http://www.marioncountyhistoricalcommission.org/

Marion County Historical Commission, Jefferson, TX (2026)

05/27/2026

Jefferson Underground
Items from the collection of Tom Moss
Photos and information by David Durocher

Tom made a correction to this post. Only the eagles are from his collection. All the other photos and information are from David Durocher's research.

Few musical instruments are more deeply connected to the American experience than the banjo. The banjo was created by enslaved Africans and their descendants in the Caribbean and colonial North America. Here, they maintained and perpetuated the tradition within a complex system of slave-labor camps, plantations, and in a variety of rural and urban settings. From the earliest references in the 17th century, and through the 1830s, the banjo was exclusively known as an African-American tradition with a West African heritage. What further distinguishes the banjo is that it did not come from Africa “as-is” as an unaltered tradition. Rather, the banjo’s creation was the result of a blending between West African and European forms. Sharing some similarities with the guitar, the best-documented form of the early banjo includes a drum-like body made out of a gourd (or sometimes a calabash) and a neck that could accommodate 4 strings—three long strings that run the full length of the instrument and one short thumb string that stops about halfway up the side of the neck. The drum-like gourd body and strings of different lengths are uniquely African, while the flat fingerboard and tuning pegs are more commonly associated with European traditions.
In the nineteenth century, patriotism was an important part of daily life in America and the banjo entered the music scene along with the guitar and harmonica as the instruments of the day. It’s twangy sound became part of the American sound track and was common place in camps, mills, and towns as the country expanded westward.
These artifacts (Tom Moss collection) are head tensioners from the drum heads of mid nineteenth century, patriotic themed banjo’s. Excavated from both Northern and Southern military sites they are a reminder of the level of patriotism in all things of that era, and the diversity of artifacts in.
“The Jefferson Underground”

05/22/2026

Jefferson Underground
Item recently found by Teresa Hall
Information by David Durocher

Signet rings originated in Mesopotamia and Egypt around 3000 BCE — cylinder seals worn on the finger and pressed into clay tablets to authenticate documents and mark property.

Signet rings became standard in Roman daily life. A free Roman man typically owned at least one ring; senators and equestrians had distinctive forms such as the intaglio ring developed during this period — a precious stone carved with a personal device, set into a gold or silver band.

Roman law recognized the signet impression as a valid authentication. A man's seal was effectively his signature. Losing the ring was losing the ability to sign documents

Signet rings became the carriers of family crests, passed from father to eldest son. The ring was used to seal letters with wax — the broken seal proved the letter had been tampered with.

Wax sealing fell out of routine use as gummed envelopes spread in the 1840s. The signet ring transitioned from working tool to symbol of class, profession, or family identity. It was at this point that signets became almost purely decorative with initials or crests.

While metal detecting at a site that dates to the earliest history of the Port of Jefferson, a silver signet ring was unearthed by Teresa Hall.

The silver ring was approximately 12” deep and came out of the ground minus the signet. After a few minutes of intense examination, and against all odds, the signet appeared. A tiny silver monogram of the initials JF. The enclosed pictures show the ring, a patriotic design from the mid 19th century, the signet, and the complete ring as it was when it slipped off of the finger into “The Jefferson Underground”.

05/15/2026

Jefferson Underground
Items (except coffee cup) from the collection of Tom Moss

Hand-blown small unmarked glass bottles

Coffee cup shown for scale. Bottles from unnamed saloon. Contents unknown, possibly perfume, narcotics, paregoric, medicine. Your guess is as good as Tom's as to what was in them. It was not poisonous, because they are not dark blue.

They were made with 2 different manufacturing techniques. The tube and the white bottle were made with the pontle technique blown into a mould. This technique was described in a previous post on medicinal bottles. The other 3 were hand-blown into a mould from the front. When blown, the glass was spun so that the bottle doesn't have any seams. The back 2 of the bottles look like they could have come from the same mould. They all probably had a paper label.

I asked what produced the color. It is from the content of the glass, made from sand and colored by the minerals added when they blew it. Thus one is white and the others light or medium blue.

05/07/2026

Jefferson Overground
Item from the collection of Tom Moss

Ceremonial presentation sword for American centennial, 1876
Top left is the entire item (with my clipboard)
Top right is the owner of the sword, William Baldwin
Bottom left is front of handle
Bottom middle is back of handle
Bottom right is center decoration
Hidden is end decoration

This is a presentation sword for ceremonial purposes. It was presented to William N. Baldwin by his regiment on the occasion of the centennial of the founding of America in 1876. The regiment was the 84th New York Infantry of the 14th New York State Militia. This regiment was honored to lead the parade in Philadelphia on Tuesday, the Fourth of July, 1876. This was the 'handsome regulation sword and belt' presented its leader.

The sword itself was made in Germany and is actually pretty modest compared to some ceremonial swords. But I was fascinated by the decoration. It has an American eagle with a shield and an array of flags. The presentation data reads: 'Presented to BVT Major Wm. N. Baldwin by the veteran and active officers and members of the 14th Regt. Feb. 24, 1876.' BVT stands for Brevet, which denotes a kind of honorary rank for meritorious service. Other decoration includes a Roman helmet, spear, scrolls, and laurel flower on top. On the bottom is a gargoyle with acanthus leaves. The middle decoration is a repeat of the top one. The blade itself was etched, but the writing is hard to read because it has worn off.

The maker was W. Glauberg in Germany. Sometimes the sword blades were made there and sent to Tiffany and others, and they did the decoration.

There is an American eagle on one side and an olive branch on the other with a shield in the middle. Tom says you can have one or the other.

04/30/2026

Jefferson Underground
Items from the collection of Tom Moss

Several views of 2 different hand-blown mid-19th century medicinal bottles
Top 2 and lower left are of a schnapps bottle and the lower center and right are of a bitters bottle
The 2 photos that are hidden are of Tom shining a light in the interior of each to show the color

Bitters are herbs mixed with a diluent, probably alcohol. It was medicinal, probably 180% proof. Aromatic schnapps is distilled alcohol made from a fruit such as cherry, blueberry or peppermint. This was probably peppermint. Bottles like these were found in all Civil War campsites and in trash pits behind hotels and saloons. One was found in a bottle dump behind a moonshiner's house.

What was interesting to me (a non-drinker) was how they were made. You can date the bottle by the seam between the body and the top. The pontle was a tube that was used to blow the glass. The absence of a pontle mark shows that they were hand-blown into a flask from the top. On these you can see where the seam is between the blown part and the top that was fastened on. Everything was hand-made until Owens came along around the turn of the twentieth century, and then bottles were manufactured by machine. On these the olive color is prettier than the plain old brown. If you know what chemicals were used to make the colors, please let us know.

The writing on the olive bottle is Udolpho Wolfe's/Schneidam/Aromatic Schnapps.
The writing on the brown bottle is Dr J Hostetter's/Stomach Bitters. The photo of the bottom shows the maker, L&W with a number, probably12.

04/24/2026

Jefferson Underground
Item from the collection of Tom Moss

Bell for goat

Banknote (Tom's), about 6 x 2 inches, shown for scale. You can see that the bell is a miniature of a cowbell, about one-quarter of its size. These are 2 views of the same item.

It was found in Jefferson about 20 years ago, Tom doesn't remember where. It is made from sheet iron and brass-plated, so it is well-preserved. You may not be able to see this, but the clapper is still in it. It is a round ball, made from cast iron. Tom doesn't know the maker, but thinks it was made professionally to have lasted so long in the dirt. A lot of the larger size were made also of sheet metal for cattle. Tom dates it to late 19th century.

Its use may have been in a goat cart. There are 19th century pictures of carts pulled by dogs or goats like miniature carriages to be used by children at play. This was like a learning device to teach the children how to handle animals. In the late 1800's rich kids had neat toys.

04/23/2026

Jefferson Underground is pending due to Ellen's exhaustion yesterday

04/16/2026

Jefferson Underground
Items from the collection of Tom Moss

Bird Wind Chimes

This is hard of see, but these are the top and side view of bells in the shape of a bird. They are brass. One has the remains of a chain.

They were found on the lot of a house that was demolished next to the Gone With The Wind Museum. This was about 10 years ago. Tom thinks the house that was there was built around the turn of the twentieth century, maybe 1910. He did not find any coins or bottles on the site.

They are substantial metal. They look a little like quail. There is no indication of a maker or anything to show where they are from. We think they look a little like East Indian bells.

I am sorry we do not have audio on Jefferson Underground, because these have a very clear sound and they are two different tones. Mystery birds.

04/09/2026

Jefferson Underground
Bottle from the collection of Tom Moss
From the archives: Photo taken May 24, 2021 during the pandemic. We were intrepid.

Magnolia, Ark.

04/01/2026

Jefferson Underground
Items from the collection of Tom Moss
Photo taken March 11, 2025

I asked Tom if I could use the archives for Jefferson Underground this week because I was expecting an important phone call this afternoon. He said sure; I asked if he had any suggestions. He said, "Something pretty, non-military."

Thank you, Tom.

Marion County Historical Commission

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