An Early 19th Century Stoneware Jug Probably from the Hudson River Region in New York, Inscribed "Capt. Gilbert Conklin"

This is an important stoneware jug based on an historical context that is owned by the Rochester Museum & Science Center in Rochester, New York, which is inscribed with the name "Capt. Gilbert Conklin, Sloop Missippie / Beware, Don't Give This Jug A Check If You Do He Break Your Neck / Cornwall Nov. 18, 1812." 

According to a book written by Henry Whittemore in 1886, titled, History of the Seventy-first Regiment N.G.S.N.Y.: Including the History of the Veteran Association with Biographical Sketches of Members, "Captain Gilbert Conklin (1776-1849) settled near Poughkeepsie in Dutchess County, New York. He followed the water and was one of the most prominent and popular captains on the North River (an alternative name for the southernmost portion of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City). At a later period the family removed to Cayuga County, New York."

Conklin's father, Captain Isaac Conklin (1753-1840) was born in Westchester County, New York, and captained a sloop named Clinton and was enlisted in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Interestingly, he was also one of four men who established the settlement of Peekskill along the Hudson River in 1764. The original settlement is located about fifty miles north of Manhattan.

Note: This jug is published in William Ketchum Jr.'s book, Potters and Potteries of New York State, 1650-1900, where New York scholar and collector just informed me that "it is attributed to the David Clark pottery in Cornwall, New York (1790s-1820). I believe it is the only known piece with a reliable mark to the Clark pottery in Cornwall."

Early 19th C. Stoneware Jug Probably from the Hudson River Region

Early 19th Century Stoneware Jug from New York

Made at the David Clark Pottery in Cornwall, New York

Date "November 18, 1812"

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Photo Courtesy: Rochester Museum & Science Center

Here is the Jug Pictured in William Ketchum Jr.'s New York Book

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Capt. Gilbert Conklin's (1776-1849) Gravestone

He is Buried in Tallman Cemetery in Cayuga County, New York

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