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Note: in a common pasture, and it was necessary for each owner to have "earmarks." On the records of that time we find that the "ear marks" ofJoseph Doolittle "that was his father's Capt. Joseph Doolittle, deceased," were "recorded to him May 23, 1747." Same is "recorded to Joseph Jr.'s son Reuben, Dec. 30 1799. In 1763 Dr. Walter Munson and Capt. Timothy Andrews constructed a dam over Quinnipiac river and built a grist mill on the west bank within the limits of the parish of NorthHaven, just south of Wallingford. A year later Andrews sold out to his partner, Dr Munson, and the latter's brother-in-law, Joseph Doolittle, and the later the doctor also sold his interest to said Joseph, who became sole proprietor, and the mill took his name. Matters were well managed, and for 125 years and more this mill has borne an excellent reputation, and held a large patronage. Near the close of his life Joseph sold property to Caleb Atwater and, in 1790 for ten shillings, leased to that gentleman "the privilege for 500 years to use stone from the adjacent lot to repair the mill dam." In 1767 Joseph joined his father-in-law, Obediah Munson, and Dr. Walter Munson, in presenting to the town of New Haven land for an open highway to run past their mill and the home of Obediah. Joseph was appt. Ensign of the first company or train band in Wallingford by the General Assembly in Oct., 1768 and was everafterwards known by this title.
His widow and four sons, Joseph, Walter, Joel, and Reuben, made a mutual distribution of his estate June 29, 1798. Besides the date of his death on his gravestone in the Wallingford cemetery is the following sentence, "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord."
Note: In early times it was costomary for the villagers to put their cattle
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