The account books of the Amagansett Mill Company, kept by John Baker from 1829 through 1841, are featured this week. Within the first few pages of the earliest account book, a list appears with the company’s original owners, followed by their shares of the company.
Those owners were Thomas Edwards, Nathaniel Hand, Henry Baker, Samuel L. Mulford, Thomas J. Mulford, Ananias Baker, Charles R. Hand, Henry Schellinger, Talmage Barns, and Samuel Schellinger. Following the shareholders is the company’s constitution, which contains articles providing for its management. John Baker (1809-1882) served as agent and later as treasurer, keeping accounts of all purchases and work done by and for the company.
Records include the cost of buying the company’s mill, along with the amounts paid to all individuals who contributed to work and repairs. Samuel Schellinger, great-grandfather of George Schellinger, built the mill in 1814. The company moved it in 1829 to the present-day site of the railroad station in East Hampton. Total expenses, including the purchase, work done on the mill, and relocating it came to $1,042.09.
In 1871, the company sold the mill to R.W. Ashby, an Englishman. He in turn sold it in 1878 to Abraham Stratton Parsons (1829-1896), who moved it to Windmill Lane, where his family operated it for many years.
On July 8, 1924, the mill burned to the ground in a fire caused by a gasoline engine stored inside. The machinery had provided water for the Windmill
Cottage and Mulford cottages. A smaller replica was built in the same location in 1956.
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Mayra Scanlon is a librarian and archivist in the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection.
