What do we know about the construction of the Jason Russell House?

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Carolyn Carlson
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Robert Nylander published a report in 1964 that suggested that Jason Russell built the house in two stages: one part in 1740 and an addition around 1750, around the time of his marriage to Elizabeth Winship. Jason’s grandfather, also called Jason Russell, had built a house on the property too, coinciding approximately with his marriage in 1684. Nylander rejected Russell family lore, which had long held that the house had been built in one campaign in 1745. In his report on the archaeological dig in March 1985, Mark Boulding suggested that perhaps Jason Russell the grandfather had built the original house and that the younger Jason Russell, after inheriting the house in 1738, had moved in.

In 2012, further research led to new conclusions. Samples of timbers from various parts of the house were sent off to a lab in Oxford, England, to be analyzed to determine their age. This sampling is called dendrochronology, the study of tree rings, whereby rings from one piece of wood can be matched with known tree rings from a timber of a known date from a different building to yield a year (or even a month within a year) in which the timber was felled.

Sampling of beams, joists, and roof components from various parts of the house indicate that the trees from which the house was built were felled around 1661-1662, 1684-1685 (structural timbers), and 1740-1750 (samples from interior timbers). These results, combined with the knowledge that felling dates in this era usually coincided with building, suggest that Jason Russell did indeed build the entire house around 1745, using new wood for the main structural components of the house and re-used timbers from his grandfather’s older house for the interior beams.

Taken March 27, 2012 by Dr. Dan Miles of the Oxford Dendrochronology Lab, Mapledurham, Oxford, UK
Jason Russell House core samples.  Taken March 27, 2012 by Dr. Dan Miles of the Oxford Dendrochronology Lab, Mapledurham, Oxford, UK

Sources:
2012. Miles, D.W.H. The Tree-Ring Dating of the Jason Russell House, Arlington, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Report 20012/45, unpaginated (ms. available at the Arlington Historical Society).

1986. Boulding, Mark E. Archaeological Excavations at the Jason Russell House in Arlington, Massachusetts. Boston: Center for Archaeological Studies, Boston University.

1964. Nylander, Robert Harrington. Jason Russell and his House in Menotomy. Boston: Bulletin of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, Serial Number 198.

Comments

3 responses to “What do we know about the construction of the Jason Russell House?”

  1. Archaeological Dig at Jason Russell House ~ Mass History Commons

    […] from an earlier 17th century structure – likely a home he inherited from his grandparents. See https://sandbox.arlingtonhistorical.org/what-do-we-know-about-the-construction-of-the-jason-russell-house/ for more […]

  2. Jeannette Carroll Avatar
    Jeannette Carroll

    Request for Rev. War service for Jason Russell, Sergeant, in Col. Baldwin’s Reg. in NH. We believe there are two Jason Russell’s who served in the American Revolution:
    1. Jason Russell, Pvt, Capt Joseph Barret’s Co in Col. Nichols Reg. of NH Militia, in the town of Mason, that went out to We are attempting to prove the Revolutionary War service for Jason Russell in order to join the Daughters of the American Revolution.
    2. Jason Russell, Sergeant, appears on an undated list of Capt. Reed’s Co in Col. Baldwin’s Reg. in NH. The period of his service is not shown. (this info was taken from a 11 Nov. 1930 note from the War Dept. Adj. General’s office)l The DAR has rejected the proofs submitted on 1. Pvt. Jason Russell ….. According to Hammond, Rolls of the Sols in the Rev War, NH State Papers, Vol 14, pp 203, 204, Capt Walker and Col Reed’s company was mustered at Cambridge on 26 May 1775. Jason would have been 57 years old at this time, so this service likely belongs to a younger man of the same name. Additionally, this same source shows that Jason Russell in Capt Walker’s company was dead by 11 Sept 1775. The latest we can find Jason Russell living is the 1753 birth of his daughter, Hannah.”
    We would appreciate any information you might have on 2. Jason Russell, Sergeant, who appears on an undated list in Col. Baldwin’s Reg. in NH. The period of his service is not shown. (this info was taken from a 11 Nov. 1930, letter from the War Dept. Adj. General’s office, as well as from Fold 3). 253-630-6181

  3. Sara Lundberg Avatar
    Sara Lundberg

    Hi There –
    I’m sorry but we have no information for regiments in New Hampshire. It could be that the person is one of the many descendants of “our” Jason Russell – one son in particular settled in Mason, New Hampshire. He lived from 1740-1825. There were also quite a few grandchildren with the same name, many in New Hampshire, but we don’t have detailed records for them.

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