The Continued Study of Red Earthenware Made in Vermont in the 19th Century: The Business in Poultney, Vermont

Today, I want to discuss a red earthenware shaving mug that is owned by the Bennington Museum in Bennington, Vermont, which tells a rather fascinating history. According to the museum, "tradition suggests that this mug once belonged to Timothy Crittenden, who kept a tavern in Poultney, Vermont and represented the town in the State Legislature in 1802 and 1803.

The mug is thought to have been made at the Samuel Woodman (circa 1753-1820) Pottery in Poultney. Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Woodman trained as a potter in Braintree, Massachusetts before moving to Connecticut and finally settling in Vermont."

Map Shows the Location of Poultney, VT

Photo Courtesy: Mapquest

Woodman has an interesting story to share today with his birth in Salem - and, seeing that period documents have revealed that he trained in Braintree before the American Revolution - thus, it would be my expectation that he probably trained at Peter Clark's (1743-1826) successful business before moving elsewhere in New England. However, Woodman was also in the vicinity of the very-important red earthenware industry that operated in Charlestown, Massachusetts until the Battle of Bunker Hill happened on June 17, 1775. There's certainly a chance that Woodman may have visited or possibly experienced this industry in his travels to Braintree.

None-the-less, Peter Clark was a prominent potter employed in southern Massachusetts in the 1760's and the 1770's; although, his roots began in Essex County, Massachusetts near Salem where Woodman originated. It has been reported that this area was also the source for some of Clark's clay needs. The idea that he employed Woodman as an appentice with an Essex County origin may have been a factor with how some of the clay traveled from Essex County to Braintree.

In the years that followed the American Revolution, Peter Clark moved north to Lyndeboro, New Hampshire, where he setup a potter's business (this may have also been the period where Woodman traveled to Connecticut). Afterwards, the Clark family name became prominent in the New Hampshire potter's industry in the nineteenth-century operating multiple businesses in the Lyndeboro and Concord, New Hampshire areas with the latter of the two companies in operation until the 1880's.

In a historical context, Samuel Woodman is a perfect example of a colonial potter, who trained in Massachusetts; however, he was among the group of trained potters that left the area in search of opportunity elsewhere in New England once their apprenticeship had come to an end. There were a number of potters who made this trek to parts of New England during the decades that followed the American Revolution with the expansion of newly established towns and the expanding population.

This early shaving mug (circa 1800-1820) is a representative example of some of Woodman's work in Vermont exhibiting a glaze that could often be mistaken for a product made in Massachusetts or New Hampshire today. The glaze and the mug's overall form may represent the technique that Woodman originally learned while employed by Peter Clark in Braintree.

According to Lura Woodside Watkins book, 'Early New England Potters and Their Wares,' "One of the first settlers of Poultney, Vermont, was an Essex County, Massachusetts man who went there in 1800. He is mentioned by Reverend William Bentley in his famous diary under the date of June 14, 1814 (IV, 259): 

'Mr. Woodman, formerly of Salem, Massachusetts, who has four sisters married in Salem, in town from Poultney, Vermont. He could give us no history. He is a potter & is down to purchase materials for glazing his ware. He is in search for manganese this quarter. He learnt his trade in Braintree, Massachusetts, removed to Connecticut, & thence to Poultney on the river which enters at the south end of Lake Champlain. He tells me that his neighbors are chiefly from Connecticut & from his prejudices I am inclined to believe him.'

Samuel Woodman was forty-seven when he started his pottery in Poultney. He carried it on until about 1820, when his son John succeeded him. There is no documentary evidence that he made anything more substantial than 'earthenware' as noted in the local history. His search for manganese for use in glazing corroborates this tradition."

The forms that I have seen attributed to the Poultney-area today include traditional red earthenware forms that were made at most country-style potter's businesses in New England around the turn of the nineteenth-century with the expected focus given to both regular or simple glazes - and, more colorful glazes, too.

 19th Century Red Earthenware Shaving Mug 

Attributed to the Samuel Woodman Pottery in Poultney, VT
Mug Reportedly Originated with Timothy Crittenden at his Tavern in Poultney in the Early 1800's

Circa 1800-1820
Stands Approximately 4" to 5" Tall

Photo Courtesy: The Bennington Museum - Bennington, VT

The Museum's Description of the Mug

Photo Courtesy: The Bennington Museum - Bennington, VT

Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...