This is another preview of my forthcoming two-volume, 1,900+ page, tenth book, titled, An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, Danvers, Peabody, Beverly and Salem, Massachusetts.
"...Samuel Marshall (d. 1749) is a notable figure in the colonial history of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. First recorded as a potter there in 1729, Marshall may have initially collaborated with Nathaniel Libby (1695-1752). Although Marshall did not purchase land until 1736, he successfully operated a red earthenware business near Puddle Dock—an area preserved today by Strawbery Banke Museum. Decades later, in the 1760s, Quaker potter John Shillaber (1725-1791) arrived from Danvers and attempted to fill the void of local red earthenware production.
Marshall's operations extended beyond local production. John Parker’s (1725-1765) 1747-1761 Potter’s Daybook from Charlestown, Massachusetts, shows Marshall purchasing some quantities of red earthenware in the late 1740s. This wholesale buying was likely a continuation of his early Portsmouth business model; notably, his name also appears in Theodore Atkinson’s (1697-1779) 1732–1735 ledger, predating his land ownership. Meanwhile, Marshall's early associate, Nathaniel Libby, eventually relocated to Exeter, New Hampshire, where he ran a storefront and produced red earthenware. Following Libby's death in 1752, Charlestown potter Daniel Edes (1708-1764) arrived in Exeter in an attempt to revive the business.
The ledger captures the bustling commercial operations of Atkinson, a wealthy New Hampshire merchant, judge, and provincial secretary. Beyond his extensive transatlantic trade, Atkinson maintained critical ties to the American South through coastal shipping routes connecting Portsmouth to North Carolina. During this era, North Carolina relied heavily on New England merchants to export its abundant naval stores—like tar, pitch, and timber—as well as corn and tobacco. Atkinson actively engaged in this intercolonial coastwise commerce, deploying merchant vessels to exchange specialized textiles (such as the cuttanees listed in this ledger), rum, and European goods for these Southern raw materials. These commercial networks cemented Atkinson's status as a key economic bridge between New England and the Southern colonies.
Marshall’s documented transactions show a heavy involvement in both personal consumer goods and maritime manufacturing materials. For example, in 1734 Marshall purchased a specific "parcel of earthenwear" valued at 7 pounds and 15 shillings (£7 15s 0d). He also purchased 169 pounds of bulk lead brought in by the merchant ship Giles, which was priced at 8½ pence per pound and cost him 5 pounds, 19 shillings, and 10 pence (£5 19s 10d).
His trade activities extended deeply into Portsmouth's vital shipbuilding sector, where he acquired 237 pounds of oakum—a tarred hemp fiber used to caulk and waterproof wooden ship hulls—at a rate of 6 pence per pound, totaling 5 pounds, 18 shillings, and 6 pence (£5 18s 6d).
In addition to buying goods, Marshall participated directly in the local service economy, earning a credit of 12 shillings (12s 0d) for performing 1½ days of manual labor. Combined together, Marshall's total economic footprint across these four specific ledger entries amounts to a gross value of 20 pounds, 5 shillings, and 4 pence (£20 5s 4d)."
Note: For more information about Samuel Marshall - see 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/.
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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