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As a boy he served his apprenticeship in his Uncle's mill and learned the miller's trade. This mill was on Stoney Brook just below what is now Metropolitan Reservoir #5. It was built by David Fay and Robert Horn in 1731 and was in the Fay family until it was taken by the
Metropolitan Water Co..
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The miller's trade included cutting grooves in the huge mill stones that ground the grain into meal and flour.
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The farmers would bring their corn, wheat, oats, and barley to the mill to be ground into whatever they desired and would either pay so much per bushel or on the share system.
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In my younger days I often heard it said that some of the finest flour came from the mill-stones my father cut.
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After he served his apprenticeship, he acquired a mill of his own. It was located just about the Northboro Reservoir on the back road to Shrewsbury. The remains of the dam are still there.
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He next bought the Bannister Mills in old Boylston. This was on the brook that runs into Lake Quinnsigamond and just ovwer the line into Boylston. It was a combination grist and saw mill. He next purchased a mill in Oxford and one in Leicester. These had machinery for the making of cider and were driven by water power.
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His was a vanishing trade as many of the farmers stopped raising grain when the big farms of the middle-west took over. He was finally forced to sell out his mill holdings.
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He next went into the jewelry and watch business with his brother Icelius at 108 Main Street, Worcester, Mass. Icelius stayed in the store and my father went out into the nearby towns via horse and buggy selling jewelry and picking up clocks and watches to be repaired. It was on one of these trips that he met my mother. Soon afterwards they were married by the Rev. John C. Hill of the Congregational Church in Sutton. At the death of his brother, Icelius, he sold out the store in Worcester and moved his shop and tools to the old farm in Sutton. This was located where the Boston and Hartford turnpike crosses under the new Worcester-Providence turnpike.
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The old house was torn down to make room for the cross-over. This place was known as the Prentiss place and was built about 1700. I was born in this house.
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About this time he became interested in real estate and constructed a great many houses in the New Worcester section of the city of Worcester. In fact he built most of the houses on Lyman Street. He also had a winter home in Green Cove Springs, Florida where he conducted a watch and clock business.
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At the farm in Sutton he built a saw and cider mill which I well remember. It was in the lot across the road from the house. It was driven by a vertical steam boiler and engine. I can clearly remember helping fire the boiler and drinking the fresh, sweet cider as it came from the press.
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He invented a clock that would run a year without winding. One of his hobbies was perpetual motion, but, after many experiments, concluded that if it ever came it's source would be from the sun and not from man made means. He was also interested in the internal combustion engine and lived to see one go by the farm driving a horseless carriage.
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Horace was a very quiet man and was loved and respected by all who knew him.
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