EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: 19th Century American Black Glazed Teapot Recovered from Brigham Young's Property in Western New York

Friday, August 2, 2019

19th Century American Black Glazed Teapot Recovered from Brigham Young's Property in Western New York

I wrote earlier this week that I was in conversation with the Museum of Church History in Salt Lake City, Utah for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to write about artifacts collected by New York state historian, Sheldon Fisher (1907-2002), recovered at the site of Brigham Young's (1801-1877) home in Mendon, New York. While I have not seen the locally produced wares, yet, I was sent pictures of some of the imported ceramics recovered at the site, such as mochaware, pearlware and transfer-decorated wares, much of which are related to Young's occupancy.

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."

The remains of this black-glazed red earthenware teapot were recovered by Fisher on Young's site within such a context that this teapot may very-well have been used when Brigham Young lived on the property. These remains potentially date from the 1820s to the early-1830s, which would have been the same period that Thomas Crafts business was making black-glazed teapots in Whately, Massachusetts, circa 1821-1833.

I cannot say for sure that this is a Whately teapot; although, the handle and lid certainly do appear like some of the Whately artifacts that I have studied from the Lura Woodside Watkins (1897-1982) Collection at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. But the teapot's body and base are what force me to question if this could be from another manufacturer. Nevertheless, though the archaeological context is without a doubt fascinating, and the Whately teapots are known to have been shipped all over, including places throughout New England, New York City and reportedly Philadelphia.

Teapot Remains Recovered from Brigham Young's Property in Mendon, NY

19th Century Black-Glazed Red Earthenware Teapot Remains

Recovered in the 1970s at the Site of Brigham Young's House in Mendon, NY

Recovered Among Early-19th Century Ceramics
Possibly Found in an 1820s-1830s Archaeological Context

Thought to Have Been Used When Brigham Young Lived on the Property