Last week I posted a story to this website discussing some stoneware made by James Hamilton (1824-1880) in Greensboro, Pennsylvania, based on one of the most significant objects known from Greensboro today, a circa 1860s-1880 water cooler in the collection of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., which must measure between 30-40 gallons in capacity: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2025/07/a-giant-circa-1860s-1880-cobalt.html.
Nevertheless, this wonderful cobalt decorated ten-gallon stoneware crock recently sold at Meander Auctions in Ohio, which came from a collection in Zoar, Ohio. The crock is stamped "BOUGHNER / GREENSBORO."
The Boughner family has a significant history of pottery production in Western Pennsylvania in the 1800s; it began with Daniel Boughner (1788-1861), who was Greensboro's first stoneware potter. The business was then operated by his sons, Alexander Vance (1830-1913) and William Boughner (1823-1906) during the circa 1852 to 1864 period. The business was then run by Alexander from the circa 1864/65-1868 period.
According to the Paul R. Stewart Museum at Waynesburg University in Pennsylvania, "The first documented date for Greensboro area pottery was 1806 when Alexander Vance purchased a lot in Greensboro. Alexander and James Vance (1755-1833) moved to Greensboro from New Jersey around 1800 and produced red earthenware (although the Vances had migrated from Ireland to Philadelphia around 1773 and then to New Jersey).
In 1805, the Vance brothers took in orphan Daniel Boughner and trained him as a red earthenware potter. Boughner married James' daughter, Mary Vance (1790-1872) in 1811, and when the Vance brothers moved to Ohio in 1819, Boughner bought the company and continued the Greensboro pottery business. He manufactured both red earthenware and stoneware and is credited for producing the first Greensboro stoneware around 1850. In 1864, the Boughner pottery was sold to his son A. V. Boughner and continued operating until 1868."
Meander Auctions noted, "A similarly marked crock sold by Crocker Farm in Maryland in the summer of 2024 was theorized to have been made shortly after Alexander Vance Boughner took sole ownership of the pottery and removed the "A&W" from the stamp." -- https://www.crockerfarm.com/stoneware-auction/2024-07-26/lot-58/Scarce-BOUGHNER-GREENSBORO-Four-Gallon-Stoneware-Jar-w-Elaborate-Freehand-Decoration/.
Interestingly an interview with William Boughner was published by Dr. Walter Hough (1859-1935) in the Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institute in 1901, "During the War of 1812, as William Boughner, of Greensboro, Pennsylvania, informs me, the yellow glazed ware was in good demand and brought a high price. He instances that cups and saucers sold at a dollar the set. It will be seen again that the cessation of commerce with England cut off the supplies of wares of the quality not made in America and stimulated the small potteries to manufacture articles for table use. Previously the wares were for common forms for domestic use, such as milk pans, preserve jars and jugs, etc. Unfortunately no examples of the tableware of 1812 survive, but fragments from the site of the old pottery show that it was a good quality of red earthenware covered with a lustrous yellow glaze.
The Vance-Boughner pottery at Greensboro, Pennsylvania continued to produce lead glazed red earthenware up until 1849. The manufacturer of stoneware principally in the form of jugs and milk crocks, still continues at that place (and began with Daniel Boughner about 1850)."
This crock sold for $7,000 plus the buyer's premium: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/208636025_profusely-decorated-stoneware-jar-whipple-oh.
Note: For the rest of the stoneware from this collection in Zoar - see the auction catalog: https://www.meanderauctions.com/auction-12.html.
Circa 1865 Stoneware from the Boughner Family in Greensboro, PA
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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