HEATH:  The Beaver Mills was a grist mill in Wardsville, Ontario owned by John Heath (1848-1925), a millwright from the Market Drayton area of Shropshire, England.  John apprenticed for seven years to learn the milling trade before immigrating to Canada in 1872.  After working in mills in various places around southwestern Ontario, John purchased his first Canadian grist mill in the village of Cashmere, on the Thames River near Bothwell, Ontario.  In 1880, with the decline of Cashmere, John purchased the Beaver Mills.  He continued as Wardsville’s “popular miller” until 1894, when the Beaver Mills was destroyed by fire.

The photograph above dates to about 1880, and appears to feature John Heath standing near the doorway of his mill.