The Roslyn Landmark Society is grateful for a generous gift provided by an 11th-generation descendant of John Robinson, who built the first grist mill at the Hempstead Harbor location between 1701 and 1709.
According to the town records, John Robinson of Hempstead was granted permission on April 2, 1698, to set up a grist mill at “ye streme att ye hed of the harboure”, providing that he have the mill in operation within two years. (Benjamin Hicks ed., North & South Hempstead Town Records, Jamaica, 1897, Vol 11, Pgs. 131-132). Robinson (whose name was also spelled Robeson, Roberson, Robbinson, and Robison) was first mentioned in the Town Records in February 1691, (Vol 11, Pgs. 110-111).
The mill should have opened early in 1700, but it apparently did not, as at a Town Meeting on April 1, 1701, a committee declared that the 1698 agreement was made void by Robinson's default. By 1706, however, mention was made of a road leading from Robison's Mill Dam (Town Records, Vol. Ill, Pg. 77), and in 1709 John Robeson and his son, Joseph Robison (sic) sold to Charles Mott "one sartain grist Mill with ye dam and stream—a small frame of a house and one iron croo (crow? ed.) with some other Instruments, belonging to ye said Mill." (Town Records, Vol III, Pg. 56). Robinson’s mill was much expanded and altered over the centuries.
We thank the descendant of John Robinson for his significant gift to honor his family. Maintaining and growing relationships with community stakeholders is paramount in preserving the historic legacy of Roslyn.
Here you can find a Comprehensive History of the Roslyn Grist Mill.
This photo of Silver Lake was taken from the backyard of Henry Western Eastman House at 75 Main Street dated 1870. A close-up shows the Roslyn Grist Mill with a very narrow Mill Dam Road. A two-mast schooner was docked behind the mill.
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