EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: Two Marked Pieces of Red Earthenware Made by Alexander Whartenby in Waterloo, Seneca County, New York

Thursday, January 16, 2025

Two Marked Pieces of Red Earthenware Made by Alexander Whartenby in Waterloo, Seneca County, New York

A location that seems to have had a long history of red earthenware production in Western New York is Waterloo, Seneca County, New York; production in this area began in the early 1800s with Abraham Yost (1778-1848). Yost first appears in the census records in 1810, although he is thought to have established the red earthenware business about 1802. Yost and his household are still listed in the 1820 Census in Fayette, New York, where the Village of Waterloo borders Fayette. He was the son of John Jacob Yost (born Jost) (1738-1823) and Maria Yost (1749-1825), who lived most of their lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Very little is known about his production, but he may have been a Bucks County trained potter; his grandfather, Johann Michael Jost (1720-1787) was born in Germany. He died in Ash Township, Monroe County, Michigan in 1848.

Yost sold the business to James Thorn (1794-1884), probably in the early 1820s. Thorn was born in Pennsylvania and had family ties to both Middlesex County, New Jersey and parts of Pennsylvania; he operated the red earthenware business until the early 1830s, although very little is known about his production. Thorn is listed in the 1870 United States Federal Census as a farmer in Michigan. He also died in Ash Township, Monroe County, Michigan in 1884.

Pages 73-75 from Chapter 1 in Forthcoming Two-Volume Western New York Book

This is About the Yost and Thorn Potteries in Waterloo, New York

See Article for More Information

But it was in 1830s that Benjamin P. Whartenby (1794-1851), who was born in New Jersey, purchased Thorn's red earthenware company, and thus began his family’s career in the pottery business in Seneca County, New York. Although, there is not a lot of information known about this family’s red earthenware production, either, but other family members involved with the company, include Benjamin’s son, Alexander Whartenby (1829-1896), as well as Alexander’s son, Benjamin F. Whartenby (1856-1906).

Nevertheless, the elder Benjamin's biggest accomplishment was likely helping introduce the production of red earthenware drain tile to New York State, which was a pioneering effort he was involved with, based on similar production in Scotland. This new idea of irrigation for farmers in America led to other potters producing related drain tiles in the Western New York region, such as Alvin Wilcox (1801-1862) in West Bloomfield, New York in the late 1840s and 1850s, as well as many other Western New York potters.

However, it is much lesser known that the Whartenby family apparently produced a wide variety of household utilitarian red earthenware in Waterloo; I believe there are only two objects that can be accurately associated with this company today, both of which are owned by the Waterloo Library & Historical Society. These objects will be illustrated for the first time in Chapter 1 of my forthcoming two-volume Western New York book, titled, America's Great Awakening and Migration: The Red Earthenware of Western New York. Each object is marked, “A. WHARTENBY / WATERLOO N.Y."

Note: By chance does anyone reading this post happen to own any other red earthenware pottery thought to have been made by the Whartenby family? Or even at the Yost or Thorn potteries?

Red Earthenware Made by Alexander Whartenby in Waterloo, N.Y.