-six wears
old and my first wife presented me with
1hree children. ] am now living with
my third wife, and have three children
living ! have twenty-five grandchil-
drcn and ten grcat-grandchillrcn. /
have had only one spell of sickness in
my life; have used tobacco (chcwing)
since was five years old | have eaten
breakfast every morning for the last
eighty years at five o'clock. dinner at
twelve and supper at six. | drink cof-
Zee for breakfast, milk for dinner and
tea for supper. l have worked hard
ever since was twelve years old, and
DO not think hard work ever killed a
man or made one crazy. II is something
else. have always had the faculty OF
leaving my business behind me when
my days work was done. In this way 1
have boon good sleeper. Sleep is the
only thing that will restore a tired man,
and think the young mon who die so
suddenly now do not die from overuorlr