Monday, April 14, 2025

A Quaker Red Earthenware Jar from Bristol County, Massachusetts that will be Published in Forthcoming Tenth Book

An object that was previously highlighted in my fifth book, titled, A Celebrated Industry: The Historic Wares of Southeastern Massachusetts, Bristol County and Cape Cod is a red earthenware jar adorned with a Quaker hat as the finial: https://historicbeverly.net/product/a-celebrated-industry-the-historic-wares-of-southeastern-massachusetts-bristol-county-and-cape-cod/.

I consider this object to be one of the most historically significant surviving examples of red earthenware from New England, perhaps second to the mid-eighteenth century slip decorated red earthenware pot from Charlestown, Massachusetts, which is on the cover of my third book, titled, The Dawn of Independence, the Death of an Industry: The Pottery of Charlestown, Massachusettshttps://historicbeverly.net/product/the-dawn-of-independence-the-death-of-an-industry/.

However, this object will be published again in my forthcoming 500-600 page tenth book, titled, An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, South Danvers and Peabody, Massachusetts. 

This information will be published in my forthcoming book, "...Quakerism was one of the radical sects that emerged from the English Civil War in the 1640s with the central figure being George Fox (1624–1691), the founder of the religion. The first New England Quakers were New Englanders before they became Quakers. Most of them, or their parents, arrived from England in the great Puritan migration of the 1630s. 

Among those early Quakers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony was Lawrence (ca. 1598-1660) and Cassandra Southwick (ca. 1601-1660), who along with their children were severely persecuted for their Quaker faith in Salem in the 1650s. However, before Lawrence Southwick was a Quaker, he arrived in Salem in the 1630s, where some accounts suggest he was in the business of making glass and red earthenware with Annanias Concklin, Obadiah Holmes and William Osborne. Upon arriving in Salem, these men were also given land at Strong Water Brook, near the boundary line between Salem town and the Middle Precinct, which was between Salem and Salem Village at that time, and located today between Salem and Danvers, Massachusetts. But there is no indication that this red earthenware business ever happened.

Another attempt at red earthenware production in Salem in the late 1630s or early 1640s was with John Pride (1590-1647), who was registered as a potter in Salem. But it is unclear if he actually operated a business.

Pride was born about 1590 in England; he arrived with his wife around 1636 or 1637 in Salem. Pride's name first appears when, as a fisherman, he was granted lands on Juniper Point and Winter Islands. The town records of Salem show that he was given one-half an acre of land on Winter Harbor by their home and five acres on "Darbie Fort side" on March 20, 1636/37. He received another twenty acres in a land grant in Salem between December 26, 1636 and July 12, 1637.

John was the first recorded potter in New England, where he was registered in Salem, as early as 1641. But the Drinker family in Charlestown appears to have been the first to actually operate a pottery business in Massachusetts in the 1640s. Although, like many of the potters in Charlestown before the American Revolution, Pride was an English trained potter. He died in 1647, but there is no indication in his inventory that he owned a potter's business or any potter's supplies, such as a potter's wheel, a kiln, clay or any lead used in the glazing process of red earthenware.

The Quaker religion spread to New Jersey in the 1670s and Pennsylvania in the 1680s, where the colony of Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn (1644-1710) in 1682, as a safe place for Quakers to live and practice their faith."

Nevertheless, this red earthenware jar is a symbol of this movement, dating from the eighteenth or early nineteenth century period. It does not retain a documented history, although I suspect it was made for an event at a Quaker Meeting House in Bristol County, although there were also meeting houses in Rhode Island, as early as 1699. 

A number of the potters in Bristol County in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century were Quakers, and they were intertwined with many of the potting families in the South Danvers (Peabody) and Salem area; this was somewhat a result of the potter Daniel Purinton (ca. 1710-1764), who relocated from South Danvers to Somerset, Bristol County, Massachusetts around the mid-eighteenth century. Purinton was born about 1710 in Salisbury, Massachusetts; he was the son of James (circa 1663-1718) and Lydia Mussey Purinton (circa 1669-1737). He married Sarah Osborn (1707-1755) at Salem's Quaker Meeting House on February 2, 1726, a descendant of William Osborne, who tried to established a red earthenware business with Lawrence Southwick in the 1630s or 40s in Salem.

A Quaker Red Earthenware Jar from Bristol County, Massachusetts

18th or Early 19th Century Red Earthenware Jar from Bristol County, Mass.
The Jar is Adorned with a Quaker Hat as the Finial
Stands 8 1/2" Tall
See Article for More Information
The Base of the Jar is Inscribed with the Letter "A"
See Article for More Information
The Base of the Lid is Inscribed with the Letter "A"
See Article for More Information
This is George Fox (1624-1691) Wearing a Quaker Hat
See Article for More Information
This is Lawrence Southwick (ca. 1598-1660) Wearing a Quaker Hat
See Article for More Information

Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...

No comments: