LEWES OLDTIMERS
JOHN HENRY MILLS, CIVIL
WAR VETERAN
1933
Some pithy remarks were
made regards the 1933 repeal of prohibition by Lewes' oldest
male citizen , John Henry
Mills, who is celebrating his 96th birthday this week.
“All liquor was ever
good for is 'invigoration' and I don't mean 'celebration', said the
veteran who can't
remember ever being intoxicated.
When I say invigoration I
mean for an old worn out man like me feeling 'give out' all over,
able to take a teaspoon
full of whiskey in my dinner time milk hoists me up so I can sit
around a little while
longer before bedtime.
Mr. Mills is totally deaf
so has to get all of his information of daily happening by reading
the newspaper front to back
every day, even as his eyesight is fading, he does not yet
need reading glasses.
John Henry Mills was the
first to enlist from Lewes when Abraham Lincoln issued the
the call for volunteers.
He had to walk the 14 miles to Georgetown to enlist.
He served in a company that
guarded bridges in Maryland and northern Virginia . After
the war he took to the sea
with others of Lewes whose calling was fishing the river and bay.
He was a lighthouse keeper
of the Green Hill Lighthouse near Lewes which was his last
last active job.
ABSTRACT: Wilmington News
Journal , Wednesday, December 6, 1933, by Harrison,
December 27, 2017.
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