Cotton Mill
Site. (PW-163)
To the west
of Route #9, in Occoquan, Virginia, to the left1 just before
crossing the river from the village.
Samuel Nathaniel
Janny, 1828. It was in the Janny family for many years. It is now owned
by the Occoquan Hydro-Electric Power Company.
The walls
are standing to-day, overgrown with vines, but imposing as to size and
showing fine masonry. From these it appears that there were ten windows
to a side. Perhaps the following extract will give a clearer description
of it. This is a description of Occoquan given in 1836, taken from Howe's
Outline of History:
"Occoquan
contains fifty dwellings, several stores, various mercantile stores, a
cotton factory running one thousand spindles, manufacturing flour mill,
making one hundred fifty barrels of flour a day, also grist, plaster and
saw mills."
6. HISTORICAL
SIGNIFICANCE:
This is said
to be the first cotton factory in Virginia. That it did a large business
for a while is evident, but the silting up the river, as in Dumfries, was
the chief cause of its gradual failure. It was burned during the War Between
the States.
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8. SOURCES
OF INFORMATION:
Informants:
Late Mr. George D. Selce man, Occoquan, Virginia. Mr. William Lynn, Occoquan,
Virginia.
Mr. Brent
Davis, Woodbridge, Virginia.
Court Records,
Prince William County, Virginia. Deed Book 4, page 30.
Research made
by
Susan Rogers
Morton,
Haymarket,
Virginia. April 8,1938.
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