Jonas Green House (18AP29)
Site History
The Jonas Green House site (18AP29), also known as the Green Family Print Shop, represents the remains of an 18th-century standing town house and a print shop, located on Charles Street in Annapolis, Maryland. The lot is known to have been occupied by Green family and descendants from 1738 through at least the mid-1800s. The house was erected in the 2nd quarter of the 18th century, originally as a dwelling. Built in two phases, the Georgian dwelling presented a hall and double parlor plan that was enlarged to a central-passage, double-parlor plan. The property at one time included a free-standing print shop, main dwelling house, and kitchen.
Jonas Green was born in 1712 into a long line of New England printers. He served an apprenticeship with his father, Deacon Timothy Green, who was a printer to the Government and Company in New London, Connecticut. During his younger years, he worked with his brothers in a printing partnership, but after a move to Philadelphia in 1735, he worked with Andrew Bradford and Benjamin Franklin. In 1738, he married Anne Catherine Hoof and the newly wedded couple were living in Annapolis that same year. The Greens moved to Annapolis apparently to fill a need for a government printer.
Jonas is believed to have built the structure on Charles Street around this time on property he was only a tenant on. Jonas Green also gained income from work done by private clients and from 1745, he published the Maryland Gazette, paid for by subscriptions. Records of continued government support remain and much of this work involved the printing of laws, votes and proceedings for the government.
During the years when Green was becoming an established printer, he and his wife were starting a family. Their first son John was born in 1738. Anne Catherine bore a total of 14 children, eight of whom died early in their lives. While Anne Catherine was involved in homemaking, she was also involved in the family printing business. Anne Catherine bought the lot in 1770, three years after Jonas' death. With the help of son William, she took over the printing of the Gazette, continued working on government contracts. The newspaper was printed under the name Anne Catherine Green and Son. Anne Catherine's death in 1775 left her son Frederick in charge of the family business. He became partners with his brother Samuel and they ran the printing of the Gazette until their deaths in 1811.
A notice in the February 11th, 1780 edition of the Maryland Gazette explains that no edition of the paper was printed on February 4th because the printing office was consumed by fire. The Green family dwelling was preserved. A new print house is believed to have been built later that year. Frederick Green advertised in the Maryland Gazette in 1782 to sell one of the Charles Street lots (Lot 42) with its buildings, possibly to help settle Anne Catherine's estate. He was unsuccessful and in 1786, Frederick again tried to sell or rent the lot. He did not succeed but probably rented the property as the printing of the newspaper was moved to Francis Street that same year.
In 1800, the printing operation was moved again to Church Street (now Main Street). Frederick sold Lot 42 and three nearby lots in 1810 to Richard Harwood, who in turn sold them back a few years later to Frederick's son William. William lost the property to pay for debts. Although the names of subsequent property owners are known, there is no known record of the actual residents of the building and none are documented to have been printers. Frederick's son, Jonas, was the third generation to run the Green family printing business. It is during his ownership that the Maryland Gazette went out of business. Although there is record of continued government contracts and support for Jonas Green, by the 1830s, both he and his brother William (a county clerk) had fallen deeper into debt.
In the early 1830s, Farmer's Bank brought a suit against the Greens, pushing them into insolvency and forcing the sale of their belongings. The Gazette continued to be printed until 1839. For most of the late 18th century and 19th century, the Greens held a monopoly on printing in the City of Annapolis. Members of three generations of the family and their employees printed for a century, during most of which time, a Green family member was designated the "official" government printer.
Archaeological Investigations
Extensive archaeological excavations at 18AP29 were undertaken from 1983 to 1986. It was excavated as part of the field school sessions of Archaeology in Annapolis (AIA), sponsored by the University of Maryland at College Park and the Historic Annapolis Foundation. A 5 × 5 ft grid was placed over the entire lot at 124 Charles Street. Excavation was carried out by field school students and volunteers under the direction of site supervisors. All excavated soils were screened through hardware mesh. In most instances, the excavation units were sub-divided into four quadrants.
Several different excavation techniques were employed during the field project. Initial exploration entailed the excavation of 2.5 ft wide trenches excavated along north/south and east/west axes across the site to look for buried features. These trenches were subdivided during excavation and many of these units were subsequently expanded into 5 × 5 ft units to explore identified features and deposits further.
Numerous features were identified, including posthole and molds, brick foundation remnants of the former print shop building, a small outbuilding with a stone foundation, a filled cellar, trash pits, builder’s trenches, utility trenches, and planting features. Soil stratigraphy from the site was divided into 9 different "contexts." Numerous examples of printer's type were found in contexts 3-9 at the site, clearly attesting to the historical uses of the property.
Context 9 is the earliest of the recognized deposits. Early ceramics such as tin-glazed earthenware, white salt-glazed stoneware, and Chinese porcelain were found in this context. These deposits were concentrated in the east-central portion of the backyard area.
Context 8 is marked by the presence of white salt-glazed stoneware and dates to the mid-18th century. A wood-lined cellar is the most significant feature associated with this context. In addition, a work area appears to have been present around what may have been a wooden precursor of the stone print shop which would be built around 1780. This would be the structure that documentary sources record burning down in February of 1780.
Context 7 was defined primarily by the presence of creamware and dates to the late 18th century. Additional paving and brick features were situated to the northeast of the print shop. Stone foundations for a hyphen to connect the Jonas Green House kitchen and the print shop are also associated with Context 7.
Context 6 was also defined by the presence of creamware and dates to the late 18th century. Significant features from this context include two piers or supports for a structure related to the cellar. The remains of a storage outbuilding were also encountered. There is evidence for brick paving between the print shop, the house, and the kitchen. This area would have been used heavily for work-related tasks and as a corridor of movement between areas of the site. Numerous small deposits in the south yard further emphasize the increased usage of the area.
Context 5 is associated with the destruction of the print shop in 1780. Context 5 was distinguished by the presence of pearlware. Filling of the cellar and its bulkhead began in this period, with the initial fill being debris from the fire itself. More evidence for paving of brick or tile was found in the kitchen/shop yard.
Context 4 included a completed brick foundation for the post-1780 print shop. Builder's trenches were identified on both the interior and exterior of the south wall of the "new" print shop foundation and along the exterior of the east wall. The bulk of the cellar filling occurred within this context. The Context 4 cellar fill contained 118 vessels, ranging from Chinese porcelain, white salt-glazed stoneware, and tin-glazed earthenware to brown-bodied stoneware, and creamware. The yard showed similar variety, but much smaller quantities. Paving bricks and oyster refuse (also possible paving) are indicative of activity towards the back of the lot.
Context 3 was identified through the presence of whiteware in strata and features and dates to the mid-late 19th century. The context consists primarily of evidence for scattered vessels and trash deposits in the backyard. There is no centralized locus of activity, suggesting that the printing activities may have moved off site by this time. Documentary evidence shows that the property was occupied by tenants at this time, but it would seem they were not actively using the property for printing-related activities.
Context 2 dates to the mid-late 19th century and contained whiteware. The disuse of the print shop is apparent in Context 2 as a robber's trench was discovered on the east wall of the print shop foundation and bricks had been removed from this area. Context 1 dated to the 20th century or modern period of the site. Features tended to be associated with the modernization of the house (i.e. utility trenches, landscaping holes, etc.).
In the early 1990s the Jonas Green House was extensively renovated for public interpretation. During renovations in 1991 the site was monitored by archeologists and ultimately three additional 5 × 5 ft units were opened both within the house and in the kitchen area. No final report of these excavations appears to have been produced, so the findings are uncertain.
References
1995 A Summary of Archaeological Excavations from 1983-1986 at the Green Family Print Shop, 18AP29, Annapolis, Maryland. Report submitted to the Historic Annapolis Foundation.
