In the early 1800s, these millstones served in the gristmills of John Small at Smallsburg, where the mills were important in the pioneer period of Lawrence County as both a place for grinding grain and the social center of the area. Small's Mill stood on the Embarrass River near its mouth at the Wabash River, about 6 miles west of Vincennes, near the Great Road to St. Louis and Kaskaskia. After 1830, it was known as Brown's Mill when Small's daughter Angeline and her husband Dr. Joseph Brown became the owners. The surrounding area was tied to a series of historic events: in 1779 George Rogers Clark rerouted his march to retake Vincennes from the British around the flooded Embarrass River; in 1786 a group of Vincennes militiamen led by Colonel John Small fought the Battle of the Embarrass against a band of Peoria warriors; in 1801 John Small, Governor William Henry Harrison, and Francis Vigo selected the best mill site near Vincennes; in 1805 John Small built his first mill on the Embarrass River; in 1812 Indians massacred the Harriman family near Small's Mill, and later the Embarrass Blockhouse protected the mill and remaining settlers; in 1819 John Small completed his newest gristmill, planned the town of Smallsburg, and offered lots for sale; in 1821 Lawrenceville, rather than Smallsburg, became the county seat of newly created Lawrence County; and by the mid-1800s Brown's Mill had closed and Smallsburg was abandoned.