The Eby Family Pottery Made in Ontario, Circa 1855-1907

In the early-nineteenth-century, families of Mennonites began migrating north from the United States to Canada in search of farm land and opportunity. In some instances, the people, who traveled north brought along a learned potter's trade or a tradition of pottery that was drawn from their heritage - such as, the case with a group of Pennsylvania-German's, who found their way into Ontario in the nineteenth-century.

According to a book written by Donald Blake Webster - and, published by the Royal Ontario Museum in 1971, 'The William Eby Pottery, Conestogo, Ontario: 1855-1907,' "The typical Ontario earthenware was of an individual, or, at most, a family enterprise. As such, these potteries concentrated on producing simple and inexpensive utility wares, made from local clays, and for a local and usually rural market. The potter's craft was hardly lucrative, and large land holdings suggest that in some and perhaps most cases pottery-making was a part-time occupation, combined with farming.

Most potters in Ontario were of German, Pennsylvania, or English origin. Many had generations of the craft behind them, and a solid training in both a family and an ethnic tradition. To a very great extent, however, the household pottery needs of early rural Ontario dictated universal forms, ultimate simplicity, and a minimum cost, for production of earthenware to survive at all. William Eby (1831-1905), a Mennonite potter of Pennsylvania-German descent, operated for one of the longest spans, from 1855 to 1899, of any Ontario earthenware maker known (today)."

According to the Joseph Schneider Haus Museum in Kitchener, Ontario, "Among the Pennsylvania-German potters who were working in Ontario in the 1800's was William K. Eby, who was probably the best known among the group (today). Eby opened a pottery in Markham, Ontario in 1855. Like most village potters, William K. Eby produced a general line of utilitarian red earthenware, among which were drain tiles, storage crocks, plates, pitchers, bowls, flower pots and other common forms for daily use. In addition to this functional pottery, he made a smaller number of specialty pieces, primarily for his immediate family, friends, children and grandchildren (the green glazed ring flask shown below was reportedly acquired from his grandson). 

In 1857, William K. Eby sold his Markham business to John Byer and purchased land from Burton Curtis at Conestogo (Ontario). Even at the most active period of his career, William was at most a part-time potter, carrying on the business during the winter months, alternating with farming the rest of the year."

Most of the pots shown below are the products of William K. Eby's production in Conestogo, Ontario after 1857; although, there is one example that he may have made in Markham, Ontario. Also shown, are a few objects that are believed to have been made by Cyrus Eby, who was a brother to William K. Eby - he reportedly worked in Markham, Conestogo and Chippewa Hill, Ontario during the span of his career. 

Among the objects highlighted below are two products that are believed to have made by Cyrus Eby that I feel are impressive, especially, the green-glazed jar, which is a similar glaze-color to the type of green-glazes that were applied in parts of New England and Pennsylvania in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

A number of these wares also appear to demonstrate a Pennsylvania or a Mid-Atlantic influence, such as the flower pots, the plates, the crocks and the pitchers.

Note: Most of these photos are courtesy of the Joseph Schneider Haus Museum in Ontario with the only single exception being a wonderful green-glazed lidded bowl that recently sold through Maple Leaf Auctions in Carleton Place, Ontario.

WILLIAM K. EBY - MARKHAM, ONTARIO

Flower Pot

The reason this flower pot is suggested to have been made in Markham, Ontario, according to the Joseph Schneider Haus Museum in Ontario is because it was discovered in an early context of ownership in the Markham-area years ago. The rest of the pots discussed in this article related to William K. Eby are thought to be related to his output in Conestogo, Ontario.

19th Century Unglazed Red Earthenware Flower Pot - Possibly in Markham, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Markham Pottery

It was Originally Acquired in the Markham, ON Area

Circa 1855-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

WILLIAM K. EBY - CONESTOGO, ONTARIO

Flower Pots

19th Century Unglazed Red Earthenware Flower Pot - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

19th Century Unglazed Red Earthenware Flower Pot - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

19th Century Unglazed Red Earthenware Flower Pot - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

Plates

19th Century Red Earthenware Pie Pan - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

19th Century Red Earthenware Pie Plate - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

19th Century Red Earthenware Pie Plate - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery
Circa 1857-1905
Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

Crocks

19th Century Red Earthenware Miniature Crock - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

19th Century Red Earthenware Miniature Crock - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

19th Century Red Earthenware Miniature Crock - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

Unusual Forms

19th Century Red Earthenware Miniature Spoon Holder - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

According to the Joseph Schneider Haus Museum in Kitchener, Ontario, "This ring flask was purchased in circa 1980 from Wolfgang Schlombs near Vineland, Ontario, who is a grandson of William K. Eby. He said his grandfather had made it as a demonstration piece."

19th Century Red Earthenware Ring Flask - Conestogo, Ontario

Reportedly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Purchased from William K. Eby's Grandson in 1980, Wolfgang Schlombs Near Vineland, Ontario

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

Bowls

The following footed red earthenware bowl is decorated in a similar speckled green glaze that has been attributed (and also found archaeologically) by potters, who were employed in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries.

19th Century Red Earthenware Bowl - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

19th Century Red Earthenware Sugar Bowl - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

19th Century Red Earthenware Sugar Bowl - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Maple Leaf Auctions (Scott Wallace) - Carleton Place, Ontario

19th Century Red Earthenware Lidded Bowl - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

View of the Lid

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

Jugs

19th Century Red Earthenware Jug - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

19th Century Red Earthenware Miniature Jug - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

Pitchers

19th Century Red Earthenware Syrup Pitcher - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

19th Century Red Earthenware Miniature Pitcher - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

19th Century Red Earthenware Pitcher - Conestogo, Ontario

Possibly Made by William K. Eby at the Conestogo Pottery

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

CYRUS EBY

Both of these objects, according to the Joseph Schneider Haus Museum in Ontario, are said to have been made by Cyrus Eby (William K. Eby's brother) in Ontario in the nineteenth-century. This first object is decorated with a beautiful green glaze that reminds me of the type of glaze that is attributed to a group of potters, who worked around the Taunton River in southeastern Massachusetts, on Cape Cod and in Rhode Island in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth-centuries.

19th Century Red Earthenware Miniature Jar - Ontario

Possibly Made by Cyrus Eby in Conestogo, Markham or Chippewa Hill, Ontario

Circa 1857-1905

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

 19th Century Red Earthenware Jar with Great Decoration - Markham. Ontario
This Side of the Jar is Decorated with a Pair of Birds Perched on a Branch in Slip

Possibly Made by Cyrus Eby

Circa 1860's or 1870's

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

Another View of the Decoration
The Other Side of the Jar is Decorated in an Unusual Design in Slip

Photo Courtesy: Joseph Schneider Haus Museum - Kitchener, Ontario

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