EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: The Wares Made by the Hyssong Family in Central Pennsylvania in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century

Tuesday, July 16, 2019

The Wares Made by the Hyssong Family in Central Pennsylvania in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century

Since posting an article last week about this Albany slip glazed pot with twisted rope handles and two slip-decorated flowers, I have heard from multiple persons saying that it was made by the Hyssong family in central Pennsylvania. The pot was found decades ago by Scott Tyson, a Pennsylvania antiques dealer who now lives in Florida. He says he found the pot in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area and sold it to Robesonia, Pennsylvania antiques dealer Greg Kramer. I purchased the pot last month from Greg who kept the pot inside his house ever since he purchased it more than 20 years ago.

According to a book published in 1915, Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties Pennsylvania Containing A Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families: "Austin L. Hyssong has carried on a pottery business at Bloomsburg for over twenty years, during which time he has had to enlarge his original plant to accommodate the profitable trade he has built up in stoneware, stovepipe, collars, flowerpots and similar goods. His father, Elisha B. Hyssong, followed the same calling.

Elisha B. Hyssong (1827-1873) was a native of Franklin county, Pa.‚ and was there bound out in boyhood to learn the potter's trade, serving four years as an apprentice. Later he went to Cassville, Huntingdon Co.‚ Pa.‚ where he first worked as a jouneyman, and there he married Rachel E. Green, a native of Huntingdon County. When he built a pottery of his own he had to clear the location, and that plant was carried on by the Hyssong family for nearly sixty-five years, Elisha B. Hyssong continuing to operate it until his death, in 1873, after which his son Bruce took it, running the business until the spring of 1912.

Mr. Hyssong was a much esteemed citizen of his neighborhood, where he was very well known not only in his business relations but also because of his activity in politics, the administration of public affairs and church work. He was a justice of the peace for over twenty years, a stanch Republican in political sentiment, and a lifelong member of the M. E. Church, which he served officially for over forty years, being deacon, elder, class leader and Sunday school superintendent. In his prime he was a noted singer, and music afforded him one of his chief sources of enjoyment. He died beloved by all who knew him, and his wife, who still survives, continues to make her home at Cassville. Twelve children were born to their union, ten reaching maturity, namely: Annie, who is living in Pitcairn, Pa.; Jennie, now deceased; Martha, widow of Oliver Beaver, of Altoona, Pa.; Bell, at home with her mother; Margaret, married and living in Philadelphia; Austin L.; George, of Altoona, Pa., who became a potter (he is married); Bruce, also a potter, now engaged in the crucible factory at Philadelphia, who married Jennie Horton; Russell, who learned the potter's trade, now employed as a guard in the reformatory at Huntingdon; and Alice, who died unmarried.

Austin L. Hyssong (1851-1922) was born Dec. 25, 1851, at Cassville, Huntingdon Co., Pa., where he acquired a common school education in youth and early commenced to learn the potter's trade with his father, and he has always followed it. Remaining with him until he attained his majority, he then went to Lewistown, Pa., where he was located most of the time for the next twenty years, for several years running the Dipple pottery there. He was at Lewistown for the four years following his marriage, spent the next year at Peterburg, Pa., returned to Lewistown for two years, and then did business in Huntingdon for three years. Going back to Lewistown he formed a partnership with J. & C. Dipple, with whom he was associated four years. In 1891 he came to Bloomsburg and purchased from John Rehm the plant he has ever since operated. During his ownership it has been considerably enlarged, and many valuable improvements have been made in the property. Mr. Hyssong's patronage has been extended steadily, his wares being sold in various sections, and besides manufacturing he deals quite extensively in terracotta sewerpipe, for which he has found a good demand in the local market.

In 1875 Mr. Hyssong was married to Anna Margaret Dipple, daughter of John and Margaret (Peters) Dipple, of Germany. The father, who was a potter by trade, settled at Lewistown and operated a pottery there until his death, in 1872. He was killed while crossing the Pennsylvania railroad track, on his way to dig clay. His wife, who survived until 1903, ran the business he established for several years after his death. Mr. and Mrs. Dipple had six children: Anna Margaret, Mrs. Hyssong; Anna, widow of James Irwin, of Lewistown, Pa.; Ida, who married William Miller, of Lewistown; John, deceased, who was a potter and worked with his father; Andrew G. C.‚ who owns the old pottery his father established at Lewistown; and Charles, who was formerly in the grocery and confectionery business, now a mail carrier at Lewistown.

Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hyssong: Charles has always worked as a potter and is engaged with his father; John, a carpet weaver, now settled in Philadelphia, married Nettie Cashner, and they have four children, Robert, Martha, John and Ruth; Walter, who died when twenty-fours year old, learned the trade of potter, but afterwards worked as a machinist at the locomotive works of the Standard Steel Company, at Burnham, Pa.; Irwin, a resident of Bloomsburg, who also learned the potter's trade, married Mary Beagle, and they have three children, Robert, Edna and Esther; Wilbur, who worked with his father in the pottery until twenty years old, and has been a machinist in the government employed at Washington, D. C., for the last two years, married Estella Knepp and has two children, Margaret and Estella."

Some of this information was also published in 2002 when author Phil Schaltenbrand wrote the book, Big Ware Turners: The History and Manufacture of Stoneware in Pennsylvania. Although, the most significant of the wares made by the Hyssongs may be a monumental stoneware double-sided face pitcher that was consigned to Crocker Farm in Sparks, Maryland in March 2017. The pitcher was reportedly made by Elisha B. Hyssong about 1850 in Cassville, Pennsylvania, and seems to possibly demonstrate a Baltimore and Philadelphia influence in its appearance.

But as I noted earlier, I was contacted by some generous people last week who told me that this lidded pot with twisted rope handles and two slip-decorated flowers was made by the Hyssong family in central Pennsylvania. In fact, Randy Hoffman who collects Pennsylvania pottery, especially the wares made in central Pennsylvania told me that he owned an Albany slip glazed flowerpot made by the Hyssongs decorated with the same slip-decorated flower.

Interestingly, the information that I cited above indicates that the Hyssongs used multiple types of clay, especially Austin who likely made the lidded pot and the flowerpot of discussion; those wares include traditional stoneware that appears gray in color as well as terracotta which appears reddish in color.

This pot as well as the flowerpot that I mentioned are both decorated with an Albany slip glaze, a style of glaze typically associated with stoneware production in America, and rarely found on red earthenware because of the high temperature needed to melt pure Albany clay into a slip glaze. But the clay body found on both of these objects is red, especially where both pieces have been damaged exposing the interior clay appearance.

Both objects are also porous meaning that the clay absorbs a liquid rather than the liquid running off like it would on more typical stoneware. I am not sure what to make of these pieces at the moment, in terms of their clay makeup, but I think they are both great examples of central Pennsylvania pottery production. I also want to acknowledge the fact that the form of this lidded pot is quite rare today, and some longtime collectors and dealers have said that they have never seen this form before.

Lidded Pot Reportedly Made by the Hyssong Family in Central Pennsylvania