St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-16
An Ancient Who Saws AWAY
in the Tenth Decade of
His Life.
His Whole Life Spent on the
Banks of South Elkhorn
Creek.
Story Of His Simple Career,
Coupled With a Warming
to Young Men.
A Great Grandfather, but Act
ive--He Voted for An
drew Jackson.

0ICW
Lexington Ky.) Correspondence.
On banks of the picturesque South
Elkhorn creek, seven miles west of Lex
lngton, there lives perhaps the oldest
miller in active service in the United
States. HIS name is Robert Ryman.
and for Seventy-fOur years he has tended
the saw and grist mill that his father,
Jacob Ryman, built there ninety-four
years ago. A recent visit to this mill
found the venerable wner in charge.
He is n%inety-one years old, about five
feet eight inches in height, 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
n rather thin; he is slightly stopped
but by his lively manner one would
not think him more than seventy years
Old. His head is about the medium
size, and, while not an ideal one, would
be considered phrenologieally as be-
lon ging to a man of more than usual in
tellect. His movements are quick, and
in going up and down the steps of his
mill he shows as much agility as a man
OF forty. He can handle a %two-bushel
sack of wheat OF corn with apparent
ease. HIS mill is a dilapidated, moss
covered frame structure, about forty
feet long and twenty feet wide. 1t con-
tains a set of burrs, boiling cloth. ele-
vators, etc. for smaklng flour, and an
other set for grinding cornmeal. 1t has
three floors, the ceilings being extreme
ly low. The wheel that sets the ma
chlnery in motion is eleven feet in di-
ameter, and is what is known as a
breast" wheel, the water striking it
just below the center.
On the north side of the grist mill are
the ruins of the sawmiil. The saw used
was an upright and the process of cut
ting lumber with it was necessarily
slow.
Story of the Ancient MILLER.
"My father, Jacob Ryman. came to
Kentucky from Pennsylvania about
1796, and bought the old mill property
here" said Robert Ryman. There was
a common tub mill here, and my
father tore it down and rebuilt it with
the house you see before you. That was
three years before l was born. Father
did a big business, both in grinding
wheat and corn and in saving lumber.
When | was five years old father died,
and the mill was leased until / was sew
enteen years old. l thes took charge of
it. We had only the seventy-fve acres
father bought. and we were poor. EN-
igratlon to Kentucky was then at its
height, and | made considerable money
by. saving lumber. Nearly all the
older houses in this section were
built with lumber sawed by me.
l worked day and night for many
winters, and was thus enabled
to buy $50 acres of land adjoining our
little farm. l then set to work TO buy
negroes to till the land, and before
emancipation l owned six men and four
women. l made money farming, but
the negroes l found a costly luxury,
ant l am better off without them. | was
too young to enlist in the war of 1912
and when the Mexican war came there
were so many younger men anxious to
gothat L did not desert my mill. OF
course | was too old to serve in the war
OF the rebellion, but | was a strong
Southern SympathiZer and was sorry to
see the South lose the day. NY only
experience with the soldiers of the re-
bellion was in the horse line. A Confed-
crate soldier lett a wornout horse on my
farm II took my best saddle horse
away with him. l fed his castoff ami
NAL and just as l got him nice and fat a
Federal soldier came along and pressed
him into service. My mill was not dis
turbed by the soldiers, and L continued
to make flour and meal all the time the
war was going IN. [ have done SO ever
since. Igrind corn for the %neighbGrs
now, and make the flour we use at
home; besides, many of our neighbors
like the flour this old mill grinds better
than they do the breadstutf that comes
from these newfangled roller mills. My
father used to ship his flour in barrels
IN NlyU flrlnnnC nnd oil riy,nr %0ryo
Here is the brand he used on the heads
of the barrels. You will see it reads:
j. Ryman, No. 1876, Burr In those
days burr flour was scarce. Father
paid $500 for the first set of French
burrs he put in, and they were the envy
OF all the miilers in this part of the
state.
His Daily Life.
81 was married when twenty-siX years
ok and my first wife presented me with
three children. l am now living with
my third wife. and have three children
living. l have twenty-five grandchil-
dren and ten great-grandchildren. l
have had only one spell of sickness in
my life; have USED tobacco (chewing)
since | was five years old. L always
took a dram OF whisky whenever l
wanted it, but l was never drunk. l
have lived on no special diet, but have
been always regular in my habits. l
have eaten breakfast every morning for
the last eighty years at 5 o'clock. dinner
at IL and supper at g.. l drink coffee
for breakfast. milk for dinner, and tea
for supper. have worked hard ever |
since was twelve years old and l do
not think hard work eyer killed a man
or maze one crazy. 1t is something
else. l have always had the faculty Of
leaving my business behind me when
my days work was done. In this way |
have been a good sleeper. Sleep is the
only thing that will restore a tired man,
and | think the young men who die so
suddenly now do not die from overWork,
but from the loss of sleep. L have al
ways been a Democrat, My first vote
was cast for Samuel Woodson, who ran |
for congress in his district in 1920. !
Andrew Jackson was the first president
| ever voted for, and L have voted the
Democratic ticket ever since. In 1860 |
proud of it to-day. The bitterest dose | |
ever swallowed, however. was when l
voted for Horace Greeley in 1872, and l
wasn't sorry that he was beaten. No.
| don't understand the tariff. and | don't !
believe half the people who talk about
it do. in religion ] am what they call a |
.Campbellite,' or follower of Alexander
Campbell. l have belonged to that
church for more than forty years. and
have tried to live up to its teachings.
Only twice have l been out of the state,
and then it was to go to visit relatives
i'll Missouri. subscribe for four news
papers-two in Lexington, Il in Mich
olasville-the Courier-JourEai and the
Old Path Guide. The last named paper
is the organ of the church to which |
belong"
Among the relics exhibited by Mr..
Ryman was a square oaken gallon meas
ure made by his father and a brush used
by his father to remove the -four from
the boiling chest.