I was thrilled to acquire this historically
important red earthenware pitcher yesterday, which is illustrated in my most
recent book, titled, From One Town Came Many: The Red Earthenware Industry of Ancient North Yarmouth, Maine.
This object is important to local history in the area located to the west of Portland, Maine; it was found decades ago hidden in the Jonathan Atkinson (1756-1852) House in Limington, Maine – who moved there in 1794 in order to be the first minister of the Congregational Church. Atkinson was ordained and installed on November 12, 1794. He built the house sometime around the time that he arrived, although he was originally from Newbury, Massachusetts, and was a graduate of Dartmouth College.
The village church was built in 1792 when the Little Ossipee Plantation was incorporated on February 9, 1792, as the town of Limington, whereas another notable piece of property located a few hundred yards away is the The Libby-MacArthur House, which was built in the eighteenth century and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. Arthur (1790-1874) and Sara MacArthur (1805-1881) and their two children's portraits were painted by Maine artist, Royal Brewster Smith (1801-1855) and are owned today by Historic New England, as part of the Nina Fletcher Little acquisition of Cogswell's Grant in Essex, Massachusetts.
Nonetheless, this pitcher was discovered by Charlie Huntress and his wife in 1975 when they
began to restore the Atkinson home. It was found carefully placed beneath floorboards
in a crawl space in the northeast parlor. The belief is that it could date no
later than 1802-1803 because of a fire that happened during this time; Charlie
told me years ago that when he was crawling over the carrying beams to retrieve
the pitcher that he could see some partially charred timbers still under the
floor.
Furthermore, this is a very early piece of red earthenware from Maine, which is impressed on one side with a seal like impression similar to that seen on early American and European glass. The initials on the impression read “JB,” possibly representing a member of the Bickford family, whereas James Bickford Jr. (1798-1884) operated a successful pottery with his family in nearby Buxton from the 1820s to the 1880s. It is currently a mystery whether James Bickford Sr. (1773-1844) had any involvement with pottery production in this part of Maine, although he lived most/all of his life in York County, Maine. However, this pitcher may have been a presentation object that was given to Atkinson when he arrived in Limington in the 1790s.
Interestingly, located directly next to the Atkinson House is where antiques dealer Bethany Kelly lives; her house was built in the 1790s, and all sorts of evidence of red earthenware production from a kiln has been recovered on the property. But it has not been determined what was exactly happening there. All of this information is published in the Maine book that I cite at the top of this article.
Note: It was previously published that James Bickford Sr. came from Exeter, New Hampshire, which is where the Dodge family ran a red earthenware business in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, although I have found conflicting records that suggest he may have actually been born in Buxton. However, a Dodge family connection to this object found in the Atkinson House would be great!
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