Circa 1749-1753 Red Earthenware Production in Gloucester, Massachusetts

It may not be widely known today, although Gloucester, Massachusetts was a center of production for red earthenware in the seventeenth and part of the eighteenth century. Some of the known objects dating from this period will be included in my forthcoming 700-900 page, tenth book, titled, An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, South Danvers, Peabody and Salem Massachusetts.

Among the seventeenth century potters working in Gloucester were William Vincent or Vinson (1608-1690), who came from Salem, Massachusetts. The extent of Vincent's production is not known today, however Joseph Gardner (1672-1750) was considered a longtime potter in Gloucester before he died in 1750. There are a few objects in the collection of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. thought to have been produced while Vincent and Gardner were living in Gloucester.

However, upon Gardner's death in 1750, Daniel Bayley (1729-1792) opened a company in Gloucester during the circa 1749-1753 period, although he had likely trained at his father's business in Rowley, Massachusetts. This was a short-lived enterprise, seeing that Bayley established his Newburyport, Massachusetts company in the early 1760s, which he is most known for today, especially the wares that were exported by his company, and found in archaeological contexts today in places like Salem, coastal Maine and Canada.

Nonetheless, these slip decorated red earthenware sherds were recovered at the site of the Bayley Pottery in Gloucester by Massachusetts author, Lura Woodside Watkins (1897-1982) sometime before Early New England Potters and Their Wares was published in 1950. There was a good amount of slip decorated red earthenware produced along coastal Massachusetts before the American Revolution, but Gloucester is not always thought of as one of the places that produced this type of decorated household pottery.

Note: Another potter who worked in Gloucester in the late 1600s and early 1700s was Jacob Davis (1663-1718); Davis was born in Gloucester about 1663 and died in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1718.

Circa 1749-1753 Red Earthenware Production in Gloucester, Mass.

18th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Sherds

Recovered at the Site of the Daniel Bayley Pottery in Gloucester, Mass.

Circa 1749-1753

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Photo Courtesy: National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute

A Closer View of the One of the Circa 1749-1753 Sherds

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Photo Courtesy: National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute

Some Early Objects Reportedly Made in Gloucester, Mass.

These Pages are from the Forthcoming Book

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