“Isaac Hanford, of Hartford, Connecticut, took out a patent, January 20, 1800, for a new method of making bricks, tiles, and pottery-ware in general, and of discharging the moulds. Nothing further is known of his work; but coarse pottery has, from the beginning of the century, been made in Hartford. Prior to 1800 a pottery was in existence at Stonington, Connecticut, managed by Adam States, who was succeeded in the business, after 1804, by his sons, Adam and Joseph. They made jugs, butter-pots, jars of all sizes, and some small wares with handles, uniformly of soft pottery, usually gray in color, with salt-glaze. Contemporary with this was a pottery at Norwalk, Connecticut, which made red wares of soft pottery in many forms. We learn from a lady, whose memory extends back to 1804, that it made jars and pots of all sizes, teapots, mugs, and large milk-pans, then in common use among the farmers in Connecticut, glazed with a lead-glaze, the color deep red with flashes of black, probably caused by smoke in the firing. Other potteries produced wares similar to the Stonington and Norwalk.
“From a report of the Secretary of the Treasury (Mr. Gallatin), made in 1810, it appears that the exports of ‘coarse earthen-ware’ exceeded the imports. In this report the secretary says that progress has been made in the manufacture of ‘queen’s and other earthen ware,’ and that ‘a sufficient quantity of the coarser species of pottery was made everywhere. Four manufactories of a finer kind had lately been established which made ware resembling that of Staffordshire.’ Dr. Dwight, in his ‘Travels’ (1822), after quoting the above, states that he had gained access to the reports from Massachusetts and Connecticut, upon which the secretary’s report had been founded, and gives among the manufactures of Connecticut for the year, potteries, twelve; ‘value of earthen and stone ware, thirty thousand seven hundred and forty dollars;’ and for Massachusetts, ‘earthen-ware, eighteen thousand seven hundred dollars.’
“Before the end of the last century direct trade had been established between the United States and China, and Oriental porcelain began to make its appearance in America. The English trade increased rapidly in the early part of the present century, and English manufacturers had begun to decorate pottery with American subjects for the American market. Porcelain seems to have been decorated at Lowestoft with American designs, for special orders, before 1800.
“From 1810 to 1830 great quantities of English pottery, especially blue and white wares, were imported. Much of this was decorated with American views, buildings, landscapes, and pictures of public events, the principal exporters in England being J. and R. Clews, of Cobridge, and the Ridgways, of Shelton.”
Fig. 162.—The “Washington Pitchers.”