EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: A Small Collection of Ephemera from Red Earthenware Potters in Central Massachusetts and Dublin, New Hampshire Utilized by Lura Woodside Watkins

Wednesday, September 26, 2018

A Small Collection of Ephemera from Red Earthenware Potters in Central Massachusetts and Dublin, New Hampshire Utilized by Lura Woodside Watkins

Massachusetts author, Lura Woodside Watkins wrote in Early New England Potters and Their Wares, "Perhaps the best-known pottery in Worcester County, Massachusetts is the one at West Sterling. It stood in the shadow of Mount Wachusett, from which it took its name. The letterheads from the Wachusett Pottery indicate that it was founded in 1820.

Edwin H. Coolidge, whose interesting article, "The Pottery Business in Sterling," appeared in Old-Time New England, July 1932, says that he was unable to find any record of the works before a purchase of land by Henry Tolman, a potter of Troy, New Hampshire, in 1837, although he believes it was in operation before that date.

The pottery was situated on the easterly bank of a beautiful running stream in the village of West Sterling, where the foundations of the buildings may still be seen. Clay was bought from a pit one and one-half miles away. This concern was at first about the size of the average country pottery, making twenty-five hundred dollars worth of red earthenware per annum and employing only three men. Even in 1855, statistics show that it had not progressed beyond this status, but in 1865 its output had doubled.

Henry Tolman was assisted and then succeeded by his son Henry, who in 1849 was running the works under the name H. Tolman Jr. and Company. The father had evidently retired, and he died two years later. The firm is also listed in the New England Directory of 1849 as Tolman and Wight. It is possible that Abner S. Wight of Dublin, New Hampshire, already had an interest in the Sterling pottery, although by all accounts he did not purchase it until about 1860.

A bill of ware headed by W.D. Sime and Company and dated July 2, 1853, is receipted by J.D. (Jonas Dustin) Wight, Abner's brother, who was the company clerk. As Mr. Coolidge does not mention Sime, he may have been merely an agent for the pottery.

In 1856 the firm name was Wight and Willard (later A.S. Wight and Company), Tolman having withdrawn from the partnership. Abner Wight and his associate carried on a thriving business until after the close of the Civil War. The pottery's affairs were then taken over by Marcus L. Snow, James Smith and Marcellus Wight, Abner's son, as Snow, Smith and Company."

Interestingly, I just acquired a small collection of ephemera from Hyannis, Massachusetts on Cape Cod that relates to most of the businesses that I just cited; one of the pieces of paper is the same billhead that Watkins cites from the W.D. Sime and Company, signed by J.D. (Jonas Dustin) Wight, and dated July 2, 1853. There is also a piece of paper in the collection from the post-Civil War pottery, Snow, Smith and Company, dated September 14, 1866.

I believe the entire collection was originally owned by Frank H. Norton, who Watkins references throughout Early New England Potters and Their Wares. The remaining pieces in the collection are from Eben and Osgood Russell's pottery in Dublin, New Hampshire (also called Chesham or Pottersville), and all are signed and dated by Osgood, with another signed and dated by Eben. One of these billheads was also referenced in Watkins' book on page 114. To my knowledge, this is the only paper work known today from any of the potter's businesses that existed in Chesham or Pottersville in the 1800s.

According to Watkins, "Eben Russell, with his son, Osgood N., was carrying on what he called the "Dublin Earthen Ware Manufactory." This works was in Pottersville and was the first building on the north side of the southerly approach to the town from Harrisville, New Hampshire. It stood at the top of the hill near the "junction of the ancient road with the present highway." Osgood N. Russell's house was directly opposite the pottery, and his father's home was next to the west.

Several bills of sales put out by the Russells and now in the possession of F.H. Norton show that they were still running in 1858, although they gave up the management of the pottery by 1860. These bills are of the greatest importance in showing what the red earthenware potters were making (in this area) just before the Civil War."

W.D. Sime and Company - West Sterling, Mass.