Jones Law Office
Encyclopedia
The Jones Law Office, also known as the Lorenzo D. Kelly House, is a structure within the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park
. In the nineteenth century the structure was owned by Kelly and used as a single family house. The original law office was also used as a dwelling by John Robinson for his large family in the nineteenth century after Kelly.
The one room structure is historically significant to the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park and was registered in the National Park Service
's database of Official Structures on June 26, 1989.
was charging for places
in the village of Appomattox Court House (then known also as Clover Hill). He decided to get a village law office for convenience, since it would be closer to the courthouse
for him than where he normally lived.
In his book A Place Called Appomattox, historian William Marvel describes history of the building as follows:
Later in his book Marvel describes further history of the building showing the distressing financial situation of the owner:
. In 1860 he is shown as living at the Jones Law Office structure, with his widowed mother, two of his younger siblings and his grandmother. At the time of Gen. Lee's surrender in 1865 the structure was located a little more than a hundred yards away from the Bocock-Isbell house
behind the Clover Hill Tavern
in the village.
is one room deep and is of post and beam construction. The house comes with a full attic and a raised cellar. It is about twenty one and a half feet wide and seventeen and a half feet deep. The west side elevation is centered with an end gable exterior sandstone chimney. It has an enclosed cellar entry with a shed roof.
The typical single residence one story pedimented house has an entry porch at the center entry. It is sheathed in unpainted weatherboards with five to five and a half inch exposure. The gable roof is covered with round-butt wood shingles with box cornice and crown moulding at the eaves and simple rake with ogee moulding at the gable ends. The first floor windows are 6/6 double hung sashes without shutters. A similar 6/9 double hung sash window is on the principal floor. The attic story on the gable ends has four-light upward-swinging casement sashes. The basement sashes are four-light hoppers.
The rear door on the south side has a centered four-paneled door providing to the first floor and another pair of cellar casements of three light.
The front entrance on the north side has a porch with facing pediment covered in clapboards with two six-inch square posts and two six foot by three inch pilaster
s, simple one foot by three-quarter inch baluster
s. It has a heavy rounded rail on the side only and four riser steps. Flanking the porch to the west is a 6/9 sash window. No windows have shutters. The interior has been restored, however due to its age it has little integrity. The structure exterior was restored in 1963.
Appomattox Court House National Historical Park
The Appomattox Court House National Historical Park is a National Historical Park of original and reconstructed nineteenth century buildings. It was signed into law August 3, 1935. The village was made a national monument in 1940 and a national historical park in 1954...
. In the nineteenth century the structure was owned by Kelly and used as a single family house. The original law office was also used as a dwelling by John Robinson for his large family in the nineteenth century after Kelly.
The one room structure is historically significant to the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park and was registered in the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
's database of Official Structures on June 26, 1989.
History
The Jones Law Office was originally constructed about 1850 for the law office and village home of Crawford Jones, Appomattox County farmer, attorney, and local secessionist leader. Early in 1854 he began sending one of his slaves into the village to purchase cotton handkerchiefs and cakes of "Yankie" soap. From the slave he learned of cheap rents Samuel D. McDearmonSamuel D. McDearmon
Samuel Daniel McDearmon , also known as Samuel D. McDearmon, was a Confederate army officer during the American Civil War. He held a number of political and government offices, and played a significant role in the development of Appomattox and Appomattox Court House, Virginia.-Biography:McDearmon...
was charging for places
in the village of Appomattox Court House (then known also as Clover Hill). He decided to get a village law office for convenience, since it would be closer to the courthouse
Courthouse
A courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply...
for him than where he normally lived.
In his book A Place Called Appomattox, historian William Marvel describes history of the building as follows:
Later in his book Marvel describes further history of the building showing the distressing financial situation of the owner:
Crawford Jones
Jones made his regular home at his family's plantation. In 1850 William A. Jones (subject's father) had 66 slaves at this plantation. Crawford Jones (subject of article) had five slaves as of 1860 when he was 29 years old. He inherited several more slaves after his father's death, which he co-owned with his mother. Crawford was living at his father's plantation in 1850 but on his own in 1860, according to U.S. Census for Appomattox County. He died in the summer of 1863 leaving his wife, Elizabeth, with the law office in the village.Lorenzo D. Kelly
The Jones Law Office has the name of the Lorenzo D. Kelly house and was misidentified by the National Park Service in their 1989 National Register of Historic Places Registration application. The U.S. Census for the year of 1850 for Appomattox County shows Lorenzo as a wheelwrightWheelwright
A wheelwright is a person who builds or repairs wheels. The word is the combination of "wheel" and the archaic word "wright", which comes from the Old English word "wryhta", meaning a worker or maker...
. In 1860 he is shown as living at the Jones Law Office structure, with his widowed mother, two of his younger siblings and his grandmother. At the time of Gen. Lee's surrender in 1865 the structure was located a little more than a hundred yards away from the Bocock-Isbell house
Bocock-Isbell House
The Bocock-Isbell House is a structure within the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. It was registered in the National Park Service's database of Official Structures on June 26, 1989.-History:...
behind the Clover Hill Tavern
Clover Hill Tavern
The Clover Hill Tavern with its guest house and slave quarters are structures within the Appomattox Court House National Historical Park. They were registered in the National Park Service's database of Official Structures on June 26, 1989.-History:...
in the village.
John Robertson (Robinson)
Around 1867 John Robertson (a black shoemaker) and his wife lived in the structure with three children. In November 1869 there was a fourth child added to the Robertson family, all living in this one-room building in the village. Robertson and his wife are buried in a small graveyard behind the house. The Civil War historian William Marvel uses the spelling Robertson, while the National Park Service uses the spelling Robinson.Historical significance
The Appomattox Court House National Historical Park declares there are three of the National Register Criteria that make the structure historically significant.- Criteria A - It has meaningful value because of its association with the site of the surrender of the Confederacy's supreme military commander and its principal army, which represented the conclusion of the American Civil WarConclusion of the American Civil WarThis is a timeline of the conclusion of the American Civil War which includes important battles, skirmishes, raids and other events of 1865. These led to additional Confederate surrenders, key Confederate captures, and disbandments of Confederate military units that occurred after Gen. Robert E...
.
- Criteria B - It has meaningful value because of its association with the site of the surrender of Gen. Robert E. LeeRobert E. LeeRobert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
and his subordinate commanders to Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
, future President of the United States.
- Criteria C - It preserves the distinctive characteristics of embodying the period and method of construction typical in Piedmont Virginia in the mid-nineteenth century. It is considered typical of a county government seat and of a typical farming community in mid-nineteenth century Virginia.
Description
The Jones Law Office is a single story structure furnished on the first floor as a simple home of a mid-nineteenth century craftsman. It has a centered entry door with a single window on the side. The hall houseHall (concept)
The meanings attributed to the word hall have varied over the centuries, as social practices have changed. The word derives from the Old Teutonic , where it is associated with the idea of covering or concealing...
is one room deep and is of post and beam construction. The house comes with a full attic and a raised cellar. It is about twenty one and a half feet wide and seventeen and a half feet deep. The west side elevation is centered with an end gable exterior sandstone chimney. It has an enclosed cellar entry with a shed roof.
The typical single residence one story pedimented house has an entry porch at the center entry. It is sheathed in unpainted weatherboards with five to five and a half inch exposure. The gable roof is covered with round-butt wood shingles with box cornice and crown moulding at the eaves and simple rake with ogee moulding at the gable ends. The first floor windows are 6/6 double hung sashes without shutters. A similar 6/9 double hung sash window is on the principal floor. The attic story on the gable ends has four-light upward-swinging casement sashes. The basement sashes are four-light hoppers.
The rear door on the south side has a centered four-paneled door providing to the first floor and another pair of cellar casements of three light.
The front entrance on the north side has a porch with facing pediment covered in clapboards with two six-inch square posts and two six foot by three inch pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s, simple one foot by three-quarter inch baluster
Baluster
A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...
s. It has a heavy rounded rail on the side only and four riser steps. Flanking the porch to the west is a 6/9 sash window. No windows have shutters. The interior has been restored, however due to its age it has little integrity. The structure exterior was restored in 1963.
Footnotes
Sources
- Bradford, Ned, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Plume, 1989
- Catton, Bruce, A Stillness at Appomattox, Doubleday 1953, Library of Congress # 53-9982, ISBN 0-385-04451-8
- Catton, Bruce, This Halloeed Ground, Doubleday 1953, Library of Congress # 56-5960
- Chaffin, Tom , 2006. Sea of Gray: The Around-the-World Odyssey of the Confederate Raider Shenandoah, Hill and Wang/Farrar, Straus and Giroux,.
- Davis, Burke, The Civil War: Strange & Fascinating Facts, Wings Books, 1960 & 1982, ISBN 0-5173715-1-0
- Davis, Burke, To Appomattox - Nine April Days, 1865, Eastern Acorn Press, 1992, ISBN 0-9159921-7-5
- Featherston, Nathaniel Ragland, Appomattox County History and Genealogy, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1998, ISBN 0-8063476-0-0
- Gutek, Patricia, Plantations and Outdoor Museums in America's Historic South, University of South Carolina Press, 1996, ISBN 1-5700307-1-5
- Hosmer, Charles Bridgham, Preservation Comes of Age: From Williamsburg to the National Trust, 1926-1949, Preservation Press, National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States by the University Press of Virginia, 1981
- Kaiser, Harvey H., The National Park Architecture Sourcebook, Princeton Architectural Press, 2008, ISBN 1-5689874-2-0
- Kennedy, Frances H., The Civil War Battlefield Guide, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1990, ISBN 0-395522-8-2X
- Korn, Jerry et al., The Civil War, Pursuit to Appomattox, The Last Battles, Time-Life Books, 1987, ISBN 0-8094478-8-6
- Marvel, William, A Place Called Appomattox, UNC Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8078256-8-9
- Marvel, William, Lee's Last Retreat, UNC Press, 2006, ISBN 0-8078570-3-3
- McPherson, James M., Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford University Press, 1988,
- National Park Service, Appomattox Court House: Appomattox Court House National Historical Park, Virginia, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 2002, ISBN 0-9126277-0-0
- Tidwell, William A., April '65: Confederate Covert Action in the American Civil War, Kent State University Press, 1995, ISBN 0-8733851-5-2
- Weigley, Russel F., A Great Civil War: A Military and Political History, 1861-1865, Indiana University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-2533373-8-0