THE MILLER by William H. Davis William H. Davis 14 Cobourg St. Toronto, Ontario, Canada Many pictures have been drawn and many photographs made of the Old Mill on the Humber River at TORONTO. There does not seem to be many records of its early history -- of when it was built or when the mill race and the dam on the Humber were built. There is a reference to it in Robertson's "Landmarks of Toronto." JAMES GALLAWAY Sr was at one time the miller of this historic mill. He had emigrated from the County Fermanagh, Ireland -- along with four other families, YONGE, HOGG, PINKERTON and COOKSTON -- and settled north of Muddy York at Hoggs' Hollow, afterwards called York Mills (North Toronto.) Shortly afterwords, JAMES GALLAWAY bought 200 acres from the Government of Upper Canada at what was then called PINKERTON's Corners - four miles south and two miles east of the village of Cookstown, Ontario. He married ANN PINKERTON and they had 12 children who are all now deceased. A few of his grandchildren are still living. The family of PINKERTONS settled in the township of King near where the village of Schomberg is now located. Having learned milling in Ireland before coming to Canada, JAMES GALLAWAY applied for and got the position of operating the stone mill on the Humber. It was when he was at this work that he was killed by the bursting of a mill stone in June about 1843. He was buried in the old cemetery at the churchyard on top of the hill at York Mills where many of his pioneer friends are also buried. There is no marker for his grave. ANN JANE PINKERTON drove from the family farm near Cookstown, to York, as it was called then. She had no way to return her husband's body to their home village, so she had him buried at York Mills. About the year 1903, one of their sons, SAMUEL, who was then living in Creemore, decided to visit his daughter JANE who lived in Toronto. He started from Creemore on the morning train, arriving at his daughter's home later in the day. He was then about 80 years of age. After dinner, he asked his daughter to take him to the Old Mill on the Humber River. Arriving there, he described to her how he and his mother had driven a yoke of oxen and a sleigh with five bags of wheat loaded on it, all the way from the farm near Cookstown to this mill to be ground into flour. His father, JAMES GALLAWAY Sr was then operating this mill. Page 1 of 3 ** PAGE BREAK ** THE MILLER by William H. Davis SAMUEL GALLAWAY showed his daughter where the office had been, where the mill stones were located, and described the way he had seen in when, as a boy, he had made the long trip from Cookstown to the mill where his father was the miller. The writer of this article is a great grandson of JAMES GALLAWAY, and proud to be the descendant of a great man who made good flour at the Old Mill on the Humber River, Toronto. Page 2 of 3 ** PAGE BREAK ** THE MILLER by William H. Davis ###### # # ##### ####### # # ##### ####### # # # # ## ## # # # ## # # # # # ## ## # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ###### # # # # #### ##### # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ## ### # # # # # # ###### # # ##### ####### # # ### ##### ####### # # Transcribed from original documents by Brent R. Brian & Martha M. Brian. This document and others can be found on our website: BMGEN We claim COPYLEFT on the documents that we publish that are our original work. COPYLEFT “rules” can be reviewed on the web site: GNU Free Documentation License In short, use what you like. But if you use our stuff, mention us as the source. Brent R. Brian Martha M. Brian BrianMitchellGenealogy@gmail.com Page 3 of 3 ** PAGE BREAK **