V 
THE HOUSE OF WALTER BAKER & CO. LTD. 
late mill erected on Neponset River, in the town of Dorchester, 
Mass., in 1765, was the first mill of that kind established in the 
British provinces of North America. It was connected with a. sawmill, 
i is stated, on what appears to be good authority,! that the choco- 
operated by water-power, and was regarded as a somewhat doubtful 
experiment. Its establishment was due to the representations made 
by John Hannan, an Irish 
immigrant, who had 
learned the business of 
chocolate making in Eng- 
land. The new industry 
prospered ina small way, 
and on the death of Han- 
nan, in 1780, Dr. James 
Baker established the OLD STONE MILL OF WALTER BAKER & CO. 
(REBUILT IN 1849) 
house which has contin- 
ued under the name of Baker without interruption from that day to this. 
After the death of Dr. James Baker the business fell in the order of 
succession to his son Edmund and his grandson Walter. On the death 
of the latter in 1852, Sidney Williams, who had been his partner for 
some years, continued in charge of the affairs until he died two years 
later (1854), when Henry L. Pierce, a relative of Walter Baker, took 
the management of the business, first as lessee and later as sole owner. 
During the forty-two years in which he had control he raised it from a 
1 History of the Town of Dorchester, Mass., 1857 
49 
