Report45Grasslpp100108 .pdf

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The Old Stone House

[http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc17.htm]

THE OLD STONE HOUSE IN WASHINGTON,

D.C. &

GERMAN-AMERICAN CHRISTOPHER LEHMAN

he Old Stone House, located at 3051

M Street in the Georgetown neigh-

borhood of the District of Columbia,

is the oldest building in the nation's capital.

It is situated on the north side of M between

30th Street (formerly Washington St.) and

31st Street (formerly Congress St.). Directly

south of the Old Stone House, Thomas

Jefferson Street enters M Street; here

Jefferson had his lodgings when he was

Vice President. M Street was earlier called

Bridge Street after the bridge that was built

around 1800 over Rock Creek, three blocks

to the east. Pennsylvania Avenue coming

from the White House about fourteen blocks

to the east turns into M Street just before the

Old Stone House. About seven blocks west

of the Old Stone House, M Street becomes

Canal Road and passes the Chesapeake &

Ohio Canal on the left and Georgetown

University (founded 1789) on the right.

Today the building is preserved and main-

tained by the Federal government as the sole

remaining pre-revolutionary structure in

Washington, D.C. As such, it is older than

either the White House or the Capitol.¹

The Old Stone House was built on lot 3

of the original eighty lots which constituted

colonial George Town as surveyed in 1751.

The original boundaries of Georgetown

were lot 3 on the east, approximately N

Street on the north, 34th Street on the west

and the Potomac River on the south. The

Old Stone House was thus near the north-

east corner of the original settlement.

George Town was then part of Frederick

County, Province of Maryland. According

to public records one "Christopher Layh-

man" acquired lot 3 on 11 June 1764, from

the George Town Commissioners for 1

pound, 10 shillings. The previous owner,

John Boone,² had failed to improve it

according to the requirements of the Mary-

land Colonial Assembly and thus forfeited

the property.³ Fronting on today's M Street,

the lot measured 67 feet 4 ½ inches along the

street and 399 feet to the north.

The new

owner was a cabinetmaker by trade who had

immigrated from Baden in the southwest

corner of present-day Germany. His name at

birth was Christoph Lehman, the first part

of which was anglicized when it was added

to the ship's passenger manifest when he

emigrated. Variant spellings for surnames

were common in the eighteenth century,

particularly with names of non-English ori-

gin, and there are a number of alternate

spellings of the Lehman name along the

lines cited above. Lehman began construc-

tion almost immediately on the structure

now known as the Old Stone House.

Although Lehman was able to enjoy the

property only briefly, the building itself was

used by a succession of residents over the

years as both a residence and a place of

business.

THE FOUNDING OF GEORGETOWN

Long before the District of Columbia was

formed, Georgetown, now Washington's

oldest neighborhood, was a separate city

that boasted a harbor full of ships and ware-

houses filled with tobacco. Washington has

filled in around Georgetown over the years,

but the former tobacco port retains an air of

aloofness. Its narrow streets make up the

capital's wealthiest neighborhood and are

the nucleus of its nightlife.

The earliest settlers in the area which

was to be known as Georgetown were the

OLD STONE HOUSE_______________

Algonquin Indians, who lived in villages

along the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers.

They fished in Rock Creek, raised crops,

and hunted in the forest for bison, deer, bear,

wild turkey, and smaller animals. Increasing

evidence seems to indicate that the first

Europeans to explore the Potomac River

were the Spanish. For many years prior to

English exploration of the area, Spaniards

had sailed up the Potomac or the Espiritu

Santo [Holy Spirit] as they called it, reach-

ing at least as far as the present site of the

District of Columbia.

As early as 1703, an Indian trading

post was set up on the west bank of Rock

Creek where it enters the Potomac. Rock

Creek was much wider and deeper than it is

today, and its mouth provided anchorage for

ocean going vessels. In 1747 the Maryland

General Assembly designated George

Gordon's "Rolling House" on the west bank

of Rock Creek "as an official place of tobac-

co inspection."

The inspection center

served as a collection point for hogsheads of

tobacco which were inspected to insure the

high quality of exported tobacco. The

upsurge in commercial activity also provid-

ed the impetus for the sudden growth of the

area around the inspection station. George

Town was established at the confluence of

Rock Creek and the Potomac River in 1751.

It was named in honor of George II, King of

England and Elector of Hanover. Located

just before the falls of the Potomac, it was as

far inland as ocean going vessels could sail.

It was the nearest overseas shipping point

for tobacco farmers in what is now

Montgomery County.

In 1762, the Georgetown Commis-

sioners authorized the construction of a

wharf at the end of what is today Wisconsin

Avenue.

Ships from distant shores made

George Town their port of call, bringing

goods from Europe and leaving heavily

laden with tobacco.

In 1791, George

Washington would call the town the greatest

tobacco market of the State, if not of the

Union.

CHRISTOPHER LEHMAN

Although it is difficult to say with certainty,

it appears that the Christoph Lehman who

settled ultimately in Georgetown was born

14 April 1701, in Mönchweiler, Villingen,

Baden, to Christian Lehman and his wife

Catharina, née Schmaltz. Villingen is locat-

ed in the southwestern corner of Germany

on the eastern slopes of the Black Forest on

the Brigach River, which flows a few miles

south into the emerging Danube. To the

west of the Black Forest is the Rhine, which

provided access to Rotterdam.

Christopher arrived in Philadelphia on

21 September 1731, on the ship Britannia of

London. This vessel, a grand three-master,

sailed under Master Michael Franklyn from

Rotterdam, a favorite port of embarkation

for immigrants from areas along the Rhine.

The ship made a stopover in Cowes

Harbour, Isle of Wight, Great Britain, to

take on supplies. Upon arriving in

Philadelphia, Lehman and the 268 other

German immigrants on board were received

by the Governor and Lieutenant Governor

of Pennsylvania in the Philadelphia Court-

house. There they declared their intention to

settle and live peaceably in the Province of

Pennsylvania. They also subscribed to the

Declaration of Fidelity and Abjuration,

whereby they abjured allegiance to their for-

mer rulers and fidelity to King George II of

England.

We know that Christopher was married

to Rachel Lehman, but we don't know if he

brought her with him from Germany. The

manifest of the Britannia lists only men.

—102—

___________________GRASSL

Christopher Lehman became a naturalized

British citizen in Pennsylvania.

Lehman,

who usually spelled his name Layman,

probably left Pennsylvania in the early

1760s. The year in which his name appears

first in George Town documents is 1764. He

may well have initially moved to western

Maryland, as did many Germans who

arrived in Philadelphia. Then, like so many

of his neighbors on the Maryland frontier,

Lehman may have brought his family to

George Town for protection against Indian

attacks during the French and Indian War

(1754-1763).

BUILDING THE OLD STONE HOUSE

In 1764, Christopher Lehman began to work

on his home and carpentry shop in George

Town. He situated the building in the south-

west corner of lot 3. As with many immi-

grants, Lehman took his inspiration from

the buildings in other German immigrant

settlements and from the buildings in his

European homeland. The pitch of the roof

is, for example, steeper than that of modern

houses in the Washington area. It seems to

be modeled on the architectural style in

Germany, which has to cope with more

snowfall than in the mid Atlantic region.

Snow slides more easily from a steep roof,

and its weight is less likely to crush such a

roof. A steeper roof also provides more head

room in the attic.

Using local bluestone Lehman built his

house in the manner of Pennsylvania

dwellings he had known. Details of the

roofline, the stonework, and the brick east

gable and chimney resemble the style

brought to the colonies by his European

forebears. Like many of his fellow German

immigrants, he also preferred to build in

stone. Most of the houses of Germantown, a

suburb of Philadelphia, the first German set-

tlement in the United States, were of stone.

Lehman, the carpenter-architect, built

the house with walls 2 ½ feet thick. This

solid construction, typical of German-built

houses, is one reason why it has survived

235 years. It is two stories high. The house

faces the street with its long side, which

runs in an east-west direction parallel to

what is now M Street. The chimney is in the

right or east-gable end of the house and

attached to the outside of the gable wall

similar to the way chimneys are attached on

log houses. Its lower half is made of stone,

and its upper half of bricks. This chimney

was used to heat and light Christopher's

work area, and it also served as Rachel's

cooking hearth. Except for a small closet,

the workshop-kitchen takes up the entire

ground floor. The floor is covered with

bricks. Upstairs are two bedrooms separated

by a narrow hallway. Apparently such hous-

es were common in the second half of the

eighteenth century. In an article on the

house, the Washington Daily News in fact

states that "[i]ts design was standard among

'carpenter architects'" (8 June 1950).

Unfortunately, Christopher Lehman

died in the first days of November 1765,

shortly after he had completed his house.

The inventory of his possessions is dated 5

November 1765. The inventory of the

"goods and chattel of Christopher Leamon

late of Frederick County deceased" includ-

ed such items as:

Inventory

Bed and furniture with trundle bed and blankets, 3 benches, etc.

1 small looking glass

1 large Dutch Bible

£ 2

£ 1

3 shillings

15 shillings

—103—

OLD STONE HOUSE_______________

The pine wood consisted of 811 feet of pine

planks, each one inch thick.

The inventory of Lehman's posses-

sions gives witness to his occupation and

lifestyle. He was a woodworker and joiner.

Apparently he had been fitting together a

blanket chest of local walnut at the time of

his death. Beyond the supply of pine planks,

the tools of his trade—chisels, planer,

clampsfigure prominently in the inventory

of his possessions. The value of his goods

added up to fifty-two English pounds, plac-

ing the family in the lower middle class.

Like a number of houses of the time, the

first floor of his home contained a shop and

kitchen; the family lived upstairs. The cast

iron stove, listed as the most valuable object

in the household, warmed the shop.

Rachel's kitchen and her cooking utensils

were located in the extension of the house to

the north.

Even though the inventory counted

every button, one notes that there was only

one table along with bedsteads and chests

and one towel, but no chairs. On the other

hand, there were two Pennsylvania Dutch

Bibles. The "Dutch" Bibles were of course

actually Deutsch or German. One was evi-

dently the Lehman family Bible and the

other probably came from Rachel's family.

FURTHER HISTORY OF THE OLD STONE

HOUSE AFTER CHRISTOPHER LEHMAN'S

DEATH

At the meeting of the town Commissioners

on 11 June 1766, lot 3 was listed as being

improved with a substantial stone structure

by "Rachael Layhman."

However, Rachel

lived in the Old Stone House for only about

two years. The widowed Rachel, who was

left with two sons, married Jacob Purvey

before the end of 1766. Rachel and her new

husband sold the Old Stone House to

Cassandra Chew on 9 June 1767, "in ex-

change for lot 62 in George Town and the

sum of 100 pounds."

The money was

apparently provided by the wealthy mer-

chant and real estate speculator Robert

Peter, because the house would revert back

to him or his heirs if Cassandra had no heirs.

He evidently considered the stone house a

fine residence for Cassandra, his mistress.

In the 1770s, Cassandra Chew added a

ground floor kitchen and an upstairs parlor

and dining room to the back of the stone

house, so that it took on an L shape. The

architectural form of the rear extension was

the same as that of the front building, except

that the chimney at the north end was inside

the stone wall.

One of Rachel and Christopher's off-

spring was "John Christopher Layman" who

signed a petition to the 1775 Maryland

Convention on behalf of one Patrick

Graham of Port Tobacco, Charles County.

This gentleman had broken the Resolves of

the Continental Congress by aiding a certain

John Bailie to land secretly and dispose of

sundry goods imported by him contrary to

the Resolves. The petition stated that

Graham was now contrite and determined

never more to do anything inimical to

American freedom. The 119 petitioners

asked the Convention to restore Graham his

former rights as a citizen.

The fact that

Layman was asked to sign this petition

shows that he was regarded as a person of

some consequence.

1 smaller ditto

1 book sermons

2 prayer books

Pine Wood

£ 1

60 shillings

1 shilling 6 pence

—104—

___________________GRASSL

At the outbreak of the American

Revolution, the population of George Town

consisted of 351 free persons plus slaves.

Rachel's husband Jacob Purvey enlisted in

the German Regiment during the

Revolutionary War. He is listed on 19

September 1776, in Philadelphia as "Private

Jacob Fowee."

The Council of Maryland

awarded more than 200 pounds in specie,

i.e., coin rather than paper currency, to

"Rachel Furry" in 1782.

It would seem

that Rachel may have lost her second hus-

band in the Revolutionary War and the

money may have been her compensation.

The 1790 United States Census for

Montgomery County, into which George

Town had been incorporated in 1776, lists

no Jacob Purvey or Furry. It does show a

"Charles Fura" living with three other males

over 16 plus a slave and a "Thomas Fura"

living alone. These were apparently Jacob

and Rachel's sons. "John Lehman" or

"Lemon" appears four times in the 1790

Census in adjacent Prince George's County,

once for each house or dwelling area owned

by a person of that name. The Census enu-

merates the inhabitants by gender and age

but doesn't specify their names. It would

appear, however, that two of the households

in question were those of John Christopher

Lehman and his brother and that Rachel

lived out her final years with one of her sons

with Christopher Lehman.

THE STONE HOUSE:

A WITNESS TO

HISTORY

The Stone House witnessed the rise of a sea-

port town and the formative years of the

Nation's Capital. It saw the country

progress from a colonial possession to an

independent republic. By 1785, "flat bot-

tomed 'gondolas' brought in many ship-

ments of furs, lumber, and flour, and farm

produce to the George Town wharves."

This western trade extended as far as Fort

Osage on the Missouri River, to Lake Erie,

and to Mobile, Alabama.

The new Capital on the Potomac was

authorized by Congress on 16 July 1790. In

1791, the layout of the new city and the

location of the chief government buildings

were planned in Suter's Tavern in George-

town by Charles Pierce L'Enfant, Baron De

Graff, and George Washington. Suter's Ta-

vern was located three blocks below or

south of the Old Stone House. When, in

April 1791, the boundaries of the new

District of Columbia were laid out,

Georgetown was included as Georgetown,

District of Columbia, along with Washing-

ton, D.C., and Alexandria, D.C.

On 18 September 1793, the corner-

stone of the new Capitol was laid by George

Washington after a procession from George-

town. The Masonic Lodge No. 9 of George-

town, known as the Potomac Lodge, played

an important role in the procession and cer-

emony. The founder and charter Master of

the lodge was Charles Frederick Fierer or

Karl Friederich Führer, to give his German

name. After being captured by Washington

at Trenton, he joined the American forces

and fought as a major of cavalry. After the

war, he settled in Georgetown and published

its first newspaper, the Times, and the

Patowmack Packet.

During the laying of

the cornerstone for the Capitol, the partici-

pation of the Masons from the Potomac

Lodge was directed by Worshipful Master

Valentine Reintzel, who received the trowel

from Washington. The headquarters of the

Potomac Lodge at this time were one block

below the Old Stone House on Thomas

Jefferson Street and the C & O Canal. Today

the building still overlooks the Canal on the

west side of Jefferson Street. The trowel

which Reintzel received from President

—105—

OLD STONE HOUSE_______________

Washington is kept in the vault of the bank

at the northeast corner of Wisconsin and M

Streets.

Around 1793, the Old Stone House

passed into the hands of Cassandra Chew's

daughters Mary and Harriet, who were the

natural children of Robert Peter, the first

mayor of George Town. At that point the

house and property were valued at $400.

In 1800, the house was rented out for a

watchmaker's shop.

Meanwhile, the Union Hotel opened in

1796 at Bridge and Washington Streets, a

few doors east of the Old Stone House.

Alexander Humboldt stayed at the Union

when he visited Thomas Jefferson in the

White House in 1804. The Bank of

Columbia, the first bank in the District of

Columbia, was also founded in 1796 and

located two blocks west of the Old Stone

House. The building still stands today at

3214 M Street. After 1806, the Federal

Government established its Indian Trade

Office in the building. The Trade Office car-

ried on trade relations between the

Government and Indians in the building as

late as 1822.

In 1809, the Washington

Federalist reported that upwards of 4000

raccoon skins would be sold in the Indian

Trade Office in a single day.

Next to the

Bank of Columbia, the City Tavern was

established at 3212 M Street. After it

opened, Thomas Jefferson patronized it

instead of Suter's Tavern. The building is

still standing today.

With the move of the federal govern-

ment to the District of Columbia in 1800,

many government officials and diplomats

took up lodgings in George Town because it

offered more amenities than Washington

proper. M Street served then as it does today

as the principal artery between Washington

and George Town.

On 4 July 1828, President John Quincy

Adams turned the first shovelful of earth for

the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, which

originated in Georgetown and ran one block

below the Old Stone House. Although there

are no extant records to verify the claim,

descendants of Philibert Rodier, Chesa-

peake and Ohio Canal Company engineer

and designer of the Wisconsin Avenue

Bridge over the canal, maintain that "Rodier

and his family resided in the Old Stone

House in 1830." Heine, who interviewed the

Rodier family believes that the claim is

credible.

The Georgetown Directory of

1830 lists Rodier as residing on Bridge

Street near Washington Street.

The C & O

Canal, which Rodier helped plan, was built

from Georgetown to Cumberland, Mary-

land, from 1828 until 1850. The 184.5 miles

of the canal run parallel to the Potomac

River. They were dug mainly by German

and Irish workers, many of whom died of

disease in the process.

The Stone House was put to many uses

over the years. It was a tailoring establish-

ment, a cobbler's shop, a gunsmith's shop, a

printer's establishment, and a painter's and

glazer's place of business. In 1959, Park

Service historian Cornelius Heine told the

Association of Oldest Inhabitants of Was-

hington, that "numerous pieces of type have

been found recently in a large stone kiln on

the first floor."

Such evidence makes one

wonder whether the Stone House might

even have been the print shop for the Times,

and the Patowmack Packet published by

Fierer in Georgetown in the 1780s?

THE STONE HOUSE AS HISTORICAL SHRINE

The final commercial use of the Old

Stone House was as the office of a used car

dealer. When the Old Stone House was

about to be torn down in 1950 for a large

commercial building, many individuals and

—106—

______________________GRASSL

organizations rallied for its preservation.

Bill 836 was introduced in Congress in 1950

authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to

acquire "a historic building of great pre

Revolutionary architectural merit known as

the Old Stone House ... containing approxi-

mately twenty thousand and forty eight

square feet [20,048]." Speaker Rayburn

made a rare address to the House of

Representatives: "I am very much interested

in the passage of this bill, because I think

that the few landmarks we have in the

United States ought to be preserved as an

inspiration to the generations that are com-

ing...." A building like this "connects the

first generation of our freedom and liberty

with the present generation and all genera-

tions to come."

The bill was signed into

law by President Truman. The Old Stone

House was purchased in 1953 by the

Federal Government for $90,000. After the

building had been refurbished, the

Georgetowner predicted, "[t]he old Stone

House promises to be one of Georgetown's

greatest assets—historically, and architec-

turally."

The Old Stone House (Pamphlet by Parks and

History Association, Washington, D.C., in

coop-eration with the National Park Service,

U.S. Department of the Interior, 1995). Many

of the details on the background and history of

the Old Stone House cited here are taken from

this pamphlet.

John Boone is believed to have been a relative

of Daniel Boone.

Minutes of the Georgetown Commissioners,

1751-1789, 1: 41 (District of Columbia Re-

cords, Manuscript Division, Library of

Congress).

Minutes,1: 3.

The Old Stone House, 1765 (Pamphlet by the

National Park Service, Washington, D.C., no

date).

Minutes, 1:39.

Cornelius W. Heine, The Old Stone House

(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the

Interior, National Park Service, National Capi-

tal Parks, 1955), 68.

The Olive Tree Geneaology: Palatine Passen-

ger Lists <http://www.rootsweb.com/ ~ote/

palshi5.htm>.