EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: A Red Earthenware Mug with a Strong History to a Family of Potters Who Worked in New Hampshire in the 1700's and the 1800's

Thursday, February 26, 2015

A Red Earthenware Mug with a Strong History to a Family of Potters Who Worked in New Hampshire in the 1700's and the 1800's

In the past, when I have been honored to have been invited to visit private red earthenware, stoneware and general antique collections in New England and in others parts of the country - I have always found myself amazed at the provenance that accompany some of these pieces. I've heard some collectors say that it is among the aspects they look for when choosing a piece of pottery for their collection. There are even some collectors who prefer a strong provenance as much as any other feature an object has to offer. It is also a facet that museums often cherish.

A strong provenance - whether it comes directly from a family, local ownership, an important collection, a museum, an important dealer, or even from a direct descendant of a potter can add a charming appeal to an already wonderful piece of pottery. For example, imagine finding an over-sized black glazed eighteenth-century red earthenware tankard with slip decoration at an estate sale in an attic filled with cobwebs or in a dirty cellar with a dirt floor in a western Massachusetts house that hadn't been touched for hundreds of years. Imagine if you can - if that mug had been passed down through the family (with proper documentation) indicating the mug had been once used by Paul Revere at the Three Cranes Tavern in Charlestown, Massachussets just before the Battle of Bunker Hill broke out on June 17, 1775. Yes, I know - that's highly unlikely to find such an object with a history that is equivalent, but it is lesser histories such as the one that I am about to tell, which add an even greater amount of importance to an item that already holds some relevance today. I would love to pursue such examples more-often; however, objects with such histories are difficult to find today with the understanding that experienced collectors have actively sought out such objects for decades now - and it's completely understandably why.

I recently acquired a red earthenware barrel-formed mug with an absolutely wonderful history; the most recent owner (I am not using her name for privacy reasons) told me she was given the mug by her mother, Madeline Osborn Merrill. Previously, the mug was handed down through their family for roughly the last two-centuries. Incredibly, she and her mother are direct descendants of the potter, Jacob Osborn, who helped establish the Osborn Pottery in Loudon, New Hampshire in the eighteenth-century. The mug is reportedly tied directly to the Osborn Pottery in Boscowan, New Hampshire in either the late-eighteenth or early-nineteenth-century. I will explain this all in a moment.

In my last report, I discussed the Osborn Pottery in the Gonic neighborhood of Rochester, New Hampshire. Below is a map that shows the Loudon, Boscowan and Gonic Potteries with Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Kittery, Maine shown as a reference. These potteries all worked simultaneously in the nineteenth-century. I do not know if there was any known cooperation between the three businesses or whether each worked independently, but it would make sense if there was some kind of cooperation going on. There was also a small Osborn business in Dover, New Hampshire that is also indicated on the map.

Map Showing Four Osborn-Family Businesses in New Hampshire

Kittery, Me and Portsmouth, NH are Shown for Reference Points

Photo Courtesy: Google Maps

History
The Osborn-family was of a Quaker religion. The family's potter's business originated in South Danvers, Massachusetts (today known as Peabody) in the early-eighteenth-century by Joseph Osborn (from England), who was the first of the family's potters - and he is among the small group of potters who helped establish the important red earthenware industry in Essex County that flourished for two-centuries. Dozens of family members are credited with training and working at the Osborn Pottery in the 1700's and 1800's; however, some of these family members chose to branch out establishing their own businesses in New Hampshire. Osborn family members are also credited with working elsewhere in New England at other potter's businesses like southeastern Massachusetts and Exeter, New Hampshire. The Osborns are considered to be one of the largest potter's families to work in America before 1900. At least forty-five family members are known to have entered the potter's trade today; although, I am confident there are additional family members who are not yet credited today.

To get back to the story of this mug: Jacob Osborn traveled from South Danvers where he married Abigail Simpson (a name that is also tied to my family's history in the 1800's) in New Hampshire - and together, they had a son, John Osborn (died: 1820), who is responsible (entirely? versus partially?) for establishing an Osborn Pottery in Boscowan, New Hampshire. It is at this pottery in Boscowan that the mug is said to have been made (likely by John Osborn) and as a result, I feel this mug carries an incredible history with it since it has descended through the Osborn family until now. I came across it because it was for sale somewhat privately directly from the woman I mention above, who now lives in northern Virginia.

Despite my knowledge of similar examples of surviving pottery known today with histories like this in the collections I cite above - this is the first opportunity that I have ever had to purchase an example of utilitarian pottery with a direct tie to a potter's business and a potter's family in New England. I'm thrilled!

This is a link to a report that Madeline Osborn Merrill wrote about her family's heritage and legacy in the New Hampshire potter's industry for the magazine, Old Time New England many years ago. This is a pretty cool mug to own considering it is tied to all this important history!