Timothy Bates, a Methodist preacher, built the mill in 1849 near the Beaver Fork of Wills Creek. At the time, the town was called Williamsburg, but the name changed to Batesville when a post office opened in the mill. GPS: -81' 16.48W, 39' 54.49N

An earlier horse-powered mill, built by Henry Wehr in 1834, did a fine business; sometimes as many as twenty farmer's wagons would be lined up, awaiting their turn to have grist ground.

Another mill just NE of Batesville in the corner of Noble Co. was a log grist mill built about 1816 on Leatherwood Creek by John House from Greene County, Pa. House later built a saw mill at the site as well as rebuilding the grist mill twice. House was also the area justice of the peace before his death in 1856.

A Revolutionary soldier, John Ross, was a miller at House's Mill for a period of seven years. The area is on Leatherwood Creek along Green Valley Road, connecting Sh 147 in Noble Co with Sh 265 in Guernsey Co.

About 18-20 miles SW of Batesville, along Sh 147 at Sarahsville, there used to be a monsterous white oak tree. Its girth was measured in 1875 as being 34' 6" at ground level, straight trunk 78', tapering little before branches emerged into a majestic crown. The tree uprooted in a storm in 1880, was made into fence-rails with the branches being burned in commemoration of James Garfield's election to the Presidency. Thus was the demise of a stalwart, giant white oak.