Skip to content

Home
About
Gallery
Journal
Contact

The Accidental Preservationist

An unexpected journey

East elevation of the Chancognie House.

The Chancognie House

Share this:

Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

What is The AP?

Join me on an unexpected journey in restoration and research at the circa 1810 Simon Jude Chancognie House in Charleston, South Carolina and beyond.

Instagram

Who was John Stoney? Part 4. The reverse side of the John Stoney plate had intriguing marks – a pattern name, Navarino, and the name of the importer, J. Chamberlin & Co. with what appeared to be the location of Charleston. It is unusual to find transferware from the first quarter of the 19th century with the name of the importer emblazoned under the glaze since this type of customization had to take place at the factory, the majority of which were in Staffordshire, England, before firing. Even more unusual is a name forming part of the transferware pattern – ceramics were more often personalized with overglaze decoration after arriving stateside. Hoping to find the manufacturer, I logged into the Transferware Collectors Club database and quickly found the pattern – with the maker listed as “Unknown.” There was one example of a full plate in the database (slide 2 – image courtesy of the Transferware Collectors Club) and I found one other example from an auction for a single plate years ago (slides 3, 4 – images courtesy of Worthpoint). Suffice to say that the pattern was rare even without customization! So, I decided to research the importer. I found several advertisements for J. Chamberlin & Co. as well as Jacob Chamberlin individually and with various partners in the Charleston City Gazette (slides 5 (1821), 6 (1831), 7 (1835) – images courtesy of NewsBank). Chamberlin regularly sold an assortment of “China, Glass and Earthenware,” but the only manufacturer listed in any of his advertisements was the New England Glass Company. So now the question was not just who was John Stoney, but who manufactured John Stoney? #theaccidentalpreservationist #chancogniehouse

Who was John Stoney? Part 3. After finding the two fragments of brown and white transferware that mended – one with “John” and the other with “Stoney” under the glaze during my excavation of the privy (slide 4, reverse slide 5, along with additional fragments in the weeks that followed – slide 6), my curiosity was piqued and I wanted to know more about the man who had this custom china made. There were no Stoneys in the chain of title to the Chancognie House, but there were several John Stoneys in and around Charleston throughout the past two plus centuries. The first was John “Captain Jack” Stoney who was born in Ireland and arrived in South Carolina in 1774 on his ship the Saucy Jack. When the Revolution broke out, Stoney embraced the patriot cause – whether out of belief or opportunity is unknown, but he was a successful privateer and amassed a significant fortune. He purchased the 1,000-acre Braddock Point Plantation on Hilton Head Island and built a large tabby house on the property, the remains of which are known as the Stoney-Baynard Ruins (slides 1-3). Stoney had two sons, James and John, with the latter listed in the 1803 Charleston City Directory as a merchant so I thought that this could be a good candidate for the John Stoney referenced on the plate. When the senior John Stoney died in 1821, his sons took over the plantation with James remaining in Hilton Head and John handling the factorage of the cotton in Charleston. The brothers purchased large amounts of land and enslaved people to try to control the market for cotton, but their efforts ended in economic disaster. James died in 1827 and John, mired in debt, died in 1838. Given John’s precarious financial state, custom china, the style of which dates to the late 1820s or early 1830s seemed like an unlikely extravagance. So who was John Stoney? Part 4 coming soon! #theaccidentalpreservationist #chancogniehouse

I wasn’t looking for John Stoney. In fact, I wasn’t even looking for a privy – I was looking for a bathing house that Chancognie had built on the property c. 1810. While I often speculate that unusual features here can be attributed to the fact that Chancognie was French, I do firmly ascribe the presence of a bathing house on the property to Chancognie’s French sensibilities since the French had very different ideas about hygiene than Americans in the early 19th century. I had hoped that the outline of a building in a wall might have been the elusive bathing house (slides 1, 2 – interior view of the walls of the privy, a plastered area, and the western edge of the kitchen house, slide 3 – view of the exterior privy wall) but it turned out to be a privy full of artifacts (slides 4-10) from centuries past. For more on Chancognie’s mysterious bathing house, see my blog post from October 2017 – link in bio. #theaccidentalpreservationist #chancogniehouse

Who was John Stoney? During the excavation of the privy here at the Chancognie House, I unearthed two fragments of brown transfer print whiteware that mended – one with “John” and the other with “Stoney” under the glaze. My first question was, of course, who was John Stoney? The marks on the reverse appeared to be an important clue. In the days ahead, I will share this archaeological mystery with you – John Stoney turns out to be quite intriguing…. (I ask those of you who know who John Stoney is to please keep it a secret until the very end – thanks!) #theaccidentalpreservationist #chancogniehouse

On the Twelfth Day of Dining Room Discoveries, I give you (drumroll please, 12 drummers) an exciting discovery about the decorative scheme of the dining room. I uncovered this fragment of rag wallpaper along with the piece of newspaper from Day 11 in the mortar of the chimney. Microscopy by @paintchipsanalysis (slide 2 – plane polarized transmitted light 400X, slide 3 – crossed polars (darkfield) 400X) revealed that the paper is composed of white flax fibers with a few blue flax fibers which is not unusual since traditional rag-based papers often had a mix of natural fibers and colors. Cross section analysis found red paint on top of a white base coat (slide 4 - visible light 400X, slide 5 - crossed polars (darkfield) 400X). Looking closely at the reverse side of the wallpaper (slide 6), there is a tiny piece of newsprint – early wallpaper installed on freshly plastered walls often had a backing paper to protect the wallpaper from the lime in the plaster and newspaper was sometimes used for this purpose. This was the case with original wallpaper from another area of the Chancognie House which was backed with copies of the Charleston City Gazette dating to 1809 and 1810 (more about that coming soon!) Since the wallpaper was found with a fragment of the City Gazette dating to 1809 (slides 9, 10), the house was constructed c.1810 and other wallpaper here was backed with pages from the City Gazette, I think that there is a strong possibility that this rag wallpaper was the original wall treatment in the dining room. Given that the fragment is small, and the paints are quite ephemeral, it was impossible to discern a pattern, so I need to do more research to determine an appropriate wallpaper for the dining room – @adelphipaperhangings’ French Wave (slides 7, 8 – images courtesy of Adelphi Paper Hangings) caught my eye – what do you think? #theaccidentalpreservationist #chancogniehouse

On the Eleventh Day of Dining Room Discoveries, I give you this fragment of printed paper. Previous owners took the original plaster off the chimney in the dining room and replaced it with drywall which I removed (slide 3). Some repointing of the brick was necessary and during this process several curious discoveries were made – a large fragment of green glass in the mortar (slides 8, 9, 10) and two fragments of paper, one of which is the printed one shown here. There was not much to go on, but I decided to try to pinpoint the source of the printed fragment. I copied all the letters that I could decipher on both sides (slides 4, 5) and then started searching historic newspapers. Much to my surprise, I found it – an advertisement for a lottery to benefit the Independent Church of Beaufort, SC (slide 6 – image courtesy of NewsBank) which appeared in the Charleston City Gazette 26 times between April 12 and June 12, 1809. In a most unfortunate turn of events, the church had not only suffered damage during the “severe gale of September 1804,” but had also been subject to “the depredation of Caterpillars” (slide 7 – image courtesy of NewsBank). The lottery was authorized by the state legislature to raise funds to repair the church. I have not yet determined the results of the lottery or the ultimate fate of the Independent Church of Beaufort, SC – if anyone has insight, I would love to hear it! #theaccidentalpreservationist #chancogniehouse

Instagram

Who was John Stoney? Part 4. The reverse side of the John Stoney plate had intriguing marks – a pattern name, Navarino, and the name of the importer, J. Chamberlin & Co. with what appeared to be the location of Charleston. It is unusual to find transferware from the first quarter of the 19th century with the name of the importer emblazoned under the glaze since this type of customization had to take place at the factory, the majority of which were in Staffordshire, England, before firing. Even more unusual is a name forming part of the transferware pattern – ceramics were more often personalized with overglaze decoration after arriving stateside. Hoping to find the manufacturer, I logged into the Transferware Collectors Club database and quickly found the pattern – with the maker listed as “Unknown.” There was one example of a full plate in the database (slide 2 – image courtesy of the Transferware Collectors Club) and I found one other example from an auction for a single plate years ago (slides 3, 4 – images courtesy of Worthpoint). Suffice to say that the pattern was rare even without customization! So, I decided to research the importer. I found several advertisements for J. Chamberlin & Co. as well as Jacob Chamberlin individually and with various partners in the Charleston City Gazette (slides 5 (1821), 6 (1831), 7 (1835) – images courtesy of NewsBank). Chamberlin regularly sold an assortment of “China, Glass and Earthenware,” but the only manufacturer listed in any of his advertisements was the New England Glass Company. So now the question was not just who was John Stoney, but who manufactured John Stoney? #theaccidentalpreservationist #chancogniehouse

Who was John Stoney? Part 3. After finding the two fragments of brown and white transferware that mended – one with “John” and the other with “Stoney” under the glaze during my excavation of the privy (slide 4, reverse slide 5, along with additional fragments in the weeks that followed – slide 6), my curiosity was piqued and I wanted to know more about the man who had this custom china made. There were no Stoneys in the chain of title to the Chancognie House, but there were several John Stoneys in and around Charleston throughout the past two plus centuries. The first was John “Captain Jack” Stoney who was born in Ireland and arrived in South Carolina in 1774 on his ship the Saucy Jack. When the Revolution broke out, Stoney embraced the patriot cause – whether out of belief or opportunity is unknown, but he was a successful privateer and amassed a significant fortune. He purchased the 1,000-acre Braddock Point Plantation on Hilton Head Island and built a large tabby house on the property, the remains of which are known as the Stoney-Baynard Ruins (slides 1-3). Stoney had two sons, James and John, with the latter listed in the 1803 Charleston City Directory as a merchant so I thought that this could be a good candidate for the John Stoney referenced on the plate. When the senior John Stoney died in 1821, his sons took over the plantation with James remaining in Hilton Head and John handling the factorage of the cotton in Charleston. The brothers purchased large amounts of land and enslaved people to try to control the market for cotton, but their efforts ended in economic disaster. James died in 1827 and John, mired in debt, died in 1838. Given John’s precarious financial state, custom china, the style of which dates to the late 1820s or early 1830s seemed like an unlikely extravagance. So who was John Stoney? Part 4 coming soon! #theaccidentalpreservationist #chancogniehouse

I wasn’t looking for John Stoney. In fact, I wasn’t even looking for a privy – I was looking for a bathing house that Chancognie had built on the property c. 1810. While I often speculate that unusual features here can be attributed to the fact that Chancognie was French, I do firmly ascribe the presence of a bathing house on the property to Chancognie’s French sensibilities since the French had very different ideas about hygiene than Americans in the early 19th century. I had hoped that the outline of a building in a wall might have been the elusive bathing house (slides 1, 2 – interior view of the walls of the privy, a plastered area, and the western edge of the kitchen house, slide 3 – view of the exterior privy wall) but it turned out to be a privy full of artifacts (slides 4-10) from centuries past. For more on Chancognie’s mysterious bathing house, see my blog post from October 2017 – link in bio. #theaccidentalpreservationist #chancogniehouse

Who was John Stoney? During the excavation of the privy here at the Chancognie House, I unearthed two fragments of brown transfer print whiteware that mended – one with “John” and the other with “Stoney” under the glaze. My first question was, of course, who was John Stoney? The marks on the reverse appeared to be an important clue. In the days ahead, I will share this archaeological mystery with you – John Stoney turns out to be quite intriguing…. (I ask those of you who know who John Stoney is to please keep it a secret until the very end – thanks!) #theaccidentalpreservationist #chancogniehouse

On the Twelfth Day of Dining Room Discoveries, I give you (drumroll please, 12 drummers) an exciting discovery about the decorative scheme of the dining room. I uncovered this fragment of rag wallpaper along with the piece of newspaper from Day 11 in the mortar of the chimney. Microscopy by @paintchipsanalysis (slide 2 – plane polarized transmitted light 400X, slide 3 – crossed polars (darkfield) 400X) revealed that the paper is composed of white flax fibers with a few blue flax fibers which is not unusual since traditional rag-based papers often had a mix of natural fibers and colors. Cross section analysis found red paint on top of a white base coat (slide 4 - visible light 400X, slide 5 - crossed polars (darkfield) 400X). Looking closely at the reverse side of the wallpaper (slide 6), there is a tiny piece of newsprint – early wallpaper installed on freshly plastered walls often had a backing paper to protect the wallpaper from the lime in the plaster and newspaper was sometimes used for this purpose. This was the case with original wallpaper from another area of the Chancognie House which was backed with copies of the Charleston City Gazette dating to 1809 and 1810 (more about that coming soon!) Since the wallpaper was found with a fragment of the City Gazette dating to 1809 (slides 9, 10), the house was constructed c.1810 and other wallpaper here was backed with pages from the City Gazette, I think that there is a strong possibility that this rag wallpaper was the original wall treatment in the dining room. Given that the fragment is small, and the paints are quite ephemeral, it was impossible to discern a pattern, so I need to do more research to determine an appropriate wallpaper for the dining room – @adelphipaperhangings’ French Wave (slides 7, 8 – images courtesy of Adelphi Paper Hangings) caught my eye – what do you think? #theaccidentalpreservationist #chancogniehouse

On the Eleventh Day of Dining Room Discoveries, I give you this fragment of printed paper. Previous owners took the original plaster off the chimney in the dining room and replaced it with drywall which I removed (slide 3). Some repointing of the brick was necessary and during this process several curious discoveries were made – a large fragment of green glass in the mortar (slides 8, 9, 10) and two fragments of paper, one of which is the printed one shown here. There was not much to go on, but I decided to try to pinpoint the source of the printed fragment. I copied all the letters that I could decipher on both sides (slides 4, 5) and then started searching historic newspapers. Much to my surprise, I found it – an advertisement for a lottery to benefit the Independent Church of Beaufort, SC (slide 6 – image courtesy of NewsBank) which appeared in the Charleston City Gazette 26 times between April 12 and June 12, 1809. In a most unfortunate turn of events, the church had not only suffered damage during the “severe gale of September 1804,” but had also been subject to “the depredation of Caterpillars” (slide 7 – image courtesy of NewsBank). The lottery was authorized by the state legislature to raise funds to repair the church. I have not yet determined the results of the lottery or the ultimate fate of the Independent Church of Beaufort, SC – if anyone has insight, I would love to hear it! #theaccidentalpreservationist #chancogniehouse

Recent Posts

Climate Change and the Impact on Historic Houses – Felbrigg Hall
A Hole in the Wall Leads to Quincy’s Family Steakhouse
George Mason’s Gunston Hall – A Colonial Virginia Gem
The Leaning Piazzas of Charleston
It was Never Supposed to be Perfect – Some Thoughts on Woodwork at the c.1810 Chancognie House.

Categories

Archaeology
Architecture
Charleston
Coffee
Collections
Digging Deeper
Food
Historic Preservation
History
Landscape
Travel

The Accidental Preservationist: Juliana Falk

Facebook
Instagram

Follow Following
- The Accidental Preservationist
- Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.

%d bloggers like this: