One of the best examples of red earthenware produced at the Bradford Pottery in Kingston, Massachusetts is owned by the Colonel Ashley House in Ashfield, Massachusetts. This colorfully glazed pitcher was published in the my eighth book, titled, An Influential Family of Early Potters: The Clarks of New Hampshire and Related Businesses: https://historicbeverly.net/product/an-influential-family-of-early-potters-the-clarks-of-new-hampshire-and-related-businesses/.
The Bradfords were a significant family of potters, where production spanned around 100 or more years, manufacturing some of the most dynamic and vibrant glazed red earthenware made anywhere in New England in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Interestingly, some of the family's production was erroneously attributed to other locations in the twentieth century, such as Maine, however archaeology has helped clear up this information that is kept today at Plimouth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
As I posted in a story the other day, titled, A Preview of Forthcoming Two-Volume Tenth Book: Some Archaeology Recovered in Peabody, Mass.: "...The Bradford family in Kingston, Massachusetts, who were descendants of Governor William Bradford (1590-1657), although they were not Quakers but Pilgrim Separatists and members of the established "orthodox" church.
The family patriarch was a leading figure in the Scrooby Separatist congregation who fled England to the Netherlands and then to North America aboard the Mayflower in 1620 to escape religious persecution from the Church of England. He was a key author of the Mayflower Compact and was elected governor of Plymouth Colony many times.
The origin of the Bradford family pottery can be traced back to John Bradford (1732-1818), who reportedly began producing bricks and perhaps red earthenware, sometime around 1750 on his property in Kingston, a small coastal community in Plymouth County, which neighbors Plymouth, Massachusetts to the north. The family pottery then passed through multiple generations of ownership well into the nineteenth century, where multiple kilns were operated, and a family business was eventually established on Cape Cod in the 1800s..."
Production in Barnstable on Cape Cod appears to have been similar to some of the forms and glazes produced in Kingston, which may have included a green glaze that was similar to the greens produced by the Quaker potters in Bristol County, Massachusetts. This green glaze is documented in both archaeology, as well as existing objects owned by the Major John Bradford House in Kingston.
The Bradfords also appear to have employed some potters in the 1800s, such as Peleg Simmons (1818-1907), who was cited as a 31-year-old "Potter" in the 1850 United States Federal Census in Kingston. He likely worked at Stephen Bradford's (1807-1866) business, which was located a short distance from the Jones River.
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Production Continued Under Orrin Bradford (1839-1890) Until the 1870s
Note: The Bradford family's eighteenth and nineteenth century production in Kingston will be included in my forthcoming two-volume, 1,660-page, tenth book, titled, An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, Danvers, Peabody, Beverly and Salem, Massachusetts: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2026/01/update-on-new-book-forthcoming-two.html.
For more information about the Bradford family businesses – see my fifth book, titled, A Celebrated Industry: The Historic Wares of Southeastern Massachusetts, Bristol County and Cape Cod: https://historicbeverly.net/product/a-celebrated-industry-the-historic-wares-of-southeastern-massachusetts-bristol-county-and-cape-cod/.
Also see a feature story I wrote for the May 2019 issue of Maine Antique Digest, titled, The Bradford Family Potteries in Massachusetts: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2019/04/the-bradford-family-potteries-in.html.
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