According to the Genesee Country Village and Museum, "After the American Revolution, when land in Western New York opened up for settlement, men and women left their rocky farms in New England and moved west. Pennsylvanians and Marylanders migrated from the south.
The pioneers who rushed to clear and develop the rich frontier were all hoping to improve their lot. Some would turn back. Some would be struck by Genesee Fever, a form of malaria. Some would move on to Ohio and Michigan. But many would stay.
In 1801, Colonel Nathaniel Rochester left his comfortable circumstances in Hagerstown, Maryland, to move north to 155 acres in Dansville, New York, that had been bought on his trip to the Genesee Country in September 1800. The perilous 275-mile journey north through almost impassible mountains took three weeks.
On horseback the Colonel led a procession of carriages bearing the younger children and women of the household and three great Conestoga wagons with household goods, his ten slaves and some of his neighbors who came along to help. The Colonel moved north, he said, "to escape the influence of slavery, to set his slaves free and to rear his family in a free state."
In Dansville, Colonel Rochester purchased from David Scholl a plank house, believed to have been built around 1797 - and once settled in Dansville, he purchased most of the water rights at Canaseraga Creek. Colonel Rochester erected a large paper mill and a gristmill. In the meantime, he began to survey the 100 acre-tract at the falls of the Genesee River that he and his colleagues had purchased in 1803.
After five years in Dansville, Colonel Rochester moved to a large farm in East Bloomfield, New York, and continued his work laying out what would become the Village of Rochester. In 1818, he and his family finally moved near the falls into a house with a large garden and grounds sloping down to the river. In 1824, he erected a brick house on higher ground where he resided for the rest of his life."
As I have recently noted, Rochester also offered some of his property in the Village in 1818, to be used as a pottery; he was not the potter himself, but the business is known by his name today. The potter or potters who worked at the Rochester Pottery produced some of the earliest wares in this region. Although, to my knowledge, the name is not known of the potter or potters employed here, but they were clearly skilled in their craft by what is known about this pottery from both archaeology and surviving objects.
This is another example of the "best" eye-catching slip-decorated red earthenware, attributed to the Rochester Pottery owned by Gene Pratt, but also previously owned by Cedar Rapids, Iowa antiques dealer, Thom Rawson. Without any doubt, this pot demonstrates the indisputable skill that operated in the Village of Rochester.
But aside from that, the use of three-colored slip certainly added an extra expense to such wares, which even during the circa 1818-1831 period, may have been viewed by many consumers far beyond a simple household purpose; I would like to believe that the "best" of these wares may have been originally looked at for their artistic quality and aesthetic merit, as well.
I consider this object to be one of the best surviving pots or pitchers from the Rochester Pottery in existence today. Nevertheless, though there are a few other pitchers decorated in this style known, but this is really just about as good as it gets.
Spectacular Slip-Decorated Pot from the Rochester Pottery in Western New York
Magnificent 19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Pot
Attributed to the Nathaniel Rochester Pottery in Rochester, NY
Circa 1818-1831
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Photo Courtesy: Gene Pratt
Another View of the Pot
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Photo Courtesy: Gene Pratt
View of the Handle
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Photo Courtesy: Gene Pratt
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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