A Pottery Moves to New Hampshire

Peter Clark and his family in Lyndeborough

Justin W. Thomas

All photographs courtesy the author

unless otherwise credited

raditionally, treasure maps consist

of sketchy outlines with a large X
that marks the burial spot of hidden
treasure. Factual or fictional, treasure
maps are not traditionally associated with
eighteenth- or nineteenth-century American
utilitarian potters. However, a recently
discovered nineteenth-century document has
unintentionally revealed the location of one
of an eighteenth- or early nineteenth-century
New Hampshire pottery that of Peter Clark
(1743-1826) in Lyndeborough, N.H.

Black-glazed wares
were popular with
19th-century New
Hampshire potters.
All attributed
to central New
Hampshire before
1840, some related
to the Clark family.

Peter Clark moves north

Recently, a group of ephemera came onto
the market, some of which were associated
with Peter Clark, who was a potter in Braintree,
Mass. from c. 1763 to 1775, when he moved
with his family to Lyndeborough, N.H.
In his diary, Clark records that he left for
Lyndeborough on Jan. 25, 1775, bringing
with him an early coastal Massachusetts
potters style. That style included technique,
form, glaze and incised decoration, which he
probably learned in Essex County, Mass. Clarks
New Hampshire products are sometimes
mistaken for objects made in southeastern
Massachusetts, which also partially possess an
Essex County background.
In her book, Early New England Potters
and Their Wares, Massachusetts author Laura
Woodside Watkins writes, Peter Clark was
running a pottery in Braintree as early as
1763. He came from a Danvers, Mass. family
that moved to Braintree before he was born.
He kept up his Danvers associations and was
probably trained there, too. Clark even went
back to Danvers in 1772 for clay. This was
doubtless white clay for slip decorating, as
redware clay was abundant in Braintree. In
1768, he was selling his wares in Hingham,
Mass. and elsewhere in that vicinity.
Clarks reasons for moving north are not
well-documented, but I suspect that he moved
to south central New Hampshire in search
of opportunity. Coastal Massachusetts was
overflowing with red earthenware potters
and, he may simply have found that there
was too much competition in Braintree. In
fact, there were dozens of potters businesses
located to the north and south of Boston. An
important potters industry was also active in
Charlestown, Mass., which employed a number
of successful potters. This industry came to an

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abrupt end on June 17, 1775 at the Battle of

Bunker Hill; however, that was after Clark
had already moved to New Hampshire.
Coastal New Hampshire was also wellsupplied with utilitarian pottery from local
potters. But during the Revolutionary
period, inland communities in places
like central Massachusetts, central
New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine
multiplied and grew in size.
It seems that Peter Clark, good
business man that he was, must have
noticed the expanding population
that had moved inland, away from
New Englands coast. He knew that,
like all communities, they needed
good supplies of utilitarian pottery. This
may well have been the reason why he
moved to New Hampshire where he could
better support his family. He also may
have feared for his familys safety with the
growing turmoil in coastal Massachusetts just
before the American Revolution.

The Clark pottery in New

Hampshire
Clarks diary is fascinating. He did not
confine it to keeping record of his red
earthenware business, but he also recorded
events such as the entry on April 19th, 1775,

Red earthenware jar by Peter Clark, made in

Lyndeborough, N.H., 1780-1810. Courtesy New
Hampshire Historical Society.

August 2016 Antiques Journal Page 37

the fight began at Concord. The

diary also contains the records of
Clarks service during the American
Revolution, where he served as a
captain and a major. Afterwards,
Clark was actively involved with
Lyndeboroughs political system,
which may have helped his pottery
business prosper, as he owned his
own store in Lyndeborough. He
also served as a deacon to the local
church.
There was a document in that
group of ephemera that helped
define the location of Clarks
property in the nineteenth century.
The document proclaimed that
the property of the late Sarah G.
Goodridge in Francestown, N.H.
would be divided at public auction
in 1845 to pay off existing debts.
The areas land was described, as
then running easterly Daniel
Proctors land to the land of Nathan
Brown then northerly by Mr.
Browns land until it comes to the
road leading to the turnpike then
running westerly by the road until
it comes to Peter Clarks land. This
important document also came with
a hand-drawn map that showed the
location of Peter Clarks property.
It is unclear if this map was drawn
for the auction itself, but these
documents have survived together
for many years.
A recent investigation of the

land shown on the map yielded a

collection of kiln wasters, kiln bricks
and kiln furniture. Whether this was
actually the site of the kiln or an
area where the Clarks disposed of
kiln waste is yet to be determined,
but the waste is almost certainly
from the Clark pottery.
It does not tell us anything new
or surprising, but confirms that
Peter Clarks family business was
similar to any other late-eighteenthor early nineteenth-century red
earthenware potters business in
central or northern New England.
The company produced all the
traditional forms that were made by
any other potter during the same
period: Crocks, pots, pans, jugs,
jars, pitchers, cups and mugs
everything that the local community
required for daily life.
A prominent example of Clarks
eighteenth-century production is
owned by Old Sturbridge Village
in Sturbridge, Mass. The form is a
double-handled black glazed jug
with a clients inscription, Oliver
Laurence / Lyndeborough, New
Hampshire / October 18, 1786.

Jug (1790-1820) found in a

house in Pittsfield, N.H. The form
matches a jug owned by the New
Hampshire Historical Society that
is strongly attributed to the Clark
pottery.

Rare jar (1790-1830) probably

made at the Peter Clark Pottery in
Lyndeborough, N.H.

The Clark Family legacy

Today, the Clark potteries are
overshadowed by the potteries of the
Osborn family in New Hampshire.
The fact is that both families shared
equal involvement in the New

Pot (left) and pitcher (right) 1790-1840, both attributed to the Clark
Family in New Hampshire.

Eighteenth-century coastal Massachusetts crock with heavy incised

decoration, of the type that Clark probably learned in Essex County,
Mass. Courtesy Samuel Herrup, Sheffield, Mass.

Page 38 Antiques Journal August 2016

Double-handled jug likely made at the Peter Clark Pottery,

Lyndeborough, N.H. Incised Oliver Laurence / Lyndeborough /
October 18, 1786. Courtesy Old Sturbridge Village (left). Similar, but
single-handled, jug attributed to the Peter Clark Pottery, Lyndeborough,
N.H. Late 18th or early 19th century (right). Courtesy Mark Newton,
Milford, N.H.

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Hampshires pottery industry. The Osborns

originated in South Danvers (today known as
Peabody), Mass. in the early eighteenth century,
and family members eventually branched out
into places like Gonic, Loudon, Boscowan and
Dover, N.H. in the 1800s. They were seeking the
same opportunity that Peter Clark had sought
in 1775. The Osborn family is generally viewed
as the most important family of potters in New
Hampshire with the Clarks as an afterthought.
However, this idea needs to change. The Clarks
came before the Osborns and established a
family legacy that lasted well into the 1880s. This
was a milestone in itself since small potteries in
New England had vanished by this time due to
the industrys transformation that occurred with
the Industrial Revolution, evolving technology,
the Arts and Crafts Movement and the demand
for stoneware, which was seen as a superior
product.
After Peter Clarks death in 1826, the family
continued producing traditional styles of red
earthenware. There is no specific evidence that
proves exactly how long the Lyndeborough
production continued, but it is believed to have
operated well into the 1850s or the 1860s.
Fortunately, the Clark family tradition did not
end in Lyndenborough. The family had expanded
about 35 miles northeast to the state capital in
Concord, N.H.: Peter Clarks son, Daniel Clark
(1768-1828), established the Concord business in
the citys Millville neighborhood. Daniels sons
would eventually transform this company in the
second half of the nineteenth century.
The Millville operation employed traveling
potters and apprentices, so it was apparently
larger than the pottery in Lyndeborough. It
seems that the Concord business was also
more innovative in its production: There were
attempts to reproduce eighteenth-century
English products, to make objects that supported

Inkwell (1800-1840) probably by the Clark

family in New Hampshire.Found in Central
New Hampshire.

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Sherds, kiln furniture and kiln wasters from the Peter Clark Pottery site in Lyndeborough, N.H.

presidential campaigns, as well as toy figures,

spittoons and art vases often painted with
decorative designs. Comparatively, all of these
objects are considered rare today.
Peter Clark is a significant name in respect
to the eighteenth-century New England potters
industry. He was a landmark potter, who began
his career well before the American Revolution
and who lived within 15 miles of the events that
led up to the American Revolution, such as the
Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party and the
Intolerable Acts. He was also located a short
distance from the Charlestown potters industry,
which he must have witnessed.

Rare small bowl possibly made at the

Peter Clark Pottery, Lyndeborough,
N.H. 2 tall, 1780-1810, found in a
house in Central Massachusetts.

However, his role in New Hampshire is justly

important since it was his family who helped
lay the foundation for central New Hampshires
potters industry, which ultimately prospered in
the nineteenth century. The Clark pottery was
eventually surrounded by a number of other small
potteries throughout inland New Hampshire.
Peter Clark was truly a groundbreaking potter
who had the foresight to leave Massachusetts in
the 1700s in search of opportunity. This was not
a move that most other potters dared to make
until the decades that followed the outcome of
the American Revolution.

The hand-drawn map that led to the discovery of

the site of the Clark family pottery.

August 2016 Antiques Journal Page 39