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Construction of the Dwelling on John Pidcock's Land

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Construction of the Dwelling on John Pidcock's Land C:\Documents and Settings\Cathy\My Documents\HSR & John Pidcock Dwelling.doc Construction of the Dwelling on John Pidcock’s land Extracted from An Historic Structure Report, November 2004 Frens and Frens, LLC, 120 South Church St., West Chester, PA 19382 Sandra Mac Kenzie Lloyd, Architectural Historian Matthew J. Mosca, Historical Paint Finishes Consultant Spott, Stevens & Mc Coy Inc., Consulting Engineers With added commentary from Cathy Pidcock Thomas Overview............................................................................................................................. 2 Architectural Analysis ........................................................................................................ 5 Unit “A”: 1757 West Wing – Period II........................................................................... 5 Unit “B”, Central Section ............................................................................................... 9 Period I: Oldest section of the house .......................................................................... 9 Brumbaugh Report.................................................................................................... 12 Period III: 1766 Addition - Elizabeth Thompson & William Neely wed................. 15 Unit “C” - The East Wing - Period IV: 1788................................................................ 17 Period V 1895 - present Disrepair & Reconstruction .................................................. 19 Historical Analysis............................................................................................................ 20 HSR: Chapter 1 - John Pidcock .................................................................................... 22 HSR: Chapter 2: c. 1738-1747: John Simpson (1712-1747) & Hannah Delaplaine (1714-1803)................................................................................................................... 27 Reconstruction of Family Living Arrangements .......................................................... 31 Inventories................................................................................................................. 31 Census Records......................................................................................................... 38 Period V 1895 - present Disrepair & Reconstruction .................................................. 39 The Site in John Pidcock’s Time ...................................................................................... 39 Local information about Pidcock Tract ....................................................................... 39 “Ownership” / Occupancy Time line............................................................................ 41 Was John Pidcock’s House Wood or Stone?.................................................................... 46 Knitting The Architectural and Historical Analysis Together.......................................... 46 The Early Pidcocks/Pitcocks......................................................................................... 46 Land Occupancy & Ownership..................................................................................... 47 House Construction....................................................................................................... 48 Appendix I: “Report to the Washington Crossing Park Commission on the Restoration of the Thomson-Neely House” - - by Architect G. Edwin Brumbaugh........................ 51 Appendix II: Mortar Sample Analyses from HSR............................................................ 53 Appendix III: Extended Extracts of the John Pidcock Court Cases. ................................ 58 The Proposed Mortgage from Edward Hunlocke ......................................................... 58 The Altercation with James Verier witnessed by William Smith................................. 58 Settling the Estate of Thomas Bowman........................................................................ 58 Appendix V: Maps & Surveys.......................................................................................... 60 Map of New Jersey in 1680 .......................................................................................... 60 Page 1 of 99 DRAFT 11/13/2007 5:55 PM C:\Documents and Settings\Cathy\My Documents\HSR & John Pidcock Dwelling.doc Warrant of Re-survey signed by William Penn ............................................................ 61 Phineas Pemberton Survey of Pidcock Tract 1701....................................................... 62 Appendix IV: “Chain of Title to the Pidcock Tract” ........................................................ 63 Appendix V: Religious Life of Hannah Simpson Thompson family ............................... 69 Appendix VI: 1679 Description House along the Delaware ............................................ 71 THE FALLS OF THE DELAWARE IN 1679............................................................. 71 Appendix VII: Guide to Land Records and the Pidcock tract .......................................... 73 Brief History of the Land Purchase Process ................................................................. 73 Interpreting Indentures.............................................................................................. 74 Legal Glossary .......................................................................................................... 75 Glossary of Architectural Terms....................................................................................... 79 Diagrams from the Historic Structures Report ................................................................. 84 Plate 2a-b: Reconstruction of Log or Clapboard Cabin................................................ 84 Figure 3c: Reconstruction of Units “A” & “B” 1757 ................................................... 85 Figure 4a-b: Reconstruction of Units “A” & “B” ~1766.............................................. 86 Figure 17a-b: Floor Plans: Cellar and First floor.......................................................... 87 Figure 17c-d: Floor Plans, 2nd and 3rd floors................................................................. 88 Photos of Architectural Features:...................................................................................... 89 Tables and Figures: Owners and/or Occupants of the Property................................................................... 20 An Inventory of the Goods and Chattles belonging to John Simpson late of Solebury in the County of Bucks Miller at the Time of his Decease .................................. 28 Inventory of all and Singular the Goods and Chattles of Robert Thompson Miller of the Township of Solebury in the County of Bucks Deceas’d Appraised the 6th Day of December 1804 by us Thomas Smith and Peter D. Cattell..................... 32 An Inventory of the Goods, Chattles, Rights to Creditors of William Neely late of Solebury Township Deceased as appraised this sixth day of August in the year of our Lord One thousand Eight Hundred & Eighteen by viz David Wynkoop & Solomon McNair................................................................................................. 36 House Construction – Historic Periods & Architectural Units from HSR................ 48 Analyses from HSR sample locations keyed to preceding two Mortar Maps........... 54 Overview The purpose of this paper is to understand the historical and scientific findings of the Historic Structures Report (HSR) of the stone house on land occupied by John Pidcock before 1680 so that new information can be incorporated into the John Pidcock history. This paper contains a synopsis of the information in the two-volume HSR. The material is discussed from a Pidcock perspective. The HSR is quoted extensively supplemented by other Pidcock research, identified within the body of the text by square brackets [] and/or the initials of the Pidcock researcher (e.g. CPT: Catharine Pidcock Thomas, JLM: John Leon Moore) or appearing as footnotes, appendices or as specifically identified sections. Many of the footnotes are requests for clarification, or completeness in this publicly funded research document, which would make it even more useful as an interpretation resource. The Historic Structure Report (HSR) contains: Page 2 of 99 DRAFT 11/13/2007 5:55 PM C:\Documents and Settings\Cathy\My Documents\HSR & John Pidcock Dwelling.doc o Copies of the G. Edwin Brumbaugh 1948-1951 survey: analyses, diagrams and restoration that are in the Brumbaugh collection at Winterthur Museum. o Computer generated dimensional drawings of the house. These were made by a rotating laser beam that bounced light off hard surfaces and recorded its reflection time at different x and y coordinates through-out each room as the beam spiraled down a cam, generating and recording successive measurements. This process is detailed enough to record a fly across a room on the window sill. The computer generated pictures were verified and enhanced by visual inspection. o Paint Analysis. An extensive section with pictures, analyses indoor and outdoor paint slices. Paint dating is inferred from knowing when a paint composition or color was introduced to common use, from the amount of dirt under or between layers and from whether the sample matches paint from other samples taken from within the house. The suggestion that a surface has been left exposed without paint is based on a lot of dirt below the oldest paint layer. [Presumably this situation could also occur
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