Fort Boone/ Kemmerers Mill, Milton PA

 
Old Grist Mill is a drawing by Dan Theisen - this is NOT Boone/Kemmerers Mill, but merely a sketch of what a common gristmill looked like.

Fort Boone was a fortified Mill, owned by Capt. Hawkins Boone.  The Boone Mill later became Kemmerers Mill, on the Muddy Run at Milton.

July 28 1779 "Fort Freeland Captured By Indians.  Captain Hawkins Boone among those killed.  He owned the mill long known as Kemmerers Mill, and was a cousin of the celebrated Daniel Boone of Kentucky."

"Fort Boone was erected on Muddy Run, a short distance from the West Branch of the Susquehanna on its east bank.  It was a grist mill built by captain Hawkins Boone shortly after he returned home from the battle fields of the Revolution, where he rendered conspicuous service and was sent home by General Washington to recover from wounds.  The grist mill was stockaded and Boone became the leader in defense of this immediate frontier.  His close companion was Captain Samuel Dougherty.

The Pennsylvania Archives speak of the garrison at Fort Boone on several occasions, and the day of the battle at Fort Freeland, it contained about forty soldiers, which is a fair estimate of the strength of the garrison during those stirring times.  If thirty-two soldiers rushed to the relief of the distressed Fort Freeland, under the command of Captain Boone and Daughtery, it is almost certain at least eight solders were left to guard Fort Boone." - Hawkins Boone, Early Settler, Frontier Hero.  The Miltonian, June 21 1923

"This mill [Boones] was on Muddy Run, six hundred yards from its mouth, the site of which is now Kemmerers Mill, two miles above Milton." - Annals of Buffalo Valley, Pennsylvania by John Blair Linn.

"In rebuilding the Kemmerer (Boone) mill, the men employed dug down to the old foundations of the Boone mills, showing the present mills occupying the same site.  It is about midway between Milton and Watsontown." - Report of the Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania 1916

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Mentions Of Kemmerers Mill
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W. B. Kemerer, shown on the 1874 Map of Northumberland County

Same view as above, but on the 1858 Map

February 13th 1867  - Baggage car and two passenger card on P and E ran off track near Kemmerers Mill and were hurled into the canal.  No one was killed.

1871 - William Kelly, track Walker, was killed at Kemmerers Mill

March 28 1874 - Kemmerer's Mill at Muddy Run at Milton destroyed by fire. Loss 22,000. The machinery in this mill was moved from the lower island in 1840.

1875 -William Burns of Milton, fireman on the P.R.R., severely burned in a collision near Kemmerers Mill

November 2nd 1877 - Four men attempted to rob Kemmerer's Mill, but were drive off by Samuel Kemmerer and a dog.  Two burglars were badly beaten.

In April of 1912, there was an accident at Kemmerers Mill.  According to the May 2 1912 article in the Miltonion:

"On Saturday last an accident happened at Kemmerers Mill above town to Mrs Zach Yeagle and her daughter Mrs Whipple.  The ladies were approaching the railroad when the whistle of a locomotive was heard and the wagon was stopped on a little bridge near the mill, and the daughter got out of the wagon.  While on this bridge the cars appeared and the smoke from the locomotive scared the horse, which backed the wagon against the railing of the bridge, with such a force as to break it, and precipitated the horse, wagon, and driver into the creek.  In falling the wagon turned completely upside down, with Mrs Yeagle under it.  Happily the accident was observed by parties near at hand, and willing hands soon extricated the lady and horse from their predicament.

Muddy Run, on the Northumberland County 1874 Map.  Property of W. B. Kemmerer shown on the left, near the river.

 Kohler  in his recollections of Milton says - "field at Thornton's, above Kemmerer's mill." https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/06/reminiscences-of-milton-by-jp-kohler_23.html

From Historian John Bower: "I think Nurse Helen Fairchild was born near Kemmerer's mill. There was a mill on the Muddy Run, just east of the railroad underpass on Golf Course Rd. The mill race was in the current golf course. It was last used as the Milton VFW, but burned in the mid? 50s. My parents said they often went to supper and dances there. The VFW then moved to their current location in the former Ice House."

50 Years Ago

The Miltonian, June 1911

Concerning the dangerous railroad crossing at Kemmerers Mill

On the 1890 Sanborn Fire Map, there is a Kemmerer & Bros Mill

This does not appear to be the same Mill - as it is located across the canal  from the Car Shops (Later AC&F)

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KEMMERER GENEALOGY

Samuel Kemmerere, mentioned in the 1877 Burglary Attempt, was born in June of 1845 [according to his death certificate], the son of William & Ann Marie [Leidy] Kemmerer.  In 1877, Samuel married Mary Ellen Faust.  In the 1880 census, Samuel is shown in Milton, but ty 1900 he was in Philadelphia, and it is in Montgomery County that he is buried.

In the 1880 census, Samuels father William is listed with him.  Samuels occupation was listed as "Works In Flour Mill".   William's occupation was "Grain Dealer".

On Samuel's death certificate in 1907, his occupation is listed as engineer.  William, Samuel's father, also died in 1907.  William is buried in Paradise cemetery, Milton Pa.

November 1907

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