Daily AncestorGrist miller
A grist miller ran a gristmill, grinding farmers' grain into flour or meal and keeping a share of it, the miller's toll, as payment.
A gristmill ground cereal grain into flour and meal. The word was used for a local mill where farmers brought their own grain and took home the meal or flour, minus a percentage called the miller's toll; the miller received the toll in place of wages.
Do not confuse a grist miller with a millwright, who built and repaired mill machinery, or with a sawyer at a sawmill.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1900 census
Ephraim Tuttle, 54, Miller, grist mill
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Daily Ancestor. "Grist miller." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/gristmiller. Last checked 2026-10-10.