EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: An Excellent Example of Nathaniel Rochester Pottery Found Yesterday in Central Massachusetts

Sunday, May 12, 2019

An Excellent Example of Nathaniel Rochester Pottery Found Yesterday in Central Massachusetts

Thanks to Long Island collector and scholar Gary Hammond, I learned about this wonderful nineteenth century lead glazed red earthenware jar with a dramatic use of slip-decoration, which I purchased yesterday in central Massachusetts. The jar is attributed to Nathaniel Rochester's pottery in Rochester, New York, circa 1818-1831, and decorated with three sides of multi-colored slip-decoration. The jar was also reportedly recently found at a local estate sale.

But Rochester was not actually the potter; it is documented today he offered some of his property in the Village of Rochester in 1818 to be used as a pottery. The potter or potters who worked at the Rochester pottery produced some of the earliest wares in the Western New York 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.

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."

Nathaniel Rochester Pottery Jar, Rochester, NY