I was thrilled to come across this nineteenth century red earthenware jar yesterday in the form of a stoneware jar that was possibly made in Erie County, New York; in fact, there are a small group of jars known in this shape today that were made at one of Lorenzo Johnson's (1821-1893) businesses in either Newstead or Millgrove, New York. Although this is one of the better glazed examples that I have seen, whereas I have always felt that the source of inspiration for these types of jars made by Johnson may have been the stoneware produced during the same period in Buffalo, New York, seeing that Buffalo is located about twenty-five miles to the west of Newstead and Millgrove.
Furthermore, Johnson was also known to have produced a jug form and a butter churn form to go along with this type of straight-sided jar, all of which resemble stoneware forms made in Western New York. Some of these objects were also impressed "L. Johnson" or "L. Johnson & Co.," including the butter churn that is owned today by the New York State Museum in Albany, New York.
The form of the handle found on this type of jar is also represented in the archaeology collected at the site of the Newstead Pottery in the twentieth century, which is kept today at the Rochester Museum & Science Center in Rochester, New York. All of this information will be included in my forthcoming two-volume ninth book, titled, America's Great Awakening and Migration: The Red Earthenware of Western New York.
Additionally, I have also posted a very good example of a similar shaped four-gallon stoneware crock adorned with a cobalt decorated bird that was made at Charles W. Braun's (1821-1899) business in Buffalo, circa late 1850s-1870. The crock is Stamped "C.W. BRAUN / BUFFALO.N.Y.," and is currently for sale as part of a very good stoneware collection at Antiques Associates At West Townsend in Massachusetts. This is about the same period that the red earthenware crock was made by Lorenzo Johnson, although red earthenware and stoneware production in Buffalo became a mainstay for the city following the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. For instance the Heiser family produced a variety of stoneware in Buffalo during the 1830s to the 1850s, whereas this is the business that Braun eventually took over in the late 1850s. The Heiser family originally migrated from Germany to Philadelphia in 1819, and then relocated to Buffalo in 1828. Erie County seems to have been an area that was impacted by a number of German influenced potters, such as a story that I posted to this website earlier this year about red earthenware production in Buffalo: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2025/01/a-group-of-potteries-operated-by.html.
Nonetheless, here is a link to the Braun crock listed on A.A.A.W.T.'s website: https://www.aaawt.com/antique/stoneware-crock-cobalt-decoration-stamped-c-w-braun-buffalo-n-y/.
Note: For more information about stoneware production in Buffalo - see a feature story written by Peter Jablonski for Antique Bottle & Glass Collector, titled, The Early Potteries of the Queen City 1834-1896: https://issuu.com/fohbc/docs/ab_gc_julyaug22_finalx/s/16100617.
Similar Shaped Stoneware Jar Made by C.W. Braun in Buffalo, N.Y.
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