The history of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts, By a committee of the Dorchester antiquarian and historical society ...

HISTORY OF DORCHESTER. 635
CHOCOLATE BUSINESS.
Very early one morning, in the fall of the year
1765, a respectable looking young man was found
sitting upon a rock in the street near the Lower
Mills, in Dorchester, weeping. A benevolent individual was attracted by the sight of the young wayfarer, and inquired into his situation. He reported
himself as John Hannan, from Ireland-a protestant
in faith, a chocolate-maker by trade, and who having come to seek his fortune in America, was a
stranger in a strange land, with no acquaintances,
no work to be obtained, and his outfit all spent.
The Samaritan referred him to Mr. James Boies as
a countryman of his own, well off in the world, and
then erecting mills a mile up the stream. Mr. Boies
gave him temporary employment, and interceded
with Messrs. V/entworth and Storer, who were then
erecting a mill on the old powder-mill site, in Miilton. These gentlemen put up a chocolate-mill for
Hannan, and he there commenced the manufacture
of chocolate, which was the first ever made in New
England, if not in the British Provinces of North
America.
In 1768, the mill was sold to Barlow Trecothic,
and Hannan was forced to leave it. He removed to
Boston and took a small shop, and got Mr. Edward
Preston to put a run of stones and one kettle into
his fulling-mill in Dorchester, and there manufacture chocolate for him. This arrangement lasted
until October, 1775, when the building was destroyed by fire. Hannan then hired the mill in