Both the date of the jar's origins and the name of the potter who created them are unknown. Available evidence suggests there were few commercial red earthenware manufacturers in Vermont in the late-eighteenth-century.
These jars may have been the work of Ebenezer Bostwick, a member of a large clan of Bostwicks living in Hinesburg, Vermont in the 1790's.
In May 1793, Bostwick traveled to Thomas Bryd's store in Vergennes Vermont, where he purchased one pound of tea, three pounds of indigo, and 51 3/4 pounds of lead, an essential ingredient in red earthenware.
Rowland Robinson's grandfather was a new emigrant from Rhode Island, who also shopped at Byrd's store. In an early Robinson family account book, receipt of pottery from Ebenezer Bostwick is noted in exchange for grain."
Regardless of whether Bostwick was a commercial or sometime potter, however, or whether he made the jars, the exchange alone helps understand red earthenware's importance as a trading commodity in Vermont's late-eighteenth-century domestic economy."
Note: I have not seen either of the described jars in hand, but the published jar appears like it is decorated in a cream and raspberry-colored glaze based on other Vermont-made jars that I am aware of today. Most importantly, could these jars have been acquired by Roland Robinson's grandfather directly from Ebenezer Bostwick? It is certainly possible, and thus the idea of a circa 1790's attribution to Hinesburg, Vermont.
Late-18th Century Red Earthenware Jar Attributed to Hinesburg, VT
Descended in the Family of Rowland E. Robinson
Circa 1790-1820
Stands 9 3/4" Tall
Photo Courtesy: Celebrating Vermont: Myths and Realities, Middlebury College, 1991
I feel that Vermont is an area that could use much-more research today in terms of the amount of red earthenware potters, who were employed in the state in the late-eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries. That research could include the identity of these potters, and the types of red earthenware that they produced. The Farrar family is well-known today in the Middlebury, Vermont area; however, there were undoubtedly many more red earthenware potters, as well.
I have always been curious to learn more about the production, which reportedly happened in Hinesburg since it is an attribution that I have heard on a few occasions. Hinesbury is also a community that is located between Middlebury and Burlington, Vermont.
Presumably, some of the Hinesburg products may appear like the wares that were produced at the Farrar Pottery in Middlebury, but I do not believe there is enough evidence to prove such a statement today. Nevertheless, I believe that if the jar (shown above) were to appear in Maine today, that it would also likely be attributed to Maine. However, that attribution would likely have been based on the glaze, and similar glazes were achieved across northern New England, western New York and Ontario.
The only forms that I have seen that were said to have been made to Hinesburg are jars, jugs and vases; although, there were definitely more forms that may have included pans, crocks and pots.
According to a document compiled for the 'Town Plan of Hinesburg' published on September 9, 2013, "Ebenezer Bostwick opened a pottery shop in 1790. This was the beginning of a long history of small industries in Hinesburg. Some of the industries collapsed, a few burned, one stopped because of the 1837 financial crash, and many frequently changed ownership."
The following jug was purchased at an auction in Peterborough, New Hampshire in 2011. The jug was consigned as part of a larger collection of antiques, which was mostly assembled in the first-half of the twentieth-century. There did not appear to be a reason for how the red earthenware was collected, but a likely scenario is that the previous owner (family) purchased the objects based on what was available to them in the area that they lived in New Hampshire before 1950.
My reason for showing this jug today is a result of having seen two other jugs in this same form, and decorated in a matching glaze that were also attributed to Hinesburg by auctioneers in Vermont.
Interestingly, Massachusetts author, Lura Woodside Watkins wrote about the potters in Vermont in 'Early New England Potters and Their Wares;' however, she did not document any potters employed in Hinesburg in the late-eighteenth or nineteenth-centuries.
Note: This type of handle has confused New England collectors for years - it has been attributed to New Hampshire and Maine, but this jug may prove that this type of handle is actually a Vermont characteristic.
19th Century Red Earthenware Jug Likely Made in Northern New England
A Matching Form Has Been Attributed to Hinesburg, VT in the Past
Circa 1790-1820
Stands 9 3/4" Tall
Another View of the Jug
View of the Top of the Jug
View of the Handle
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
