The Press., 1911-05-31
WILMINGTON.
"Reminiscences of WiIlingtOn by Native of the
 TOwn-NO. l3.

Tradition said that the water power at the Sharp's mill was first devel- toped very soon after the settlement of Wilmington by a MT. Farwell, and later was owned and operated by Abel Johnson, IT,, the grandfather of the late Elisha Johnson, and I remember of hearing Uncle Abel Johnosn tell of that being the Johnson home when he was 8 young man, and how in those days he used to hunt foxes and cross the pond in winter and head them off and get shot at them from the ledge on the hill southeast of the mill, a ledge that l think I could recognize after more than fifty years
 Capt. Sharp was torn near 179O on the Sharp homestead near the Ash ford line and adjoining the Capt.
 Stephen Johnson farm, and tradition said that his father died when he was quite young and that Capt Johnson acted as his guardian, and that when he became of age he had learned the trade of 8 carpenter, and when he was married he bought the mill and farm of Abel Johnson about 1872 or "A.
 It is of record in our family that when our fathers barn was burned in 1916 Capt Sharp was in possession of the mill and was doing quite 8 buRi- ness in the line of building. etc He was quite successful as Q builder, and in the early thirties he built the Bap- tist meeting house and the parsonage near the O1aIk Moore place, which wRs carried away when the resel Jir gave away at Stafford in 1877. In 1887 Capt Sharp greatly improved and enlarged his mill and power by re building the dam, lowering and bridging the tail race below the mill aud building a good road down to the lower side of the mill from the Mans field road, thus ms king the delivery of gris ts from the lower door very con-
 venient and easy. He also built new Hume and an overshot wheel of about IA feet, with about 42-inoh buckets, thus giving him very nice power. He also added another story to his mill and otherwise enlarged 1t, thus giving him a good shop and ample storeroom for grain above, which, with the increase in business that soon followed, was a great con- venience. The rebuilding of the dam made necessary an overflow for the surplus water which was at times quite heavy. To obtain this required the opening of a channel through the rock at the south side of the mill which was higher than the dam and required considerable heavy blasting of the peculiar rock that formed the ledge. Quite number of men were employed, but the one that I recall most vividly was the late Alva Holt.
 whose home at the time was on the Elon Steel farm, just east of the then Timothy Holt farm. Mir. Holt had 8 good pair of oxen, and with them and Capt. Sharp's heavy, well trained horse MT. Holt was in charge of the heavy work, and MT. Holt had that team so we'll trained that he could move them to any position desired with 8 motion of his whip. In long life have seldom seen a team under better control or Q more difficult place for the working of a team. At this time Capt. Sharp completely remodeled the machinery of his mill, replacing kho ola UrnnSko uAn hn French Burr stones. then just coming into general use, and fine new Flour Bolt, and added a machine for the saving of shingles, the first of the kind in that part of the state. He had the improvements all complete just in time to take advantage of the improvement in business that followed the financial panic of 1837-8. The addition of the manufacture of shin. gles proved success, so that while the virgin chestnut lastsd and the cedar in the swamp near the Mansfield line, Capt. Sharp, in connection with his grain business, was able to do Q very good business for those early days. The panic of 1837.8 had so far affected the Gilbert. Turner 6 Go. that they decided 1t best to relinQuish their factories in Willington and Coventry and remove to Ellenville, N. Y, but that was not satisfactory to their employees in Wilmington, who had given their lives to the plant in Wilmington and were experts in the manufacture of glass bottles, and enough capital was raised to retain the works in Wilmington, and the new Willington Glass Go. was organized, greatly to the advantage of the town.
 The reorganization of the Glass Oo. and the organization of the Will lingon Thread Oo. occurred about the same time, and very soon James Holt added machine for turning irregular shapes, and the growth of these in- dustries made Q good market for grain and shingles, as we'll as for any sur- plus grain that farmi rs of that part of the state might have. Western and southern corn had not come in compe- tition with the New England market and did not for many long years For family use the corn raised in New England has never been excelled, and 1 the modern mill has never excelled l the old French Burr stones for mak- ing good corn meal. In the early l forties. after the retirement of Rev. | Jeremiah Chaplin from the pastorate | of the Baptist church, 8 position that l he had held for several years, the church extended call to . oung man from Hartford, Elisha Oushman, the then acting editor of the Christian Secretary. He accepted the call and came with his young wife and was .lna