THE HOME PIPEMAKING INDUSTRY
Well established local tradition indicates that clay pipemaking in the homes, for home and neighborhood use, started almost as soon as the first settlers reached the area, and after the suitability of the local clay was discovered. Initial county organization in this part of Virginia was well underway by the 1740’s.
Bradshaw’s History of Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1955, p. 5 states, Batho Austin road to be cleared from the Appomattox River near Colonel Richard Randolph’s quarter to Hill’s Fork on Vaughan’s Creek by all who lived near the route and were not employed on other roads. 1742.
Vernon C. Womack, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Prince Edward County, in a personal letter states, “Since the south fork of Vaughan’s Creek originates a short distance from where the pipe factory was later located in Pamplin, this might be the starting point. John Wood’s map of Prince Edward County, dated 1820 which shows that part that was later cut off to form Appomattox County, gives a detail network of roads through Kelso’s Old Store, which appears to be near the present location of Pamplin.”
There were stores at Sandy River, Wm. and Samuel Matthew had a store at Walker’s Church, and Kelso’s Old Store was between Walker’s Church and Merriman’s Shop (now Pamplin).” The statement is footnoted John Wood map, 1820. (Bradshaw, 1955:319).
Merriman’s Shop Post Office, 94 miles from Richmond, 185 miles from Washington. (Martin, 1835:269).
Advertisement for renewal of bids for rural route for port office in Merriman’s Shop in 1843-1848 (Bradshaw, 1955:315).
The area that was later to become Appomattox County had been, successively, included in the areas of several earlier and larger counties. Appomattox County was formed in 1845. The railroad came through Merriman’s Shop in 1854, and was renamed Pamplin. The Appomattox County Courthouse burned and the county records were destroyed by fire on February 2, 1892 (Communication from Mrs. Aldah Gordon).
Mrs. Bess Franklin Mattox reported, “Nicholas Pamplin, a resident of Merriman’s Shop, was the only citizen who permitted the railroad to go through his land without charge and so the village was renamed for him” (Mattox, personal communication). For a time it was known as Pamplin Depot, then Pamplin City, finally simply Pamplin.
The home manufacture of pipes has had a long history in this part of Virginia and can be considered as well underway by the 1740s. It existed long before the Company came to Pamplin and continued after the Company had ceased operations, or as long as there was an active demand for clay pipes.
The Home Industry finally came to a close in 1953. “Mrs. Betty Price of Appomattox County was the last to make pipes. I have a mold used by her. She made them from childhood and in her prime could make 40,000 pipes per year, having been taught by her mother in 1866 when she was eight years old. Her mother had made them a lifetime before her. In the last year of Mrs. Betty Price’s life, 1953, she made 500 pipes at the age of 95. They were made from clay from her own farm.” (Personal letter from Dr. Clyde G. O’Brien of Appomattox, and her son, Jack Price of Pamplin).
A column by the News-Leader correspondent from Appomattox, April 30, (year unknown) said, Hollywood bar reached all the way to Pamplin to get Mrs. Betty Price’s pipes for use by the Indians in the movie, “Northwest Mounted Police”. Cecil B. DeMille’s research man ferreted out the Powhatan pipe some months before the film went into production. Several dozen were ordered. Frank Lloyd also bought pipes to be used in the production of “Howards of Virginia”.
Practically speaking, all of the pipes made at the homes were made by white women, and from about the time of the first settlement of the territory, as the special suitability of the local clay for that purpose was early discovered.
Miss Wilsie Thornton of Pamplin said that this industry had become especially important after the War Between the States, because with so many men having been killed and the area in such straitened circumstances, the women were badly in need of some means of making a living. The pipes they made could be traded at several general stores, or sold for a few cents, and there was no cost for materials.
One such establishment at which the local women disposed of their pipes was J. R. Franklin & Co., of Pamplin. Some of these pipes were recovered when the cargo of the sternwheeler, Bertrand, which sank in the Missouri River at Port La Force, Nebraska, April 1, 1865, (Petsche, 1970:1) was salvaged in 1968-69. The official list of artifacts recovered in the salvage operation, supplied by Jerome E. Petsche, National Park Service, who was in charge of that operation shows:
Pipes, Smoking; Several types and sizes recovered; briars and clay; one lot included clay bowls exclusively, others contained stems and bowls. Consignee: Vivian and Simpson, Virginia City. Manufacturer’s stenciling: ‘THE CELEBRATED VIRGINIA POWHATAN (CLAY), J. R. FRANKLIN & CO., SOLE AGENTS FOR THE MANUFACTURERS, PAMPLIN DEPOT, APPOMATTOX COUNTY, VA.’ Field lot numbers MPC 104, MPC 358, FSC 171.
The following description of the pipe shipment on the Bertrand was provided by Ronald R. Switzer, Director, Bertrand Conservation Laboratory, National Park Service, Missouri Valley, Iowa.
“The pipes are of one type and design ([Plate 2]). Forty pipe bowls plus 136 fragments ... all but 15 are chipped or broken, condition otherwise good. Clay, predominantly grayish-tan, mottled with brick red and brown. Paste soft, fine, and uniform, ... exterior has soft sheen. Preservation: Brushed with soft bristle brush in running tap water to remove mud.” (Switzer, personal communication).
This pipe is similar to ([Plate 19] U); however, there are slight variations due to differences in individual molds made for production of the same pipe form.
The two pipe forms ([Plate 19] T & U), were the only examples we found that carried the peculiar pinkish-gray tan color, and they were found only among the pipes made by the Home Industry. They were probably made of clay from the same source and by the same individual, since home pipemakers usually dug their clay on their own premises, and the condition of the pipes, after a century in mud and moisture, indicates that the work was done well.
The shipment was contained in a wooden box, which was approximately 15½ inches long, 8½ inches wide, and 8 inches tall ([Plate 2]). The stenciling on the box is faint, but legible.
“Lettering on the top of the box indicated the consignee but is so faded that it was impossible to obtain a good photograph; however the stencil once read,—B. A. L. Vivian & Simpson, Virginia City, M. T.” ([Plate 3]) (Switzer, personal communication).
“One end of the box was lettered, No. 1, 216, M. Size” ([Plate 3]). The meaning of this can only be conjectured, however it may have indicated shipment No. 1, to this consignee; containing 216 pipes; of Medium size.
The stencils identifying the consignor, J. R. Franklin & Co., appeared on both sides of the box and were identical ([Plate 3]). The same, except in abbreviated form, appeared diagonally on one end of the box.
The account book of the store at New Store, Virginia, about 23 miles northeast of Pamplin, which is in the collections at Appomattox Courthouse, records that on Sept. 1, 1866, I. H. Schenault was paid $8.00 for 1,600 pipes, and later, (apparently the same day) was paid $8.75 for 2,175 pipes. The latter was evidently a partial and immediate “in trade” transaction.
So in the Pamplin area in the 1860s general stores were taking clay pipes made in the home industry, allowing about ½¢ each in trade for commodities, and at least in one instance were shipping them west for use by the miners in the gold fields.
Mrs. Betty Price has said that the Powhatan “Original” ([Plate 13] A) the “Hamburg” ([Plate 14] F) and the “Zuvee” or “Zoo” ([Plate 19] T) were some of the first pipe forms made in the area. (News-Leader, April 30, year unknown).
Many of the clay pipes made at homes near Pamplin were traded for commodities at the Thornton General Store in Pamplin, and this store was truly “general”, for it handled, in addition to groceries, everything from threshing machines and horsepower mills to silk thread.
Miss Wilsie Thornton had a copy of her Father’s letterhead: the letter was dated, Jan. 9, 1892. The letterhead reads,—
W. D. THORNTON, DEALER.
General Merchandise and Agricultural Implements.
Wholesale dealer in All Styles of Clay Pipes and Stems
Manufacturer’s Agent for
Aultman and Taylor Threshers, Horse Power and Farm Engines.
Also Buckeye Reapers & Mowers & Thornmill Wagons.
“The pipes made by the local women,” Miss Thompson said, “were traded to the Thornton Store for the necessities of life. The pipes were stored in the basement of the store and packed in barrels, in either pine needles or sawdust, and shipped to the Baltimore Bargain House, or to other wholesale houses. From the wholesale houses they were shipped to the Cotton States and to the West. Large orders were filled for a tobacco factory in Pennsylvania, where they sold bags of tobacco with the pipes.”
Pamplin pipes have been reported from the sites of Fort Laramie, Wyoming; Fort Sanders, Wyoming; Fort Stambaugh, Wyoming; Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming; Fort Union, New Mexico; Fort Sully, South Dakota; and Fort Davis, Texas (Wilson, 1971).
Miss Thornton’s parents were married in 1874, but the store was already in operation at that time. Her father continued operation until his death, December 16, 1897; after that the store was run by her brother. A bank, the “Farmer’s and Merchant’s National Bank” was also operated in the store. In later years the building became a drug store.
Finally with time and disuse the old building came down and erosion, with perhaps some intentional filling of the area, took place. So the site of the old general store, which in its heyday had meant so much to Pamplin and Appomattox County and its people in their daily living, became simply a vacant area.
Some years ago Miss Thornton had made a train trip and met an old colored woman in a rest room to which they had both gone to smoke. (When we met her, Miss Thornton chain-smoked at the age of 89). The colored woman had a sack of tobacco and pulled out a clay pipe which Miss Thornton recognized as of the kind that her father used to take in trade, so she asked the woman if it was a good one.
The woman answered, “Law, yes, but I can’t buy them any more!” so Miss Thornton told her that it was made long ago, in her home town, and that she would try to get her some.
Her next problem was to find some pipes. After several days she thought of the pipes that she felt sure were covered with earth and still in the basement of her father’s old store, so she talked to her cousin and next door neighbor, Mrs. Bess Franklin Mattox.
Shortly after that, they dug at the site. Mrs. Mattox thinks it was around 1958, though possibly 2 years earlier. “Erosion through the years had covered the pipes and when we first started to dig we found none, then there they were, under the dirt. We found two or three sugar barrels full. Tar was on a few of the pipes, from road tar that was also stored in the basement and spilled”. (This tar, in hard-dried rough spots, is present on some of the pipes we examined; however it chips off readily and leaves the pipe relatively clean).
So the colored woman who couldn’t find a Pamplin pipe to buy received “either 15 or 16” and Miss Thornton received a letter of thanks from her from Atlanta.
Miss Thornton still had approximately 1,450 of the home manufactured pipes for us to see when we visited her in July 1969, and Mrs. Mattox had a few.
Dr. Clyde G. O’Brien of Appomattox has had a lifelong interest in the clay pipes of his area and in the history of their manufacture. He has a collection of pipes as well as two pipe molds, and has given us much information.