EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: The 19th Century Woodman Family Red Earthenware Pottery in Poultney, Vermont

Thursday, January 4, 2018

The 19th Century Woodman Family Red Earthenware Pottery in Poultney, Vermont

According to Massachusetts author, Lura Woodside Watkins (Early New England Potters and Their Wares), "One of the first settlers of Poultney, Vermont, was an Essex County man, Samuel Woodman (1753-1828), who left Salem, Massachusetts in 1800. He is mentioned in Reverend William Bentley's (1759-1819) diary (1784-1819) from Salem under the date of June 14, 1814 (where he had returned to Salem in search of potter's supplies):

"Mr Woodman, formerly of Salem, 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 of manganese in this quarter. He leant 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."

Reverend William Bentley's 1784-1819 Diary

Samuel Woodman Referenced in Reverend William Bentley's Diary

Cited Purchasing Glaze Material on June 14, 1814

Published by the Essex Institute in 1905

See Article for More Information

Courtesy: Library of Congress

Samuel Woodman Referenced in Reverend William Bentley's Diary

Cited Purchasing Glaze Material on June 14, 1814

Published by the Essex Institute in 1905

See Article for More Information

Courtesy: Library of Congress

Sameul Woodman was forty-seven when he started his pottery in Poultney. He carried it on until about 1820, when his son John (b. 1780) succeeded him. His shop stood where a bank building was later erected (thus archaeological evidence is limited). There is no documentary evidence that he made anything more substantial than "brown earthenware," as noted in the local history. His search for manganese for use in glazing corroborates this tradition."

Nevertheless, the Woodman Pottery in Poultney is another potter's business from Vermont, which is hardly recognized today even though the ouput appears to have been skilled based on a shaving cup that is owned by the Bennington Museum in Bennington, Vermont. The cup was once owned in the early-twentieth century by famed collector, George S. McKearin and it is attributed to the Woodman Pottery.

Interestingly, the unusual combination of the cup's black exterior glaze combined with the colorful interior glaze is a style that matches a pitcher I own, which was recently found in central New Hampshire.

For as long as I have owned this pitcher, I felt it possessed an Essex County, Massachusetts influence; whereas, similar formed pitchers with a single exterior and interior glaze have been recovered from an eighteenth and early-nineteenth century privy at the Narbonne House in Salem, Massachusetts (but similar forms were also made in Portsmouth, New Hampshire). This may be evidence that Samuel Woodman originally trained at the industry in Danvers/Peabody (formerly South Danvers), Massachusetts. John Woodman would have also likely learned the potter's craft by working with his father.

I also question whether this company only produced red earthenware decorated with dark glazes, which resulted from the use of manganese. On the contrary, the only evidence Watkins may have had to work with was what was published in Reverend William Bentley's diary; however, this shaving cup clearly demonstrates the use of two glazes, which I assume may have been produced after 1820 when John Woodman operated the pottery.

Aside from the shaving cup that is attributed to the Woodmans, I have also posted pictures of another red earthenware shaving cup that I acquired in a group lot at a sale at Northeast Auctions last summer in Portsmouth. I have previously written that this cup appears like it may have originated in Essex County or was influenced by the industry in Danvers/Peabody; however, this cup may have also been made in Poultney since it shares similarities in the way it was made, as well as the dark exterior and colorful interior glazes.

Note: Earlier this week, I wrote about the Moses Bradley Pottery, circa 1790-1826, which operated at two different locations in Vermont in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Similar to the Bradley Pottery, there seems to have been a significant output that took place at the Woodman Pottery, which is not realized today. I can easily see this type of production attributed to New Hampshire, Maine and even Massachusetts based on where these type of objects are found today.

A few days ago, I also wrote, "There is a lot yet to be learned about the red earthenware made in Vermont in the 1790s and 1800s. Bradley's business is just one example of the type of production that has been somewhat forgotten in Vermont today. There were many small businesses in Vermont, which likely operated similar to some of the smaller potteries in New Hampshire and Maine. However the Farrar family is what is most known today for the red earthenware that was produced in Vermont, but there were many more potteries, who's production is not defined - and, the stoneware industry in Vermont has overshadowed much of this production for most of the research that has taken place in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries."

Red Earthenware Cup