THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
A
Mill for the Settlement – The old Souther
mill
All
that can be seen of the old Souther Mill
today are some of the stones that formed the dam on Cane Creek near the
entrance to Souther Mill Estates. The weathered building housing the mill
equipment that ground corn, wheat and rye burned to the ground in 1943. But many memories of the old mill that turned
out meal and flour for the Choestoe
settlement linger on, firmly entrenched in the minds of those who
remember it or who have heard about it from ancestors.
A sawmill operated near the grist mill, using the same source of
water power. Both mills were important to
citizens from the mid-nineteenth century on, entrenched solidly in
community life.
Who was the entrepreneur that had the foresight and skill to
establish Souther Mill?
His name was Jesse William Souther,
Jr. (known as Jesse) born in
Before Jesse, Jr. migrated to Choestoe,
he had a job to do. On
Brother Hix Souther
died in 1840, before Jesse moved to Choestoe
in 1848. Brother John already had his
family settled in what was later named the New Liberty section of Choestoe, securing a deed on
Brother Joseph Souther paid taxes
in 1851 on Lots 160, 161, 162 and 198 in District 16, and on another
lot, # 195, District 17, which was later incorporated into
John Souther and his wife, Mary
“Polly” Combs Souther, gave an acre of
land on which
In 1848 Jesse Souther, Jr. moved to
Choestoe. Coming
with him
was a
sixteen year old boy, James Justice, who was to be his helper in the
enterprise Jesse had in mind. In the 1850
Family tradition maintains that the three Souther
brothers, Jesse, Jr., Joseph and John, established the Souther Mill on Cane Creek, Choestoe
in 1848. Joseph, being the elder of the
three, evidently first claimed ownership of the mill, for the census
that year shows his assets as $3,500. The
brothers got the grist mill and sawmill operating well and both were
definite assets to the settlers in the Choestoe
District.
By 1853, Joseph and Sarah Souther
had decided to go west to
The millstones ground out exceedingly fine cornmeal, grist for
feeding livestock, and with the finer millstones honed especially for
that purpose, flour from wheat and rye flour from that grain. The flour was bolted on the second floor of
the two-story millhouse, while corn was ground on the first floor.
Souther Mill was a popular place
where neighbors learned the latest news, argued politics, and watched
and predicted which way the impending war clouds would turn in the
first rumblings of secession prior to the War between
the States.
Pictures are compliments of John Paul Souther,
Built by Jesse William Souther about 1848
Picture from Southern
exposure, 1937
c2003 by Ethelene Dyer Jones; published
[Ethelene Dyer Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She
may be reached at e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail