A quick follow up to yesterday's post, titled, A Group of Billheads from the M.B. Paige Pottery in Peabody, Mass. Recently Found in Maryland and Virginia, where I wrote "Until recently, I had never seen any paperwork related to the circa 1876-1940s Moses B. Paige Pottery in Peabody, Massachusetts outside of a museum collection, although I acquired three billheads from this business late last year from the 1890s that were recently found in Maryland and Virginia. The only billhead that I had previously seen is one dated September 17, 1894 and owned by the Peabody Historical Society.
Surprisingly, though, I just acquired a fourth billhead, also found in Virginia that documents an order of products that were shipped near Mount Cardigan to Grafton, New Hampshire. The order was sent from the Paige Pottery's office on Spice Street in Charlestown and dated June 24, 1898.
Furthermore, I just went back and looked at the previous three billheads and they are all addressed to the same merchant in Grafton, all with various dates from 1898. There was apparently a significant amount of red earthenware shipped to this town from Peabody in the late 1890s, whereas the forms included plates, bowls and jugs.
There were also other forms listed on the billheads and additional types of pottery sold, as well, along with some glassware, seeing that Paige sold more than just the red earthenware that was produced at his business. For whatever reason, though, Paige apparently had some sort of business opportunity with a merchant in Grafton, where the town had a population of less than 800 people in 1898."
The man listed on those billheads was Elvirus Frederick Folsom (1847-1926), who was born in Boscawen, New Hampshire in 1847, although by 1860 he had moved with his family to Alexandria, Grafton County, New Hampshire, which was located near the base of Mount Cardigan.
Folsom's first occupation is listed in the 1870 Federal Census in Alexandria, where he is working as a farm laborer, presumably for his father Ira Folsom (1816-1874), who is listed as a farmer in the same census (some books also indicate he sold dry goods).
However, both his father and mother Hannah (1815-1874) died in 1874, and by 1880, he is listed as now living in Grafton, New Hampshire. He is listed in the 1880 Federal Census as a trader, in the 1900 Federal Census as a grocer, and in the 1920 Federal Census as a merchant who owned a general store, although his connection to the Paige Pottery is not clearly identified. The only clear instance where Folsom is connected to Massachusetts is when he briefly lived for a few years in Roxbury, Massachusetts, beginning in 1866. But his involvement with the Paige Pottery may have been as broad as the late 1870s through the 1920s. This is also just one example of how the Paige Pottery operated in Peabody.
Nevertheless, it should also be noted that by 1881, Grafton was a rail station along the Northern (New Hampshire) Railroad, which eventually became part of the Boston and Maine Railroad.
Note: For more information, see my second book, titled, The Moses B. Paige Company: The Last of the Peabody Potteries: https://historicbeverly.net/product/the-moses-b-paige-company-the-last-of-the-peabody-potteries/. The information from this post will also be included in my forthcoming 665-page book, An Influential Family of Early Potters: The Clarks of New Hampshire and Related Businesses.
Elvirus Frederick Folsom (1847-1926) of Grafton, New Hampshire
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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