Among the subjects largely discussed in my most recent published book, titled, From One Town Came Many: The Red Earthenware Industry of Ancient North Yarmouth, Maine is an accurate history of the wares made at the multigenerational Dodge Pottery in Portland, Maine, circa 1790s-1870s. There has been some confusion about what was made at this business versus another businesses in Maine, based on inaccurate attributions created in the twentieth century that resulted in wares made at the Dodge Pottery misidentified for the Thomas Truxton Kendrick (1803-1878) Pottery in Hollis, Maine.
The fact is that very little is known about the Kendrick Pottery, whereas what was thought to have been known about certain types of wares made at this business were actually made in Portland. And thanks to three living family members in New England who are all direct descendants of the Dodge an Gould families of Portland and North Yarmouth, and pottery and other concrete evidence that descended from creation to the current family members, the history of what was made at the Dodge Pottery has been accurately identified. Some of this information was also previously published in a three-part series I wrote a few years ago for Antiques And The Arts Weekly.
Nevertheless, while recently conducting some unrelated research, I came across these newspaper announcements; one is from Benjamin Dodge (1774-1838) that was published in The Portland Gazette in 1813, while the other is from the Lamson & Swasey Pottery in Portland and it mentions the site of the Dodge Pottery, which was published in The Portland Press Herald in 1878. Furthermore, this was a type of ad that Lamson & Swasey ran for the next few years, seeing that the Dodge Pottery had recently ceased production with the death of the last owner, and the stoneware business ended up purchasing the red earthenware company, which must have been a local landmark.
Note: For reference, I believe this bad Kendrick Pottery attribution began at the Maine State Museum in the 1970s with a privately owned object that was loaned to the museum for a pottery exhibit, which the museum then published in the exhibit catalog. This resulted in the museum using this attribution for various objects in their collection, and it has been cited privately and publicly ever since. However, there is absolutely no evidence to support this information, whatsoever, and especially after learning what existing Dodge family members presented for information. All family members have also requested to remain anonymous, but their pottery and other family related objects will eventually end up in the collection of the Maine Historical Society in Portland. As noted above, almost all of these objects that will end up in the historical society are published in my seventh book, titled, From One Town Came Many: The Red Earthenware Industry of Ancient North Yarmouth, Maine. It was also an honor to be able to handle these objects and write about this important family's history!
The 1790s-1870s Dodge Pottery of Portland, Maine
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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