Regarding the mills in Jefferson:
To John Pettigrew, Jr., belongs the honor of building the first saw mill in the township. He came from Clark County, Ohio, in 1830, and in the spring of. 1831 or 1882 erected on the South Branch of the Pokagon, in Section 6, a sawmill containing an old fashioned upright saw, When worn out, it was replaced by another located farther down the stream; to which was dug a race, thereby increasing its motive power.
The next record we have concerning mills was one erected by Peter Shaffer, of Calvin, and Dr. Beardsley, of Elkhart, hid., on the Christiana Creek, in 1836 but this, too, has succumbed to the ravages of time, and in its place, or nearly so, stands a grist mill of three run of stone built by Mr. Redfield in 1867.
About 1840, Robert Painter built a grist mill, with two run of stone, just below the Shaffer Beardsley mill, and commenced the manufacture of flour. His mill pond, when flooded so as to give sufficient water, interfered with the saw mill just above, and he therefore changed its site further down the stream, nearly on the bank of Painter's Lake, cutting a millrace from his dam first built, which, passing through a small pond, afforded ample water power. With his increased power, his ambition to manufacture increased. Thereafter a saw and woolen mill were added to the grist mill.
From this time on, it changed hands rapidly the machinery to the woolen factory having been removed, it not being a paying investment until all was closed up, and the grist mill machinery taken to Edwardsburg, where it now does duty.
Source: (in the MANUFACTORIES paragraph):
//history.rays-place.com/mi/cass-jefferson.htm
Don........
