"General John Smith, between 1795 and 1801, purchased the farm on east hill which is now owned by Solomon Bryant. He seems also to have purchased ten acres within the present corporation, including the site of the late ‘Halsey’s Mill.’ He occupied a log house, possibly one of the cabins vacated by the Yaples and Dumond families. It is probable that he built a grist-mill and distillery, which, prior to 1811, he sold to Judge Salmon Buell, who in that year owned and operated mills at that place.... About the year 1814, Judge Buell conveyed the mill or mills to David Woodcock and Daniel Shepard; and they, Sept 29, 1818 to Phineas Bennett and Phineas Bennett, Jr. Besides the mills the Bennetts purchased land west thereof, with a front of five rods on the turnpike. Dec. 18, 1820, the Bennetts sold a quarter interest in the whole property to Edward Davidson. Before the last date (about Nov. 1819) the three partners joined in an agreement with Daniels Bates, on their part to permit the waters of Six-Mile Creek to be conveyed by the channel already formed to the tannery of Mr. Bates."
Henry B. Pierce and Duane Hamilton Hurd, History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins, and Schuyler Counties, New York, Philadelphia: Everts & Ensign, 1879, 411