Archaeological Investigations at the David Davis Mansion State Historic Site Bloomington, Illinois (1991-1992)
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ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT THE DAVID DAVIS MANSION STATE HISTORIC SITE BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS (1991-1992) by Floyd Mansberger Fever River Research Springfield, Illinois prepared for The David Davis Mansion State Historic Site and The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency May 2014 Acknowledgements Thanks are due to numerous individuals who helped to facilitate this research. MarciaYoung, the Director of the David Davis Mansion State Historic Site, and Rebecca Landau, Jeannie Riordan and Earl Woollen, members of the David Davis Site staff, all contributed to the completion of this project. Mr. Randall Middleton, of Middleton and Associates, Incorporated (an architecturalfirm in Bloomington, Illinois) was helpful in providing the archaeologists detailed plan maps of the restoration project. Mr. Thomas Emerson, at the time of the fieldwork Chief Archaeologist of the Preservation Services Division of the Illinois Historic Preservation Association, as well Mr. Thomas Wolforth, Staff Archaeologist with the IHPA, were both helpful with the permitting process that allowed us to conduct excavations at the David Davis Mansion, one of Illinois' most important historic sites. Preston Hawks, Joseph Phillippe, David Halpin, and Misty Jackson of Fever River Research all served as field crew members at one time or another during this project. As an employee of Fever River Research, David Halpin assisted with the preparation of a draft report outlying the initial archaeological monitoring and testing at the David Davis site. In addition to being a field crew member, Preston Hawks conducted the analysis of themajority of the artifacts recovered during this project (less those from Features 5 and 6). David Halpin did the initial inventory of the artifacts from Features 5 and 6. I would also like to thank Jane Rhetta and Linda Suits (both with the IHPA Historic Sites Division) for a variety of discussions regarding the significance of the earlier archaeological work, as well as facilitating the completion of the existing report. ChristopherStratton assisted with the graphics support, digitizing the figures in this report. Mark Johnson (Historic Sites Division, Preservation Services) assisted in supplying us with high-quality copies of several of the historic photographs for inclusion in the final report. Finally, I would like to thank the David Davis Mansion Foundation for their continued interest and patience in the completion of this report. Table Of Contents Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………….. i Table of Contents ii Introduction 1 Historical Context 6 Clover Lawn and the David Davis Mansion 13 Previous Archaeological Investigations at the David Davis Mansion 22 Results of the 1991-1992 Archaeological Investigations. 24 Material Possessions and the Pre-1870 Occupation at Clover Lawn 61 Summary and Conclusions 130 References Cited………………………………. 136 Appendices Appendix I (Project Correspondence) 143 Appendix II (Test Locations) 149 Appendix III (Lot Provenience) 150 Appendix IV (Lot Inventory) 152 Appendix V (Ceramic and Glass Vessels from Features 5 and 6) 183 Appendix VI (Faunal Analysis) (by Terrance Martin) 197 Introduction The David Davis Mansion, once the focal point of a 1,200-acre late nineteenth century suburban estate, was built between 1870 and 1872 for Judge David Davis near the outskirts of Bloomington, Illinois (Figures 1-4). Currently, the house and surrounding grounds areowned by the State of Illinois, and operated by the Historic Sites Division, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency,as the David Davis Mansion State Historic Site. During 1991 and 1992 an extensive restoration and upgrading project was undertaken at the State of Illinois and the Davis Mansion State Historic Site. The primary goal of the restoration project was to return the house and associated grounds to a time period shortly after the 1872 completion of the house. Besides the structural foundation and roof repairs associated with a typical restoration project, the restoration activity at the David Davis Mansion also included substantial ground disturbing activities, particularly associated with the installation of underground utility lines, construction of a wheelchair lift, as well as the relocation of an early brick automobile garage. As part of this restoration project, pursuant with Section 707 of the State Agency Historic Resources Protection Act (Illinois Compiled Statutes, Chapter 20, para 3420/1 et seq.), the Historic Sites Division (Illinois Historic Preservation Agency) contracted with Fever River Research (Springfield, Illinois) to undertake cultural resource investigations at the David Davis Mansion State Historic Site.1 The objective of the cultural resource investigations was to determine if significant subsurface archaeological resources might be impacted by the proposed construction activity. These investigations were conducted in two phases, over a two-year period. The first phase, which was conducted during the summer of 1991, consisted of the pro-active excavation of test units inselected areas prior to the proposed construction activity. The majority of these excavations were conducted by hand methods, supplemented by the occasionaluse ofa backhoe. The second phaseofthework, which was conducted during late 1991 through the middle of 1992, consisted of the monitoring of construction activity during its implementation (such as during the excavation of utility line trenches). As a result of these investigations, several significant subsurface features (including the physical remains of the earlier Jesse Fell House and associated features associated with the pre-1870 occupation of the property)were located. Although detailed letter reports summarizing themethods and results of the fieldwork conducted in 1991 and 1992 were written shortly after completion ofthe fieldwork, funds were not available for completing the analysis of the artifacts recovered atthattime, nor for the completion of an adequate report (Mansberger 1991, 1992). The existing report summarizes the methods and results of the fieldwork work conducted by Fever River Research during the restoration project. 1 The David Davis State Historic Site is also known as archaeological site 11ML117. The archaeological component of the David Davis Mansion restoration project was a complex affair that stretched over several years (see Appendix I; Project Correspondence). 1 DAVIS MANSION Figure 1. Location of the David Davis Mansion State Historic Site, Bloomington, Illinois (Bloomington East, IL, 1998 7.5-minute USGS Topographic map). 2 Figure 2. Contemporary view of David Davis Mansion, with the Woodhouse in the background (Photograph by Ken Kashian, David Davis Mansion Foundation 1994). 3 Figure 3. Interpretive site plan, illustrating the grounds of Clover Lawn during its later nineteenth century glory, and prior to the breakup of the property (top), and results of twentieth century subdivision of Davis landholdings (bottom; 1960). North is to theleftofeach image. 4 Figure 4. Existing site plan of the David Davis State Historic Site, illustrating conditions as they appeared in 1990. The red line delimits the boundaries of the David Davis State Historic Site. North is to the left of the image. 5 Historical Context2 David Davis (1815-1886) was a wealthy, influential Illinois attorney that became state legislator (1844), judge of the Illinois Judicial Circuit Court (1848), diligent supporter of Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Supreme Court judge (1862), administrator of Abraham Lincoln's estate after the president's assassination, two-time presidential nominee (1872, 1876), and United States Senator (Figure 5). Upon President Garfield's assassination in 1881, Davis was elected President pro tem of the Senate and unofficially was referred to as Vice President of the United States. The lifeand career of Judge David Davis is detailed in his biography Lincoln's Manager, David Davis (King 1960)and summarized in The David Davis Mansion Volunteer Manual (1988:45; hereafter referred to as DDMVM). It is not the purpose of this report to present a detailed historical context of Davisand his career. Born in Cecil County, Maryland in 1815, David Davis attended Kenyon College in Ohio where he graduated in 1832. Davis then studied law in the office of Henry Bishop in Lenox, Berkshire County, Massachusetts. It was while studying in Bishop’s office, that he met his future wife Sarah Walker (the daughter of William Walker, the presiding probate judge in Berkshire County). After proposing to his future wife, Davis moved to the central Illinois community ofPekin (Tazewell County) in 1835, where he opened a law office. The following year, Davis purchased the law practice of Bloomington attorney Jesse Fell and moved to that community. In October 1838,he married his fiancé, and the couple set up housekeeping in Bloomington, apparently in a new house constructed by Davis for his wife. This house was located “on the top of the knolljust east of the Gridley place on East Grove Street.” In 1838, Davis also acquired from Jesse Fell the farmstead(and farmhouse) on the east side of Bloomington previously developed by Fell. At that time, Davis moved into the relatively new Fell residence, and soon enlarged the house and improved the grounds creating his Clover Lawn farm (Figure 6). David and his wife Sarah had seven children, only two of whom lived to adulthood,George Perrin Davis and Sarah "Sallie" Davis. (DDMVM 1988,;II-25;see also, “The Last Look,” The [Bloomington, Ill.] Daily Pantagraph, June 20, 1886). After moving