Alexander Hepburn’s List of Materials for Work at Poplar Forest [ca. 8 October 1819]
Alexander Hepburn’s List of Materials for Work at Poplar Forest
[ca. 8 Oct. 1819]
Bill of Huing for Gris Mill
to 2 Sills 18 feet long 12 by 14
to 2 D1 11 feet long 12 by 14
to 2 D 11 feet long 10 by 10
to 2 Mealbeems 18 feet long 11 by 18
to 3 Posts 8 feet long 11 by 14
to 3 D 8 feet long 11 by 12
to 2 D 9 feet long 10 by 10
to 2 D 14 feet long 10 by 10
to 1 Spursill 8 feet long 10 by 15
to 2 D 8 feet long 10 by 10
to 2 Headbloks 4 feet long 12 by 17
to 6 Braces 7 feet long 7 by 8
to 1 Bridg tree 11 feet long 10 by 12
to 1 Shaft 18 feet long 27 Inchs in Diameter 16 Squre
to 1 D 9 feet long 20 I in Diam 12 Squre
Machein
to 1 Shaft 12 feet long 20 Inchs in Diam 16 Squre
to 1 D 16 feet long 18 Inchs in Diamete 12 Squre
Huing for Penstock
to 5 Sills 18 feet long 13 by 15 | White Oak– |
to 2 Sills 24 feet long 13 by 15 | |
to 3 Caps 18 feet long 12 by 12 | |
to 4 Posts 8 feet long 15 by 15 | |
to 10 Posts 8 feet long 10 by 12 | |
to 6 Braces 8 feet long 7 by 9 |
Bill for Gris Mill
to 9 Cants 12 feet long 5 by 17 | to be Sesod | |
to 9 Facing 10 feet long 4 by 16 | ||
to 5 Armes2 11 feet long 4 by 14 | ||
to 4 Armes3 10 feet long 4 by 12 | ||
to 12 Planks 12 feet long 2 by 14 |
to4 9 Shrouds5 13 feet long 4 by 17
to 9 Armes6 15 feet long 4 by 10
to 18 Buckitplank 16 feet long 1⅛ by 17
to 18 Soling plank 16 feet long 1¼ by 14
to 18 Elbopeices 16 feet long 3 by 2½
to 400 of Plank 14 feet long 1½ by 12
Bill for Wheet Machein
to 5 Cants 14 feet long 4½ by 17
to 5 Facing 11 feet long 3½ by 17
to 3 Cants 11 feet long 3½ by 15
to 3 Facing 8 feet long 3 by 12
to 5 Armes 12 feet long 3½ by 127
to 3 Armes 6 feet long 3½ by 10
to 1 Drumshaft 10 feet long 13 by 13 Black Gum
to 2 Feeders 7 feet long 9 by 9 Post Oak
for Saw Mill
to 6 Way peces 14 feet long 5 by 6
to 3 Cants 12 feet long 4½ by 12 Oak
to 15 Buckets 8 feet long 1½ by 5 Oak
for Gris Mill
to 190 Cogs 16 Inchs long 4½ by 3½
to 70 Rounds 19 Inchs long 3 by 3.8
for Machene
to 220 Cogs 14 Inchs long 4 by 3
to 60 Cogs 12 Inchs long 3 by 2½
MS (DLC: TJ Papers, 235:42192–3); in Hepburn’s hand, with notations in TJ’s hand as indicated below; undated; endorsed by TJ as “Mr Hepburn’s bill of scantling,” with his additional note beneath endorsement:
“for | gristmill breast wheel | ( | 14.f diam. |
5 f. wide | |||
Sawmill. flutter wheel | ( | 27.I. diam. | |
8.f. wide | |||
threshing machine for 1. horse. | |||
mr Clay’s”. |
This list of materials may be the one mentioned in Joel Yancey to TJ, 8 Oct. 1819.
Meal-beams (mealbeems) are horizontal timbers in the wooden frames encasing the gearing mechanism of millstones. A bridge-tree (bridg tree) is an adjustable beam that supports the spindle of a movable millstone, and caps are the horizontal beams joining the tops of vertical timber posts. Waterwheels are covered with wooden shrouds and lined (soled) with thin wood from soling planks. Wale pieces (way peces) are horizontal wooden bars used to brace those placed vertically ( ; Oliver Evans, The Young Mill-Wright and Miller’s Guide [5th ed., Philadelphia, 1826], 99, 158, 228, 327, and plates VI and XXVIII; Charles W. Wade and Gerald L. Jubb, “Operations Manual for the McCormick Grist Mill, Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station,” Information Series 99 [1999]: 4–6).
1. Here and below, “D” presumably stands for “Ditto.”
2. TJ here interlined “may be of oak.”
3. TJ here interlined “may be oak.”
4. To left of this line and encompassing following four lines, TJ drew a brace and added the notation oriented perpendicularly in margin: “these 5. articles may be left for the last to be sawed by our own saw mill.”
5. Manuscript: “Srouds.” TJ here interlined “may be oak.”
6. TJ here interlined “may be oak.”
7. To right of this line and encompassing line below, TJ drew a brace and added the notation: “may be oak, or pine.”
8. To right of this line TJ added the notation: “hiccory. not taking more than 3. cuts from a tree.”
Index Entries
- agriculture; threshing machines search
- building materials; black gum search
- building materials; hickory search
- building materials; oak search
- building materials; pine search
- building materials; plank search
- Clay, Mr. (of Campbell Co.); mills of search
- Hepburn, Alexander; as millwright search
- Hepburn, Alexander; List of Materials for Work at Poplar Forest search
- Hepburn, Alexander; repairs machines search
- horses; and threshing machines search
- machines; threshing search
- mills; construction of search
- mills; grist search
- mills; stones for search
- mills; waterwheels for search
- Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); mills at search
- Poplar Forest (TJ’s Bedford Co. estate); threshing machine at search
- sawmills; at Poplar Forest search