The Circa 1825-1855 Cotton Hill Pottery in Central Illinois

According to the archaeology report, The Sangamo Frontier: History and Archaeology in the Shadow of Lincoln, "Pottery making on the early nineteenth century frontier was still a family business, built on the skills of a group of young men who were interrelated, and who passed on their expertise to other members of the family. Potters were usually farmers as well as depended on the extended family to make a decent living, much like other farmers in the neighborhood. Their niche in an increasingly international economy was to supply the local community with inexpensive utilitarian wares that were less commonly part of the inventories kept by large wholesalers in the cities. With the regard to the potteries in Sangamon County in central Illinois, ongoing research is making it clear that the proprietors of each of the competing potteries were actually related and members of a tightly knit community.

The first pottery to be established in the Samgamo region was located along Sugar Creek, in a community that would become known as Cotton Hill. Now known as the Ebey-Brunk site, the Cotton Hill Pottery was probably constructed in 1826 by the extended Royal-Ebey-Brunk family that moved here from Oho; some of the families also traced their origins to central Pennsylvania, a region with a long standing pottery-making tradition. The shop closed no later than 1854. This site is the only kiln in the region that has received intensive attention from archaeologists.

Another pottery shop was located less than 2.5 miles from the Cotton Hill kiln, along Horse Creek. Little is known about this site, which was only recently discovered and has yet to be excavated.

In Springfield, Illinois, John Ebey, who had begun his career at the Cotton Hill pottery, and opened a new shop near the public square in 1831, but Ebey left the Springfield area less than two years later.

Fifteen miles northwest of Springfield in the town of Athens, a red earthenware pottery was opened sometime in the mid-1830s. By the early 1840s, potter Barnett Ramsey (a brother to one of the potters at Cotton Hill) was running the shop. Census records indicate that the kiln was still running in 1860, making it the longest running of the four Sangamo area shops. Unfortunately, the Athens kiln site has been heavily damaged by development, and little is yet known about the wares and history of the site."

The Cotton Hill Pottery

"At least two red earthenware pottery shops were in operation in the Cotton Hill area between 1825 and 1855, employing members of the first families to settle in the area. The most substantial and better understood kiln site, the Ebey-Brunk site, was first discovered in the early 1970s. Various archival records recall the presence of at least nine potters."

The archaeology report indicates that most of the glazes were simple clear lead glazes, and often decorated with small amounts of manganese. The potters also often applied incised lines for decoration.

Nearly half of the identifiable forms recovered at the site of the Cotton Hill Pottery were bowls used for food preparation in the kitchen. Milk pans, dishes, pipkins, pots, jars, pipes and jugs were also produced.

However, the most exciting of all the discoveries was the production of slip-decoration, a style of decoration hardly associated with the lead glazed earthenware industry in Illinois. "At least three dishes are slip-decorated. Prior to the excavations of the Ebey-Brunk site, it was generally assumed that no such wares were made in Illinois. Two of the dishes are decorated in their centers with a tulip motif, executed in creamy yellow and manganese brown slips. The edges of both dishes are encircled by a single wavy line bracketed by two bands. The third dish is decorated in a more abstract and unusual design; a wavy grid-and-dot pattern in the center, encircled by a wavy line and band pattern as well as two rows of manganese brown splotches made with thumb prints.

Several bowls were also found  similar in form and size to the Chinese-style waste bowls used in tea services. Two of the bowls are glazed in a rich copper green. These delicately potted and carefully glazed vessels are more similar to English Queensware products than to any other vessel recovered from the site."

Artifacts Recovered from the Ebey-Brunk Site at the Cotton Hill Pottery in Illinois

(Top Row) Slip-Decorated Pans Recovered at the Ebey-Brunk Site in Central Illinois

(Bottom Row) Green Glazed Bowls Recovered at the Ebey-Brunk Site in Central Illinois

Circa 1825-1855

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Robert Mazrim

 Various Pots Recovered at the Ebey-Brunk Site in Central Illinois

Circa 1825-1855

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Robert Mazrim

Bowls and a Pipkin Handle Recovered at the Ebey-Brunk Site in Central Illinois

Circa 1825-1855

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Robert Mazrim

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