Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18MO745 Sibley
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
Site 18MO745, also known as the Sibley Site, is a late-18th to mid-20th century domestic site. The is located on the western edge of the Day land parcel that occupies the northwestern corner of the intersection of Stringtown and Frederick Road in Clarksburg.
The Sibley Site occupies land originally belonging to a 1745 patent comprising 270 acres called Warfield’s Vineyard, patented by Alexander Warfield, as well as a lot called Money’s Worth. Patent records for Money’s Worth could not be located in the Montgomery or Prince George’s County land records. In 1788, unspecified portions of Warfield’s Vineyard were divided between Godfrey Waters and John Coffee. John Dowdon Coffee conveyed 158 acres of a property called Money’s Worth to Robert Peter in 1793 for 72 pounds, 12 shillings, two pence (MC Land Rec E:439). Coffee purchased the property back in 1796, with Money’s Worth property described as bordering parts of Warfield’s Vineyard. In February 1798, Coffee sold James Hinton a portion of the property situated on the “north and east side of the road [Frederick Road]” comprising two acres, two rods, and thirty-nine perches for fifteen pounds sterling. Several months later in April, Hinton divided his portion of Money’s Worth into two parcels, each comprising about one-half acre. The property is further described as the same land received from Coffee and begins at a stone marked I.B. James Hinton. Hinton conveyed the parcels to Jonathan Browning, Jr. for seven pounds, ten shillings. In 1799, Browning sold one acre of Money’s Worth parcels to William Dixon for 18 pounds, fifteen shillings.
In 1802, Dixon sold the one-acre lot to James Hawkins for nine pounds, seven shillings, six pence. A James Hawkins appears in the 1810 census and is recorded living in Montgomery County with a household of 20 individuals. His household included 17 enslaved African Americans, one white male aged 16-25 years, one white female aged 45 years or over, and one a white male, presumably Hawkins, aged 26-44 years. It is highly unlikely that James Hawkins and all of these individuals were inhabiting a structure on this one-acre lot and Hawkins most likely resided elsewhere. In 1809, the boundary of Warfield’s Vineyard was drawn with portions of neighboring properties for a chancery court case, including Money’s Worth.
In 1817, Hawkins conveyed a 0.39-acre portion of his property to Alexander Windsor for a nominal consideration. Land records granting Windsor the rest of the 3 1/4 acres described in later deeds could not be located. Alexander Windsor appears in the 1840 census, with a household of 16 individuals, including six enslaved African Americans, and 12 members engaged in agriculture. In 1847, Windsor conveyed this portion of Money’s Worth to Zachariah Windsor. Zachariah Windsor appears in the 1850 census in the household of Alexander Windsor. At this time, Alexander Windsor is recorded as 61 years old, and Zachariah Windsor is listed as a 24-year-old, one of five farmers in Alexander’s household.
In 1859, Windsor sold the property to Sarah A. Brown and her husband, George W. Brown, for $400.00. The deed describes the property containing “a house and lot in the village of Clarksburg,” which indicates the house on this lot also predates 1859. George and Sarah Brown appear in the 1860 census. The Browns were both 30 years old in 1860 and held $1,000 in real estate and $150.00 in personal estate. Brown’s occupation is listed as mechanic.
In December 1860, the Browns sold the property to Jonathan Sibley for $550.00. This deed again describes a house existing on this lot. The lot’s stated southwest boundary is Frederick Road, and it totals 3 1/4 acres. The deed mentions the property lines established by the sale of the neighboring lot by James Hawkins in 1804, which is the lot that contains the Wims Site. A Jonathan Sibly appears in the 1840 census in the Rockville area, but it is unclear if it is the same Jonathan Sibley as owned the Study Area. Sibley appears in Clarksburg in the 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 censuses. Sibley is listed as a white male born in 1796 who married a Harriet Sibley sometime prior to 1850. In 1850, Sibley had a large household, consisting of himself, Harriet (46), Elizabeth (22), Levarins (17), Joshua (15), Joseph (3), Joanna (11), and Jonathan (7) Sibley, along with Leo (27), Susan (23), and Jacob Wade, an infant. Sibley was a farmer with $650.00 worth of real estate and his wife is listed as “deranged.” In 1860, Sibley owned $635.00 worth of real estate and lived with Harriet (no longer listed as deranged), Levarins, Joseph, Joanna, and Jonathan Sibley. Joseph is listed as a farm laborer. In 1870, Sibley still lived with Harriet, Levarins, Jonathan Sibley, George F. Sibley (4). The elder Jonathan is listed as a farmer, and the younger Jonathan as a farm laborer. In 1880, Sibley, now 84 years old, is listed as a retired farmer, and still lived with his wife, Harriet, as well as a young boy named Frank Sibley (10). It is possible that Frank Sibley is the same as George F. Sibley recorded in 1870, although their ages are different. The Sibley’s are listed next to Columbus O. Woodward, who is known to have occupied the house next door in 1878.
Following the death of Johnathan Sibley in 1884, Maklon T. Lewis was granted power of attorney over his estate and he sold the property on October 12, 1886. Lewis, representing Sibley’s heirs, sold a 3 1/4-acre portion of Money’s Worth and Woodport to Charles R. Murphy for $535.00. Charles R. Murphy appears in the 1880 and 1900 federal censuses. In 1880, Charles, aged 52 years, lived with his wife Eliza, aged 46 years, and Julia A., aged 22 years, Mary E., aged 20 years, Jennie, aged 19 years, and Katie Murphy, aged 17 years. Murphy’s occupation is listed as farmer. In 1900, all but Eliza, now aged 67 years, and Kate, aged 37 years, had left Murphy’s household. By then, Murphy had become a Judge of the Orphans Court and livied in a house (rather than on a farm). It is possible he would occupy the house he owned in Clarksburg. Another Charles R. Murphy is recorded in Clarksburg in 1910 and beyond, but this appears to be a different, much younger Charles R. Murphy.
In 1922, Katie L. Purdum and her husband, William S. Purdum sold the two contiguous parcels that made up part of Money’s Worth and Woodport to Thurston B. King and his wife, Pomona King for $1,000.00. It is unclear how ownership passed from Murphy to the Purdums, although it is worth noting that Katie Purdum may be Kate Murphy. William Purdum is listed in the 1920 and 1930 federal censuses, married to Katie L. Purdum and employed as a mail carrier for the rural route. Thurston Brewer King appears in the 1930 and 1940 censuses but does not appear in census records from the time he owned this property. In 1930 he is listed as a carpenter who lived on a farm, and in 1940 he is listed as a farm operator. King died in 1972 and was buried in the Clarksburg United Methodist Church cemetery.
In 1925, the Kings transferred the property to Clarence D. Day and his wife, Dorothy W. Day for a nominal consideration. MHT records name the surviving structure on the property the Day House. In 1957, the Days conveyed the property, now totaling 3.665 acres, to Duncan C. Clark and his wife, Mabel E. Clark. Following the death of Mabel Clark in 1987, Miranda Smith, a representative of Clark’s estate, sold the property to Jerry Neil Rudden, Aric L. Rudden, and Sol Rudden as joint tenants, with each receiving a 1/3 interest in the property. This deed provides an address for the property at 23200 Stringtown Road, Clarksburg, Maryland. In 1992, Sol Rudden placed the property into The Sol Rudden Revocable Trust, with himself as the designated trustee. In 2003, the successors of Sol Rudden transferred the property to private ownership by Jerry Neil Rudden and Aric L. Rudden pursuant to Section 3.03 of the Sol Rudden Revocable Trust. SDAT data for the most current change of ownership, in which the Ruddens presumably transferred the property to Potomac Holdings, LLC is missing a land record reference.
This site was identified in April of 2018 by Applied Archaeology and History Associates, Inc. during a Phase I survey in advance of sidewalk and walkway improvements on MD 355 in Clarksville. A total of 22 STPs were excavated at 5-10 m intervals within the area of potential effect. The site appears to extend north and west of the survey limits and more work is required to fully delineate the site in those directions. The southern portion of the site has been disturbed by road construction.
The Phase IB survey concluded that the Sibley Site was potentially significant under NRHP Criterion D, as it had the potential to provide new information about domestic activities in rural Montgomery County during the late-18th to mid-20th century periods in Maryland history. Given the rural crossroads setting, this site could possibly provide new data about patterns of household consumption, ethnicity of the occupants, and spatial layout of specific functions within the site. The early dating for some of the ceramics, which included pearlware, indicated that this site also had the potential to provide information on the early development of Clarksburg as a community. It was recommended that a Phase II archaeological evaluation of the site be conducted if future impacts to the site cannot be avoided.
In April of 2019 Phase II testing was conducted by Applied Archaeology and History Associates, Inc. Fieldwork included pedestrian reconnaissance, 21 STPs at 5 m intervals, 10 1x1 m test units.
The Phase IB excavation grid was reestablished for the purposes of the Phase II investigation. A total of 21 STPs were excavated at 5 m intervals. Based on the results of these STPs, a further ten 1x1 m test units were excavated throughout the study area. A total of 2,606 artifacts were recovered from the test units. As with the Neighborhood Site (18MO742), the excavations revealed evidence for substantial deposits of redeposited fill material across the site. Across the majority of the site the fill reached a depth of around 20-30 cm below ground surface, however in the southwest corner of the site, the excavations identified substantial evidence for the presence of an infilled cellar. In much of the cellar, the fill material reached a depth of over a meter, making excavation incredibly difficult, but it was possible to identify several potentially intact deposits at the base of the cellar. It is unclear whether the material used to fill the cellar hole came from the site itself or if it was brought to the location from somewhere else. The majority of the artifacts recovered from the site dated to the 19th through early 20th centuries, but a number of sherds of colonial ceramic were also recovered, as were 17 pieces of free-blown bottle glass. This could indicate the presence of an early occupation in this area, especially as the parcel was originally patented seven years prior to the nearby Dowdens Ordinary (MIHP# M: 13-53). No structural components for the structure survived its demolition. Any further archaeological excavation of the Sibley Site should be undertaken with the use of mechanical excavators to strip back the extensive surface fill deposits.
The artifact assemblage from the Sibley Site totaled 2,606 artifacts, the most recovered from the three sites under investigation (18MO742, 18MO745, 18MO746). The vast majority of the artifacts from the Sibley Site come from secondary 20th-century deposits that are associated with the demolition of the house (n=1,958 or 75.13%) that place limitations on what the full assemblage can reveal about the site apart from a probable date for the demolition event itself. Of the remaining artifacts, 508 or 19.49% were recovered from yard contexts (in both STPs and TUs) and 140 or 5.37% were recovered from intact deposits within the filled-in cellar hole. Kitchen group artifacts dominated the full assemblage (n=1,424 or 54.64%), followed by Architecture (n=822 or 13.54%), Miscellaneous (mostly unidentified metal; n=280 or 10.74%), Activities and Clothing (each with n=35 or 1.34%), along with very small assemblages of Personal (n=4 or 0.15%), Tobacco (n=3 or 0.12%), Arms (n=2 or 0.08%), and Furniture (n=1 or 0.04%) items.
The fill contexts contained a mix of diagnostic artifacts that span the entire time Clarksburg has been settled. The site contained 271 diagnostic ceramics, of which 167 (61.62%) were recovered from fill contexts, 98 (36.16%) were recovered from yard contexts and 6 (2.21%) were recovered from intact contexts within the house. Because the fill deposits may have been brought in from elsewhere, the focus of this discussion must necessarily be the artifacts form the yard and intact house contexts. In these two contexts, 19th-century whiteware (n=53) and ironstone (n=30) dominate, together accounting for 79.81% of the diagnostic assemblage. One piece of Rockingham early refined earthenware also dates to the 19th century. Late 18th- to early 19th-century wares are less frequently attested, including pearlware (n=13 or 12.5%) and creamware (n=4 or 3.85%). Two considerably earlier ceramics and two pieces of Rhenish stoneware. Both of these are Colonial wares that likely date to the earliest occupation of Clarksburg. Other diagnostic artifacts from these contexts include machine-made bottle glass (n=72), 19th century machine-cut nails (n=12), and 20th century wire nails (n=6). Together, this points to an occupation likely beginning in the second quarter of the 19th century and extending into the first quarter of the 20th, but given the location of the site close to the 18th-century Dowden’s Ordinary (MIHP # M: 13-53) and the relatively early date for the patenting of the property, it is possible that the site may have been occupied around the turn of the 19th century or earlier. At least some of the 20th century artifacts from the yard probably originated during the occupation of the Day House rather than the earlier house.
Archaeological evaluation of the Sibley Site has resulted in the determination that substantial grading has occurred across much of site, reaching a depth of approximately 20 cm below surface. Notwithstanding this disturbance, the investigations resulted in the identification of an infilled cellar with a potential root cellar at its base indicating that the disturbance/grading has been limited to the upper layer of the property. The cellar belongs to a house that was likely constructed in the first half of the 19th century and demolished in the early 20th, around the time the Day House was constructed on the property. The 20th-century infill of the cellar contained a small number of colonial artifacts mixed into modern contexts, potentially indicating an occupation that predates the site and similar in age to nearby Dowden’s Ordinary. These artifacts were not found in an intact context, however, and may also have resulted from fill being brought in from elsewhere. The cellar contained cultural features buried under more than 100 cm of modern fill. These features relate to the occupation of the previous house on the Sibley Site and indicate the potential for additional intact features buried beneath the fill. Significant information on the site remains unknown, including the north-south extent of the former structure. Due to its potential to provide significant information on life in Clarksburg during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this site wa recommended eligible for inclusion on the NRHP under Criterion D.
Site 18MO745 represents a primarily 19th-century domestic occupation beneath 20th-century fill. The fill reaches a depth of approximately 20 cm below surface across most of the site. Notwithstanding this disturbance, the investigations resulted in the identification of an infilled cellar with a potential root cellar at its base, indicating that the disturbance/grading has been limited to the uppermost stratigraphy within the site. The cellar, buried under more than 100 cm of fill, belongs to a house that was likely constructed in the first half of the 19th century and demolished in the early 20th, around the time the nearby Day House (MIHP M: 13-10-14) was constructed on the property. The 20th-century infill of the cellar contained a small number of colonial artifacts mixed into modern contexts, potentially indicating an occupation that predates the site and similar in age to nearby Dowden’s Ordinary. These artifacts were recovered from disturbed, intermixed contexts, however, and may be associated with fill from secondary sources not originally associated with the site. The cellar contained cultural features buried under more than 100 cm of modern fill.
However, it was determined that site 18MO745 did not meet the criteria for eligibility in the National Register of Historic Places; the extent of disturbances had extensively impacted the integrity and information potential of the site.
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