Old Swede Building

Mouns Jones House, brief paragraph re: general history & datestone (1886) Text from page 945 of the book ”History of Berks County” by Morton Montgomery, copyright 1886 by Everts and Peck, Philadelphia. Page begins by giving background information on Swedish settlement in Amity. Paragraph beginning ”Old Swede Building” talks briefly about the history of the Mouns Jones House as well as the house’s date-stone [see record #MJHPH86 regarding the temporary “loss” and recovery of the “tablet”; see also record # MJHDWG2 and footnote {n} in record # MJHPH6]. An article entitled The “Old Swede’s House” is published in The Historical Review of Berks County”, Vol. I, #4, July, 1936. This rendering of the house, from a wood engraving by an unidentified artist, is the earliest known image of the then 170 year old dwelling. Much of the excerpts from Acrelius’s “History of New Sweden” relating to William Penn’s attempt’s [under “pretext”] to acquire the Swede’s land near Philadelphia are irrelevant to Mouns Jones, who sold his Kingsessing house and land in 1712 to his son-in-law Frederick Schaeffenhausen in an arms-length family transaction without interference or influence from Penn or his sons or agents. Laurence Ward, May 2016