An Important Dated Red Earthenware Jar Made in Grimsby, Ontario in the 1840s with Ties to Pennsylvania

According to the book, 'Early Canadian Pottery' written by Donald Webster - and, published in 1971, "The majority of the earthenware potters active in Ontario (in the 1800's) were of a Pennsylvania-German origin - (they) often descended from Mennonite loyalists, or Germans who emigrated from Europe in the 1840s and the 1850s, with smaller numbers of Anglo-Americans, English, and Scots. Many of these people, and particularly the Pennsylvania-Germans who had been emigrating to Upper Canada since the 1780s, sometimes had generations of the potting craft behind them. Both family and ethnic pottery-making traditions, if not necessarily personal individual training, were very strong.

The earliest Ontario-German potter (known today) yet recorded was Jacob Yeigh, who was from an ex-Pennsylvania loyalist family, who started a small pottery in Burford, Canada West, about 1805. Yeigh served in the War of 1812, and then resumed operations, apparently producing simple container earthenware until the late 1830s.

John Kulp, born in Pennsylvania, immigrated to Ontario and was operating a pottery in Grimsby, in the Niagara Peninsula, by the early 1840s. Kulp's heaviest production was also containers to suit the widest market, but he is also known to have made a number of toys and miniatures, and a handsome inscribed jar (see below). 

Kulp died in 1874; his pottery is not known to have operated after. The Kulp Pottery was excavated in 1965."

The following jar, which was made by Joh Kulp (active circa 1829-1868), is absolutely remarkable - the jar is owned by the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Ontario today. What surprises me most about this jar is the choice of glaze colors - these are not colors usually found on wares made in Pennsylvania considering that Kulp did possess a Pennsylvania background. But they are colors that are often found on products made in places, such as Maine, Western New York and Ontario in the nineteenth century.

Traditionally, this is a glaze that would most-often be attributed to the group of potters, who worked in Western New York today; however, what I am trying to demonstrate with this series on Canadian-made pottery is that the skill in places like Ontario and Nova Scotia was equal to the wares that were made in America during the period. This jar is easily a comparative example of an industry that I feel was shared between the American and Canadian potter's industry. Truthfully, I perceive, these industries as a collective group today seeing that many of the potters had similar training - and, a group of American potters traveled north into Canada in search of work that provided them with an opportunity in the 1800s.

I should also include that the red earthenware produced in Ontario was made during a similar period as were the wonderful products, which I just described that were made in Western New York, Maine and even Vemont in the 1800s.

Inscribed on the base of this important jar, it reads in script, 'John Kulp/Grimsby/August 19th/1843.' If this beautiful jar is not already important enough - it is also reportedly the earliest known established piece of dated Ontario-made pottery known to exist today.

Note: Here is a link to this jar's information that is posted on the Royal Ontario Museum's website in Toronto, Ontario.

Great Ontario Red Earthenware Jar

 19th Century 2-Gallon Beautifully Glazed Red Earthenware Jar Made by John Kulp in Grimsby, ON

Inscribed on the Base, 'John Kulp/Grimsby/August 19th/1843'

Stands 12" Tall

Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON

Another View of the Jar

Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON

 View of the Base and the Inscription

Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON

Closer View of the Inscription
Inscription Reads, 'John Kulp/Grimsby/August 19th/1843'

Photo Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum - Toronto, ON

Note: For those of you reading this article, who may not know where the Niagara Peninsula is located - this map shows its location. The potters, who were employed in this area in the 1800's, really were closely tied to the potters in Western New York seeing that they were located just west of the American and Canadian border; whereas, the Western New York potter's industry was located just east of the border. 

Map Showing the Niagara Penninsula

Map Showing the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario

Photo Courtesy: MapQuest

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