John Elderkin was a colonial American carpenter who built mills, meetinghouses, and wharves around New England.

Mother Brook

While both the

Charles River The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...

and the

Neponset River The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its headwaters are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near Gillette Stadium. From there, the Neponset meanders generally northeast for about to its mouth at ...

ran through

Dedham, Massachusetts Dedham ( ) is a New England town, town in, and the county seat of, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on Boston's southwestern border, the population was 25,364 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. First settled by E ...

and close by to one another, both were slow-moving and could not power a mill. With an elevation difference of between the two, however, a canal connecting them would be swift-moving. In 1639 the town ordered that a 4000-foot ditch be dug between the two so that one third of the Charles' water would flow down what would become known as

Mother Brook Mother Brook is an artificial waterway in Dedham, and Hyde Park, Massachusetts, and the first man-made canal in the present-day United States. Constructed in 1639 by settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, it diverts water from the Charles R ...

and into the Neponset. The town also offered an incentive of 60 acres of land to whoever would construct and maintain a corn mill, as long as the mill was ready to grind corn by "the first of the 10th month" .e. December Abraham Shaw would begin construction of the first dam and mill on the Brook in 1641, but he died in 1638 before he could complete his mill, and his heirs were not interested in building the mill. Elderkin, who recently arrived in Dedham from Lynn, built a dam on East Brook next to the present-day Condon Park and near the intersection of Bussey St and Colburn St. This was the first

public utility A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and ...

in the nation. Elderkin was given 3 acres of land next to the Brook in return. Elderkin was in high demand as a skilled builder and, in 1642, only months after opening the mill, moved out of town. In 1642, Elderkin sold half of his rights to Nathaniel Whiting and the other half to

John Allin John Maury Allin (April 22, 1921 – March 6, 1998) was an American Episcopal bishop who served as the 23rd Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church from 1974 to 1985. Early life Allin was born in Helena, Arkansas. He graduated from the Univ ...

, Nathan Aldis, and John Dwight.

New London

Elderkin was one of six men hired by

John Winthrop the Younger John Winthrop the Younger FRS (February 12, 1606 – April 6, 1676) was an English politician and alchemist. An early governor of the Connecticut Colony, he played a large role in the unification of the colony's settlements into a singular ...

to build

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the outlet of the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, which empties into Long Island Sound. The cit ...

's first mill in 1650. He was paid 20 pounds for his labor. He also built the first church there.

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* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Elderkin, John Businesspeople from Dedham, Massachusetts People from colonial Dedham, Massachusetts People from Lynn, Massachusetts People from New London, Connecticut Carpenters