EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: The Archaeology of the Site of the Dodge and Lamson Potteries in Exeter, New Hampshire, Circa 1771-1900s

Saturday, November 18, 2017

The Archaeology of the Site of the Dodge and Lamson Potteries in Exeter, New Hampshire, Circa 1771-1900s

According to the Portsmouth Herald, "Nine archaeologists from Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire began excavating the site of the Dodge Pottery (ca. 1771-1838) and the Lamson Pottery (ca. 1838-1900s) in Exeter, New Hampshire in June 1994. The Community Bank and Trust Company of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire had plans to start building a bank at the site of the pottery sometime that summer, but before that began, archaeologists from Strawbery Banke received a grant to professionally excavate the area.

This site actually illustrates the ways a family business changed in order to cope with changes in technology and the economy from just before the American Revolution through the 1900s. The site is a really good example of how a family run business changed through time.

The Dodge family business was originally established by Jabez Dodge (1746/47-1806), who came to Exeter in 1771, however, by 1838 a man named Asa Lamson (1818-1900) is believed to have married a Dodge daughter, thus changing the business name to Lamson.

The Lamson Pottery manufactured many items including jugs, pitchers, storage containers, mugs, chambers pots and baking dishes. But when other styles of productions became more available from other industries and the use of pottery decreased, the Lamson family made flowerpots, banks and decorative items in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century."

Archaeologist, Mary Dupre at the Site of the Dodge/Lamson Pottery in Exeter, NH in 1994

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Portsmouth Herald

Earlier this week, I spent a day at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire studying the archaeological evidence that archaeologists recovered at the site of the Dodge/Lamson Pottery in Exeter, New Hampshire in 1994.

My interests were divided equally between the two business names; although, the Dodge Pottery is a significant name to understand today because if it were not for the original colonial pottery in Exeter, then spinoff multigenerational family businesses would not have materialized in Portsmouth and Portland, Maine in the 1790s. However, the Lamson name is also important to understand today since I believe a number of objects survive from this business even though there is not a lot of knowledge about this family's production.

After I opened a few of the boxes, I quickly realized that the glazes from this site were abundant; whereas, I could clearly see evidence of the so-called spotted "Gonic-glaze" that is so often misused today. This is a style of glaze that is found throughout southern Maine, southern New Hampshire and Essex County, Massachusetts, but it is not only limited to these areas, either.

It also became apparent that the use of a deep fluid black-glaze was manufactured at this site, which often covered jugs, pots and pitchers in a style commonly found at the potter's industry about forty-miles south in Peabody, Massachusetts. This should not be too much of a surprise, either since Jabez Dodge is believed to have learned the potter's craft in the Peabody-area before he arrived and established his business in Exeter, circa 1771. It also thought that Asa Lamson trained at the Dodge Pottery before he acquired it about 1838.

But it is also known today that there were Osborn family members, who traveled from Peabody to work in Exeter, among many other potters, as well. Therefore, it must be assumed that not only the Dodge Pottery, but the Lamson Pottery also demonstrated some kind influence from the industry in Peabody.

Interestingly, Massachusetts author, Lura Woodside Watkins (Early New England Potters and Their Wares) also visited this site in Exeter before 1950, where she also confirmed the style of the colorful spotted glaze that I just described: "During the Dodge ownership the Exeter pottery turned out the usual articles made in early shops. The red earthenware was a light red in color, with glazes often pleasingly varied or mottled. The Lamsons produced large quantities of strictly utilitarian ware, such as jugs, milk pans, lard pots, bean pots, pudding pots and pans, and other cooking dishes, toilet articles, cuspidors and chimney safes. These objects were usually given a glaze of uniform coloring. In the 1870s and 1880s vases and fancy jars and jugs were made. Flowerpots in various kinds were the principal output in the closing years, the first style being the kind with an integral saucer; these were superseded about 1890 by the familiar straight tapered pot with a glaze (see wasters below). The skill of the traveling potter, John Donovan (1851-1932) proved that these could be made on the wheel with sufficient uniformity to be nested (see wasters below), thereby facilitating kiln setting and packing. They were, however, soon outmoded by mechanically formed flowerpots. The Lamsons red earthenware was sold from carts to hardware and general stores in the surrounding cities and towns. A great deal of it went east to Newburyport, Massachusetts, as well to places in New Hampshire such as Hampton, Portsmouth, Rochester and Derry."

The archaeological artifacts also showed what appeared to be the remains of slip-decoration, which was both intentionally applied to a sherd, as well as traces of slip found on other sherds. This could be an important characteristic recovered at this site since slip is not really associated with the potter's industry in coastal New Hampshire after 1775. But the Dodge Pottery in Portland is also known to have applied slip to certain objects in the 1800s so there could be some type of relationship.

Another characteristic that I found fascinating was the use of black and brown glazes on pots and pitchers. I handled artifacts from this site that incorporated a black-glaze on the exterior with a brown-glaze on the interior; although, I suspect that this mismatch of colors may have also happened with lids, where a pitcher or pot may have been glazed black and the lid may have been glazed brown.

Nonetheless, this is a list of some of the family potters, who worked at the Dodge Pottery and Lamson Pottery in Exeter, but there were undoubtedly other unrelated potters, as well.

Dodge Family Pottery

Jabez Dodge (Exeter, NH) – 1746/47-1806

Benjamin Dodge – son of Jabez (Exeter, NH & Portland, ME) – 1774-1838

Samuel Dodge – son of Jabez (Exeter, NH) – b. 1783

John Dodge - son of Jabez (Exeter, NH) 1791-1865

Joseph Dodge - son of Jabez (Exeter, NH & Portsmouth, NH) - 1776-1849

Lamson Family Pottery

Asa Brown Lamson (Exeter, NH) – b. 1818

Frank Hudson Lamson – son of Asa (Exeter, NH) – b. 1859

Rufus Lamson – son of Asa (Exeter, NH, Peabody, Mass & Portland, ME) – b. 1844

John Donovan (Peabody, MA, E. Brookfield, MA, W. Sterling, MA, Portland ME & Exeter, NH)

Samuel Leavitt – worked both on his own and for Lamsons (Exeter, NH) – 1872

Note: I have posted a number of images below, which also include objects that I did not write about in this article. These objects include some large artifacts that I have not been able to determine their use in the potter's kiln very-like at the Lamson Pottery.

Various Glazes