A Candle Mold from Alvin Wilcox's Pottery in West Bloomfield, New York Recovered on Brigham Young's Property in Mendon, New York

I am currently in conversation with the Museum of Church History in Salt Lake City, Utah for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and I hope to share some of the archaeology from Heber C. Kimball's (1801-1868) Pottery in Mendon, New York, as well as the local pottery artifacts recovered by New York historian, Sheldon Fisher (1907-2002) at the site of Brigham Young's (1801-1877) house, also in Mendon.

Fisher wrote in the October 1980 issue of New York History, "Like the other founders of the Mormon Church, Brigham Young has been studied as a spiritual leader and as an administrator. That he earned his bread in the early years as a carpenter and other homely tasks has been mentioned only in passing by his biographers, and his workaday life in Mendon, where he was living when he became interested in Mormonism, has not been studied at all.

One reason for this neglect is the lack of historical sources for Young's earlier years. After he joined the Mormon Church in 1832 he began to keep a journal. And from that time to the end of his life, he and his contemporaries left a clear record of his activities. It is not surprising that there are no similar accounts of Brigham's youth and his years as a young carpenter and builder in Mendon. He had not yet distinguished himself from the general population of farmers and artisans who then inhabited Western New York.

But in addition to his own terse references in later writings, sources for Brigham Young's Mendon years do exist. One is literary - a group of documents relating to my own ancestors, the Sheldon family of Mendon, contemporaries of Brigham Young. The other is physical - the artifacts and related evidence recovered in six summers of archaeological excavation at the site of Brigham Young's mill site in Mendon.

Having determined the site of Young's house and shop, I obtained exclusive digging rights in 1972 from Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hutchinson, who then owned the property, and began an archaeological investigation that would lead to additional information about Brigham Young's years in Mendon, and possibly to fresh insights into his life and character during that time when he began his great spiritual adventure."

Among the locally made red earthenware recovered at the site of Brigham Young's house was a collection of artifacts thought to have been made at the Kimball Potttery; however, Fisher also recovered the remains of some slipware reportedly attributed to the Nathaniel Rochester (1751-1831) Pottery in Rochester, New York, as well as a single marked red earthenware candle mold from the Alvin Wilcox (1801-1862) Pottery in West Bloomfield, New York.

The Wilcox Pottery candle molds are thought to have been made in the late 1840s and 1850s, and were typically manufactured in groups held together by a wooden or pine frame. The earliest that I have seen these objects advertised was 1849. But the context at the site of Brigham Young's house could suggest that these molds were also made in the 1820s and/or early 1830s, given that the context that they were found was when Brigham Young still occupied the property. Although, I am still trying to determine the exact situation of ownership, seeing that the mold may have been used years after Brigham Young left for Utah.

Nonetheless, I hope to share pictures of the locally made red earthenware artifacts found on Brigham Young's property and at the site of the Kendall Pottery in Mendon later this summer.

Note: These candle molds were not found on Brigham Young's property; they are privately owned, but they do represent the type that was discovered.

Marked Candle Molds from Alvin Wilcox's Pottery in West Bloomfield, NY

19th Century Red Earthenware Candle Molds

Marked by Alvin Wilcox from West Bloomfield, New York

A Similar Candle Mold was Recovered on Brigham Young's Property in Mendon, NY

Made Before 1860

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Photo Courtesy: Mark Newton