Mayall, Samuel (1771-1831)

In Recognition For: Service to the Town of Gray

Samuel Mayall (1771 - 5 Nov 1831) was from a family that manufactured woolen cloth.  He came to Gray around 1791 with his uncle, renting the grist mill from Jabez Mathews, installed machinery run by its water wheel and began to weave woolen cloth.  It was most likely the first mill in the US to weave woolen cloth with power operated machinery.  Samuel took over management shortly thereafter while his Uncle went on to Lisbon, Maine.  In the early 1800’s he bought a house, land, and a mill above his first mill from Joseph McLellan.  On that site he built a brick mill that became known as the “Upper Mill”.  He has a tomb of split stone built not far from the road over Colley Hill at the site of his mill.  When he died in 1831, he was buried there; later, his body was transferred to a tomb in Gray Cemetery.  The old tomb is still there in the woods at North Gray.  Samual Mayall, Jr. was the third child of Samuel Mayall and was one of the Directors of the First National Bank of Gray.  He was elected to the Maine Senate (1847-1848) and is the only man from Gray who represented the State in the United States Congress, where he served as a representative from Maine from 1859-1860.

Sponsor: Gray Historical Society
Added: 25 Jan 2011