It was around two weeks ago that I wrote about some of the red earthenware manufactured by the Goodwin family in West Hartford, Connecticut in the late-eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This is a family business that can be overlooked today for the slip-decorated wares manufactured in West Hartford, especially the products made at the Seymour Pottery in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century.
However, West Hartford's stoneware production also somewhat overshadowed some of the local red earthenware production in recent decades. But there was a variety of wares produced at this industry for local distribution, as well as some products that have even appeared in some early contexts of ownership in Rhode Island.
According to the West Hartford Historical Society, "Early on, grist saw, and carding mills along with blacksmith shops, tanneries and general stores emerged around the (West Hartford) community to support and help drive agriculture. One of the first major industries to arise centered on the pottery and brick works. Extending from Hartford to Berlin is a sizable deposit of fine clay.
In 1770, Ebenezer Faxon came from Massachusetts and settled in what would become the Elmwood section of West Hartford. There he established a pottery on South Road (what is today New Britain Avenue) which took advantage of the local geographical landscape. Nathaniel Seymour later followed, but it was Seth Goodwin (1772-1828), however, who helped to establish a pottery dynasty. Goodwin started his pottery works around 1798. For over a hundred years, the Goodwin name would be associated with West Hartford Pottery - producing utilitarian items such as jugs for the gin manufactured in local distilleries, to terra cotta designs and fine china. The Goodwin Company employed up to 75 people in its heyday in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. The Goodwin Brothers Pottery Company (as it came to be known) burned for the third time in 1908 and never recovered."
I also wrote a few weeks ago the I had recently acquired a nineteenth century West Harford red earthenware jar from Zach Miller, an antiques dealer in northwest Arkansas. He told me the jar was just discovered in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
The form of this large jar matches another smaller jar in my personal collection, and both of these objects match the form of a jar in the collection of the Connecticut Historical Society, which is prominently stamped "T.O. GOODWIN." This rare mark represents the production of Seth Goodwin's son, Thomas O'Hara Goodwin (1796-1880) in West Hartford, likely from the early-to-mid nineteenth century. My guess is the mark may represent a period for when T.O. Goodwin took more of an ownership role in the company, which would suggest that it dates after his father's death in 1828.
West Hartford, CT Red Earthenware Jars
19th Century Red Earthenware Jar
Attributed to the Goodwin Pottery in West Hartford, CT
Likely Made by Thomas O'Hara Goodwin
Matching Form Marked by T.O. Goodwin is Owned by the CT Historical Society
Stands 10 1/2" Tall
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(Left) 19th Century Red Earthenware Jar
Also Attributed to the Goodwin Pottery in West Hartford, CT
Stands 9" Tall
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Another View of the Jars
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View of Two of the Handles
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West Hartford, CT Red Earthenware Jar Marked by "T.O. GOODWIN"
19th Century Red Earthenware Jar Made by Thomas O'Hara Goodwin in W. Hartford, CT
Marked "T.O. GOODWIN"
Stands 8 1/2" Tall
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Photo Courtesy: Connecticut Historical Society
View of the "T.O. GOODWIN" Mark
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Photo Courtesy: Connecticut Historical Society




















































