Puchase List of John H. Rountree- 1828

[pshrake]

I was at the WHS Area Research Center at U.W. Platteville yesterday and while I was going through the John H. Rountree papers I found in his letter book the following:

Excerpt from letter dated: Platteville August 13, 1828

The following are articles I want for my own use
1 doz Windsor chairs ½ dos rush bottoms and ½ doz common
2 bead steads, 1 teaster & 1 half port
1 set of dining tables with rolers at foot
1 Bureau
1 candle stand
1 wash stand
100 lbs feathers
1 peace bed ticking
3 doz liver pool plates Blue
½ dinner & ½ breakfast
2 peaces curtain calico
2 white counter pins
10 yds figured oil cloth


Excerpt from letter dated: Platteville Lead Mines Sept 11th 1828

Send me the following articles immediately to I may get them before the river closes
To Wit
1doz green cappeaus (or blanket coats)
1 “ white do
2 doz mackinaw blankets
6 pieces cassinet assorted
12 doz pr wollen socks
6 doz pr shoes very thick & strong
2 “ “ calf skin brogans
2 “ “ ladies high leather shoes
½ doz pladd cloaks for [illegible]
4 boalts flannel 2 white & 2 red
2 doz pr wollen mittens & gloves fulled
½ doz leather do
2 doz dressed deerskins
½ doz buffalo rugs
50 yrds common caspiting
2 doz net caps
2 reams paper 1 letter & 1 common
1 box bottles


As always, any mistakes in the transcription are mine alone.

Pete

[Cliff Krainik]

Wonderful information!

Thank you, Pete.

Cliff

[richw]

Nice info!

A quick caveat:
fashionable furniture, like clothing, changed fairly rapidly in the 19th century. The Windsor chair of Colonial/Early Federal days was a thing of the past by 1828.

"1 doz Windsor chairs ½ dos rush bottoms ..."
almost certainly refers to 6 "Sheraton Fancy" or Hitchcock chairs with rush seats (Windsors _never_ had rush seats, by modern or contemporary def.).

"1/2 doz common"
at this time would be what collectors refer to as "plank bottom" chairs. Some styles qualify as "Windsors" (modern definition).

Picture of Hitchcock chair
www.hitchcockchair.com/Index.jpg

An example of plank bottom chairs
www.dargate.com/233_auction/233_images/2170.jpg
Plank bottom chairs come in many styles, some of which are regional. These are "Windsors."

[josef]

Sorry
But I would have to disagree with this general statement. I mean would you just throw out your cap and ball rev because the new colt single action just came out. Like clothing, people dont like change and they tend to wear the clothing of their youth and stay that way. It's the same with furniture and other house hold goods. If a chair breaks 20 years after it's made sure you would get a new one but not other wise. You must remember that the American's in this period would not have had a large amount of disposable income, so they tended to spend their extra money on home furnishing, items to make their time at home more comfortable. They would have purchased better furniture and china for the table. Looking close at Mr. Roundtrees wants I noticed that he must be above the average person noting how much furniture he is wanting. Any replys on my thoughts?
Jos Kleffman

[richw]

Ah, well, I think I failed to make my point:
since he is ordering new chairs, they would be the type of chairs shown in the links, i.e. Hitchcock/Sheraton fancy and 19th c. plank-bottomed chairs, and not the colonial type of windsor chair.

18th c. style windsor chairs were not made in the 19th c. (except for the Centennial period/Colonial Revival period, 1876-P)

The term windsor as used in the letter does not match our modern definition of the term.

The reason I commented on the letter in the first place was to erase images of Mt. Vernon and Independence Hall windsor chairs from the minds of those who might read Pete's posting. That type of chair was probably quite uncommon in the Lead Region, although 18th c. ladderback chairs do occasionally show up here at auction. Likewise, Hitchcock and Pennsylvania style plankbottoms do show up at country auctions here today. This would imply that they were brought here in the 1820-1850 period.

Ralph and Terry Kovel's American Country Furniture 1780-1875 (Crown Trade Paperbacks) is an excellent reference, which fully covers the type of early furniture of the Midwest.

[pshrake]

Joe does raise a good point:

"Looking close at Mr. Roundtrees wants I noticed that he must be above the average person noting how much furniture he is wanting. Any replys on my thoughts?"


Rountree's list may indeed be out of the ordinary. James Willgus, who was a early historian of Platteville and of Rountree noted that in 1828 Rountree, anticipating a influx of miners and their families set up a store in a log hut near his cabin. This would certainly account for the second list.

Apparently Rountree was also confident that the miners and others passing through the region would need some form of accomodations so he built, as Wilgus put it, a "more pretentious log stucture." As remembered by Fredrick Hollman in the 1881 history of Grant County it was;

"a single story double log house, with a long hallway running down the middle, and adapted to th uses of a caravansary."

So the first list most likely refers to this log hotel established by Rountree to attract miners and thier families as they passed through or settled in the Platteville area.

Pete

[Robert Braun]

Pete... Joe... and Rich: great discussion here!

Pete... you seem to be indicating that Roundtree build a double log cabin with a so-called "dog trot" covered space in between. I am of the impression that these stoe cabins were not all that uncommon in the Mineral District and elsewhere.

1. I believe Dixon, of "Dixon's Ferry" fame, build such a home (Greg Carter-- please confirm!) This despite the current "interpretive structure" next to the site of Dixon's Ferry.

2. Billy Hamilton built a home like this.

3. After reviewing Masnberger and Stratton's 1995 archaeological report on Apple River Fort, I believe the two log structures (not the blockhouse) were more likely a double log cabin with a common "dog trot" or breezeway.

Regards, Bob.

[richw]

I remember seeing an (1820's) Ohio estate inventory that listed 20 chairs for 10 residents in a small farmhouse.

Home-made chair and cabin styles and construction techniqes were part of the know-how brought west by the settlers. (There is a vast literature on regional frontier architecture)

Since transportation was a major expense in the move west, only the most essential goods were brought, e.g. trunks, tools, bedding.

If Rountree just wanted a place to park his rear [pardon my idiom], he could have had ladderback chairs made on site. We know much frontier furniture was home-made (see Kovel's book). Painted, rush-seated chairs were obviously a luxury item on the frontier.

I would conclude that Rountree either meant to impress the locals, or to sell Eastern luxury items, or both.
In other words, he's not just asking for a new "Colt single-action", he's ordering an engraved, nickel-plated Colt with ivory grips.

Regards,

Rich