Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Collection |
Mouns Jones |
Archive Number |
MJHTXT6 |
Title |
Quarter Sessions Court records re: Mouns Jones’ Amity Township land holdings |
Description |
Photocopy of a photocopied page from a Berks County [Philadelphia County at the time entered in the records] Quarter Sessions Office records book. Highlighted section discusses Mouns ["Mounce"] Jones' 1727 Will, in which he devises his house and land to his son, Andrew [Andreas] Jones. Although some accounts state that Mouns Jones acquired 500 Acres out of the Andreas Rudman grant of 10,000 acres from William Penn, this quarter sessions court record indicates that the tract patented to Mounce Jones out of Rudman's 10,000 acres was actually 498 acres. The "homestead" tract devised to Mounce Jones' son Andrew, recited as "abt 300" acres, "on a resurvey was found to contain but 264 [acres]...." according to this record. Jones referred to his Amity holdings as his "Mannitawny" "plantation" in a road Petition dated 1709 [see excerpt in MJHTX5--1000.01.093]. This raises the question as to the location and details of Mouns Jones' first dwelling on this tract, which was patented to him May 15, 1705, from his settlement on the site until he erected the extant stone house in 1716, according to its date-stone. See archive record MJHPH57--1000.01.061, which refers to a pair of letters which indicate that Jones was "residing" on this site by 1704. It is quite possible that his wife and six children moved to the Manatawny grant lands a few years later, after construction of the first dwelling there, probably a modest log house{n}, and the establishment of a subsistence "plantation." [see the various meanings of this term in record #....] Although Jones retained ownership of his Kingsessing home and farmland until 1712, it seems quite unlikely that he would consider the Manatawny site to be his "Plantation" unless there was at least a temporary dwelling there. {n}Archaeological investigation just to the northwest of the extant 1716 stone house has uncovered masoned stonework, possibly forming segments of the foundation, cellarway, hearth, or chimney mass (or some elements of each of the above) of the earlier house. These stone remnants do not suggest any particular plan-form or other details of the presumed original dwelling. However, two log structures, apparently typical of the Swedish-American approach to log dwellings in the 17th and early 18th centuries, provide plausible antecedents for Mouns Jones's undocumented wooden "cabin": Image #2 is from Mercer, The Dating of Old Houses, Bucks County Historical Society (1923), Fig. 22, and is captioned in part "Log Dwelling in the province of Upland, Sweden…The gable appears boarded [sheathed] in the American style…" Image # 3 is from Mercer, The Origin of Log Houses in the United States, Fig. 20, and is captioned in part "…supposed by Dr. (Amandus) Johnson [author of "Swedidh settlements on the Delaware"]…to show Swedish or Finnish characteristics…[and also] boarded at the gables" Both of these examples were set on rubble stone foundations laid-up in the same general pattern as the sub-grade remnants found in the Mouns Jones excavation {image #4, photo #.5507, 6/27/15 }. Some further information relating to the earlier house, might be uncovered during subsequent excavation of the stonework immediately northwest of the southwest eaves wall, begun in 2011, and continuing into 2016. See also record MVTX5 for further discussion of the Jones "Plantation" and its settlement history and chronology. Note written in pencil appearing in the upper right-hand corner regarding the origin of this copy was written by Dr. Donald A Shelley in 1992. Laurence Ward, May 2016 |
Date |
Unknown |
Object Name |
Book Excerpt |
Catalog Number |
1000.01.094 |
Search Terms |
MJTXT Mouns Jones History Mouns Jones House MJHTXT Mouns Jones House Text Will Mouns Jones Tract Mounce Jones Tract Homestead Mannitawny Manatawny Plantation Patent |
Creator |
Unknown |
People |
Andrew [Andreas] Rudman Donald A. Shelley Johnson, Amandus Jones, Andrew Jones, Ingaboo Jones, Mouns Mercer, Henry Rudman, Andreas |
Notes |
Trust only has access to the copy recorded in this archive. Original material is part of a Berks County records. |