The First Porcelain made here.—Bonnin and Morris.—Franklin Institute.—William Ellis Tucker.—Tucker and Hemphill.—Thomas Tucker.—General Tyndale.—Porcelain of T. C. Smith and Sons.—Early Advertisements.—Josiah Wedgwood.—Lord Sheffield’s Report.—Alexander Hamilton’s Report.—History of Norwich.—Samuel Dennis, New Haven.—Isaac Hanford, Hartford.—Gallatin’s Report.—The “Washington Pitchers.”—Lyman and Fenton, Vermont.—Rouse and Turner, New Jersey.—Potteries at Trenton.—In Ohio.—The Centennial Exhibition.
DOUBTS have been expressed whether Porcelain was made in the United States as early as 1770; though there was no question as to the existence of the true china-clays, and that Wedgwood and other potters in England knew of them and had used them. More, they were fearful that they would be put to use in this country, to the injury of their trade.
The investigations of Charles Henry Hart, Esq., of Philadelphia, seem to remove the doubt as to the making of porcelain in that city as early as 1769 or 1770. Looking over the newspapers, he finds, under date of December 29, 1769, an advertisement as follows:
“NEW CHINA-WARE.—Notwithstanding the various difficulties and disadvantages which usually attend the introduction of any important manufacture into a new country, the proprietors of the china-works now erecting in Southwark have the pleasure to acquaint the public that they have proved to a certainty that the clays of America are productive of as good PORCELAIN as any heretofore manufactured at the famous factory in Bow, near London,” etc.
Subsequently other advertisements appeared for apprentices, etc., signed by G. Bonnin and G. A. Morris. This would seem conclusive. Mr. Hart also states that some specimens of the work then made are deposited in the Franklin Institute of his city.
It is not likely that the work reached a commercial success, or that it was long continued.
Subsequently porcelain was made and decorated in that city by Messrs. Tucker and Hemphill, as will clearly appear from the following communications.
Mr. Thomas Tucker prepared for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, in 1868, this brief statement:
“William Ellis Tucker, my brother, was the first to make porcelain in the United States. My father, Benjamin Tucker, had a china-store in Market Street, in the city of Philadelphia, in the year 1816. He built a kiln for William in the yard back of the store, where he painted in the white china, and burnt it on in the kiln, which gave him a taste for that kind of work.
“After that he commenced experimenting with the different kinds of clays, to see if he could not make the ware. He succeeded in making a very good opaque ware, called ‘queen’s-ware.’ He then commenced experimenting with feldspar and kaolin to make porcelain, and, after much labor, he succeeded in making a few small articles of very good porcelain. He then obtained the old water-works at the northwest corner of Schuylkill Front and Chestnut Streets, where he erected a large glazing-kiln, enameling-kiln, mills, etc.