Before Flour Came in Paper 5-pound Bags

John D. Sage, one of the leading millers in Lawrence County Illinois, was born December 14, 1820, in Ontario, New York, to Jonathan W. (Jones) Sage and Desire Sage.  On September 1, 1840, John married Mary A. Darrow at Rochester, New York.  Three sons, Henry D, George E, John, and one daughter, Mary E “Lizzie”, were born to the couple. John died in infancy, Henry died 1899, and Lizzie in 1902.

The 1850 census for Monroe County, New York records John D. Sage, age 29, living there with his wife Mary A. age 25, along with son Henry D. age 8, George E. age 7, and daughter Mary E. age 1 year.  In 1855 at Rochester, Monroe, NY John is 34, Mary A. is 30, Henry O. is 13, George E. is 11, and Mary I. is 6.  By the 1860 census John had moved his family to Jacksonville, Morgan County, Illinois.  John’s occupation was listed as a miller, age 39; Mary was 35; Henry was 18 (also a miller); George was 16; and Elizabeth was 11. There he met James Dunlap and William Warren who owned a mill site along the Embarrass River in Lawrence County known as part of the Shoals tract. Presumably John moved to Lawrenceville to manage that mill but not long after his move, the War Between the States intervened.

On June 9, 1862, John D. Sage joined Company K of the 70th Illinois Infantry as captain for three months at Camp Butler, Illinois. He was forty-two years of age and was promoted to Lt Col July 26, 1862, by election.  The regiment was mustered out in October 1862, and he returned to Lawrence County Illinois. 

 On April 25, 1864, John bought Lot #21 (and later Lot # 24 for $25) on the east side of Lawrenceville Square from the Bank of Illinois for $250 and later that summer purchased 83 acres along the Embarrass River.    The following year Dunlap and Warren of Jacksonville, Illinois sold John and Henry more land along the Embarrass river known as the Shoals tract for $7000 with $1000 as a downpayment and annual installments of $1500 at 6 percent interest.

The flour mill was a fixture in most towns in America during the 19th century, with as many as 23,000 water- and steam-powered mills operating by the 1870s. The mill was where farmers took a portion of their wheat and corn crops to be ground into flour, and where local grocers bought 196-pound barrels or 100-pound sacks of flour for retail sale to their customers. John became one of the leading millers in Lawrence County.

In September 1868 John and his wife Mary sold off the 83 acres purchased in 1865 for $1500 and in 1869 they sold the Mill Tract for $5000 to Judge William J Crews. The deed noted that Casnell Price had built a steam mill on the river and was using the water to supply his steam engine. When the 1870 census was taken John 49, Mary 45, and their son Henry 27 were still living in Lawrenceville.  John had property worth $1000 and was occupied as a miller while Henry was a saloon keeper.

Soon though John and Henry turned their sights on mill property in Bridgeport. In 1873 according to Bridgeport history written in 1883, John took over the Bridgeport Mills originally built by J l Coleman in 1858.  In November 1874 John and Mary sold the two lots in Lawrenceville for $600 and John, his wife Mary, Henry and Henry’s wife Della Buchanan, who he had married in 1878, moved to Bridgeport.

The Bridgeport mill was a three-story building operated by steam and contained three sets of burrs (grinding stones), one set of rollers, and two purifiers.  It was both a custom and merchant mill meaning it not only provided milling services for local farmers, but it also manufactured flour for commercial sale. Its capacity was 100 barrels per 24 hours. (From research on other old mills, researchers learned that the third floor housed the storage bins where an auger delivered the grain. A sifter/bolter screened the grain. The second floor housed a dust fan to prevent potentially explosive dust and on the ground floor were the rollers or stone burrs to do the actually grinding. The rollers ran in opposing directions at different speeds and were designed to break the kernel of grain open.)

The Rural Republican, published in Lawrenceville in 1879 noted that “Col. Sages’ Mill in Bridgeport was liberally patronized.  The mill force was accommodating, and Henry could turn out the very best of flour and plenty of it to the bushel.  A corn sheller and buck wheat bolt were added to their machinery which would make it the best-appointed mills in the county.”  Sages’ “Pride” flour was considered by everyone to be the best according to the newspaper and found a ready market in Cincinnati besides many local points.

John filed for his military pension on June 6, 1879. Life was good until Mary died suddenly on January 16, 1880, and when the 1880 census was taken John was living alone as a widower. He lived next door to Henry, Della, and their daughter Henrietta in Bridgeport.  Both Henry and John listed their occupations then as Millers. In the fall of that year, 1880, John purchased a parcel of land along the Ohio and Mississippi rail line (probably lying along Indian Creek) in Bridgeport. This was presumably the mill site. At the same time, he agreed to sell ½ interest to his son Henry provided Henry agreed to pay one half of the promissory note to F W Viehe for $1487.  

Although the newspapers mention sightings of John Sage through the 1880s and 1890’s, John was found during the 1900 census living/visiting in Atlanta George with his grandson W Armisted and daughter Lizzie Vieche. This may have been caused by his son Henry’s death in 1899. In Atlanta John united with the Presbyterian church.  But by June of 1900 he was back in Bridgeport visiting his daughter-in-law and granddaughter Mrs. Henry Sage and Miss Hennie Sage. The mill continued operating until 1900 when it was apparently sold to Price and Seed who tore it down and erected a poultry house on its location east of the business district.

John died at Bridgeport, Lawrence County Illinois April 29, 1906, 85 years 4 months and 15 days old on Sunday night about 11 PM at the home of his daughter in law and grand-daughter where he had resided for the last few years of his life.  For a number of years, he had suffered from rheumatism and the infirmities of advancing age. His obituary stated that he was known as “a gentleman of the old school” whose word needed no bond, whose integrity was unquestionable, whose courtesy to all rich or poor was unfailing, and whose life was lived in the open light of the day.  He was an independent spirit, claiming personal liberty but having a profound regard for the rights and feelings of others.”

The funeral service was held at the residence on Tuesday with Rev. L. J. Hawkins officiating, assisted by Rev. G. A. Seed.  Burial was at Shiloh cemetery/Bridgeport City Cemetery, Lawrence County Illinois.  A military stone marks his grave. Surviving were his son, Capt. George E Sage of San Francisco California, his daughter in law, three granddaughters, and three grandsons.

Note: The Historical Society has no photos of the Bridgeport Mill. The one below is of the Lawrenceville Mill on Dubois street and the Brideport mill was probably siimilar.

The Auction for the Festival of Trees to benefit various organizations sponsored by the Lawrence County Health Department has begun on the Parrott Auction site https://www.parrottauctions.com/auctions/32312-lchd-festival-of-trees. Don't forget to bid for the Lawrence County Historical Society's Tree Lot Number 29.