Benjamin Milliken
| Benjamin Milliken | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1728 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S |
| Died | 1791 (aged 62–63) Bocabec, New Brunswick |
| Occupation | American Loyalist, landowner, mill and ship owner |
Benjamin Milliken (b. 1728 Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay d. 1791 Bocabec, New Brunswick) was an American Loyalist, major landowner, mill and ship owner in Maine in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, British North America. He was the founder of Ellsworth, Maine (first called the Union River Settlement) in 1763, laid out and received the land grant for the Township of Bridgton, Maine (originally called Pondicherry) in 1765 and was one of the first settlers in Bocabec and St. Andrew’s, New Brunswick in 1784.
He began his business career in Scarborough, Maine where he had a store on the Dunstan Landing Road. He was an owner of lands in Rowley-Canada ( now called Rindge, New Hampshire) which had been granted to soldiers who had served in the Canada Expedition ( which included the Raid on Chignecto (1696) and the Siege of Fort Nashwaak (1696)) which he lost in a boundary line dispute between Massachusetts and New Hampshire. As a result of losing these lands he and 2 others were granted, in 1761, a township named Pondicherry, now Bridgton, Maine, seven miles square, east of the Saco River. He was one of three who proceeded to lay out the township and received the land grant for the entire township on June 25, 1765. Finding the timber on these lands too remote from a market Milliken sold out his share and invested in lands adjoining other lands owned by him on the Union River that he bought in 1769 from William Maxfield
He had business reversals, lost his lands and other property in Scarborough, Maine and in 1764 made Trenton, Maine his headquarters. He was granted a mill privilege there with timber lands adjoining. He and his brother Thomas Milliken built a dam and mill on the Union River at or near the head of the tide, close to where the Bangor Hydro Dam exists. It may have been tidal powered but proved a failure was called the " Folly Mill," and was soon abandoned.
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