As I have previously mentioned - my two-volume, 1,654 page, tenth book, titled, An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, Danvers, Peabody, Beverly and Salem, Massachusetts, should be heading to publication in the next month or so, where I am now looking forward to the eleventh book, which I'm hoping for a fall 2026 publication date. This new book, titled, A Monumental History: Stories of Red Earthenware Production in Western Massachusetts, the Berkshires and Vermont, will be about 600-700 pages in length, and it will include research from other scholars, such as Boston City Archaeologist Joe Bagley.
In fact, Chapter 2 in the book is titled, The Eighteenth Century Businesses of Northampton, Massachusetts; this can be traced back to colonial red earthenware production in the Boston and Charlestown, Massachusetts area. The first potter in Northampton was Jonathan Hall (1732-1776), who originally owned a business in Roxbury, Massachusetts in the 1760s (and perhaps earlier).
Some of the history of Hall’s production in Western Massachusetts has been preserved in notes taken by author and Unitarian minister Sylvester Judd (1813-1853), now owned by the Forbes Library in Northampton. However, Hall’s production in Northampton did not last long, seeing that he died in 1776. He was a captain in the American Revolution, although his death was unrelated to the war, and instead a result of an illness.
Hall appears in the Boston Gazette, twice in 1763, and then again in 1765. The 1765 advertisement announces the sale of his pottery business, which he eventually sold in 1767. He was then living in Hampshire County, Massachusetts by 1769. It is unclear where Hall learned how to manufacture red earthenware, but he may have trained in Charlestown before establishing his business in Roxbury for the fact that he was related through marriage to the Parker family in Charlestown. Isaac (1692-1742) and Grace Parker (1697-1754) were a prominent family of potters, operating a red earthenware business during the circa 1714-1754 period, whereas a son, John Parker (1719-1762) kept an account book of his activities during the 1747-1761 period, now owned by the Baker Library at Harvard University.
Interestingly, there were other members of the Hall family who operated as red earthenware potters in Dorchester, Massachusetts before the American Revolution, perhaps having trained in Charlestown, which at the time was a bordering community.
According to the research of Boston City Archaeologist, Joe Bagley - The Hall family operated a multi-generational red earthenware business in Dorchester in the eighteenth century. Joseph (1701-1762) and Palatiah (1704-1784) were the grandsons of Richard (1620-1691) and Elizabeth Collicott Hall (1629-1693). Richard arrived in the Boston area in 1639 from Kent, England. There is also another brother named Jonathan, and this is possibly the same Jonathan who worked as a potter in Roxbury and later Northampton, otherwise the Jonathan in Roxbury was related in another way.
According to Bagley, “The area where the Hall kiln may have been located is possibly on property near Mother's Rest on Washington Street in Dorchester. Additionally, Joseph’s will from 1762 mentions the potting shop, as does his probate from 1762 that notes his potter’s mill & millstone, potting shop, kiln and kiln house.
Also in 1762, the deed of Joseph and Palatiah split their 8 ¾ acres of land with Joseph receiving the northern half and kiln. Joseph then wills his kiln to his nephews Solomon (1732-1791) and Paul (1735-1816). Solomon is a victualer (a person providing or selling food or other provisions) and Paul is a potter.”
It is unclear how long production may have continued under Paul, but it may have stopped around the start of the American Revolution, which altered the physical appearance, atmosphere and landscape of the Boston area in 1775, such as Battle of Bunker Hill in Charlestown on June 17, 1775, etc.
Furthermore, I am not going to post it here (you will have to wait for the book), but an example of eighteenth century production from the Hall Pottery in Northampton may have been recovered by archaeologists in the twentieth century from an eighteenth century privy at the Dr. Thomas Williams (1718-1775) house in Deerfield, Massachusetts. The house was built about 1748, and this is about when the privy was constructed, then being used over the next few decades. The slip decoration applied on this object is similar to techniques produced in Charlestown, although unrelated to that production.
Note: For more information about pre-1775 production in Charlestown, Massachusetts - see my second book, titled, The Dawn of Independence, the Death of an Industry: The Pottery of Charlestown, Massachusetts: https://historicbeverly.net/product/the-dawn-of-independence-the-death-of-an-industry/.
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