An experienced mill operator, the United Empire Loyalist was inspired by the abundance of suitable land parcels in the Ernestown area. Joshua Booth became a prosperous businessman, and his descendants developed one of his properties into a hub of production with the help of experienced local masons. In 1907, John H.
Babcock purchased the mill to establish a basketmaking operation. Now a fascinating museum, Babcock Mill at Odessa, Ontario resonates with industrial history. Toward the end of the American Revolution, United Empire Loyalist sergeant Joshua Booth (b.
circa 1759, New York) and his wife Margaret Fraser arrived in eastern Ontario, west of Kingston. Establishing a home, the Booths raised a family of eleven children in Ernestown Township. Receiving land grants for his military service, Booth “acquired at least another 1,500 acres of land in Ernestown and Thurlow townships as a result of successful petitions on his and his wife’s behalf,” said J.
K. Johnson in Dictionary of Canadian Biography , Vol, 5, 1983. Booth was industrious, launching into building gristmills and sawmills in 1793 on land between Kingston Township and Ernestown Township, behind the Collins Bay area.
Respected and popular, Booth was considered one of area’s most prosperous residents. The Loyalist was also “granted a lease of the ‘King’s Mill’ at Ernestown, a sawmill on lot 18, concession 5” in 1802, said Johnson, after legal skirmishes with other businessmen who were interested in t.