From the Mayflower to Red Earthenware: The Legacy of the Bradford Family of Potters

The Bradford family of potters established a multi-generational legacy in Kingston, Massachusetts, securing a vital place in post-Revolutionary War ceramics history. Operating along the coastal region, they produced a variety of refined forms, including red earthenware pitchers and jars. Some of these forms feature distinct, decorative coggle-wheel impressions stamped just below the rim that match archaeological evidence recovered in the twentieth century in Kingston.

For modern collectors and historians, this form first appeared publicly in the antiques trade as part of the landmark Chris Huntington sale in Maine in 1974. Decades later, the piece that I posted from my personal collection a few days ago was used as a primary comparative model against archaeological artifacts held at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Recognizing the historical value of this archaeology, the history of the Bradford family was then published in a five-page feature story I wrote for the May 2019 issue of Maine Antique Digest, titled “The Bradford Family Potteries in Massachusetts.” This information was then published again in my fifth book, 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/. 

For a brief history: This historic potting lineage descended directly from Governor William Bradford (1590-1657), the Mayflower passenger who led the Plymouth Colony for over thirty years. Generations later, the family's Kingston pottery operation began around 1750 under John Bradford (1732–1811) and continued well into the nineteenth century. To sustain the regional brick-making and red earthenware business, John and his son, Stephen Bradford (1771–1837), managed the kiln and worked the local clay pits alongside other family members and local apprentices. The operation's enduring success eventually inspired a spinoff family business located on Cape Cod.

Various Pitchers Made by the Bradford Family of Kingston, Mass.

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Photo Courtesy: Various Museum and Private Collections

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