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William Pecker, the earthenware potter from Merrimacport, Mass, is well known in the history of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century New England pottery. But how about William Pecker, the stoneware potter? His stoneware has received very little attention in the scholarly world. The only material written on the subject is by John Kile in Ceramics in America, 2004, edited by Rob Hunter. That article was written on the basis of a two-gallon handled crock stamped with Peckers name (Wm Pecker) and decorated with a perched bird on a branch and a blooming flower. The crock was found at a Kentucky flea market more than a decade ago. Ever since reading that article, I have been fascinated with the idea of Peckers stoneware work. Was it experimental? Did he travel to an established industry like Charlestown, Mass. or New York City to study and experiment with stoneware? Or could he have actually manufactured stoneware in Merrimacport and has history possibly forgotten about this side of Peckers lifes work?

William PeckerA forgotten stoneware potter from Merrimacport, Mass.

Justin Thomas

William Pecker 2-gallon stoneware handled crock with perched bird decoration, found at a Kentucky Flea Market and published in Ceramics in America in 2004. Courtesy: Bill Chapman

All photos by the author unless otherwise credited

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An unbelievable discovery

I wrote about the red kiln bricks and red earthenware kiln furniture that my nephew, Jason, and myself discovered near Peckers place of operation in Merrimacport in the New England Antiques Journal, October, 2013. We have since returned to this site to investigate more. Out of mere curiosity, we investigated a few hundred yards upriver from our initial discovery. I am not sure why, but I had a gut instinct that we would find something there. We were in search of any red earthenware remains from Pecker or the businesses that predated or followed him after his death in 1820.

The two of us climbed carefully down a steep hill that recent erosion had transformed from a sloping hillside into a cliff. Our way down was hampered by thick brush that made us both victims of vicious thorns. The cliff ended on the shore of the Merrimac River. This area is completely covered with water at high tide but at low tide there is a large stretch of beach. On this particular day, it was mid-tide, so there was a small area of beach to walk around. We saw all sorts of green plant life from the river that covered the rock-lined shore. It was also littered with all sorts of debris from old logs and trees; however, thats not all we saw. A number of mature tree branches full of green leaves hung over the brackish water that made for a beautiful setting. It reminded me of some of the lakes in Maine that I used to vacation at with my family as a kid. As I looked up the hill, I imagined the utilitarian pottery businesses that once peered down at where I was standing. This area was home to at least three consecutive potters businesses in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Dodge Pottery, Pecker Pottery and Chase Pottery).

I was amazed to find dozens and dozens of stoneware sherds at the base of the cliff. The forms I have been able to make out since first discovering this area are crocks, jugs and tankards; there may be other forms, but unfortunately, I am as yet unable to prove that. There was also an abundance of stoneware

kiln furniture and even slightly oversized and oddly shaped stoneware bricks. The bricks were likely used for Peckers stoneware kiln. I was astonished that such important historical artifacts with substantial information were lying in plain sight, yet unnoticed.

It appears that Pecker owned a large stretch of land that ran adjacent to the Merrimac River and the furthest point west may have been the location of his stoneware kiln sometime between 1790 and 1820. My basis for this interpretation is due to the amount of stoneware evidence we found that is not visible anywhere else in Merrimacport today.

There was a small stretch, probably 25 yards wide, where all of the sherds appeared. We could clearly see a variety of stoneware styles that Pecker used in his production. Some of the sherds were decorated with cobalt and some were not. The sherds all seemed to have been exposed from the hill that had been battered by storms, but I also question if Pecker discarded his kiln waste directly into the Merrimac River. The stoneware sherds were found mixed in with a variety of red earthenware sherds, most of which appeared to be from thickly potted utilitarian crocks; although, we did discover a couple of sherds in the form of known Pecker Pottery redware jugs. Interestingly, most of the red earthenware glazes were colors I have never seen attributed to Pecker.

As we continued to look around, the bright summer sunlight sparkled on a sherd mixed in with green sea grass a few inches below the surface of the Merrimac River. We both stood silently peering down into the calm water. We could see directly to the bottom. The water was crystal clear; small fish were swimming near the sherd. I was really in awe of what I saw. I quickly pulled the sherd out of the water and I showed it to my nephew as water dripped from the stoneware sherd with a familiar decoration. What we had found was a sherd decorated with the same bird motif as was that crock discovered at a Kentucky flea market and written about in the 2004 issue of Ceramics in America. What are the chances of

Left: William Pecker 2-gallon stoneware jug found in a House in Wenham, Mass., in 2012. Right: William Pecker 1-gallon stoneware jug, purchased from a Longtime New England stoneware collector in 2013.

Examples of William Peckers stoneware mark, found on six known surviving examples of Pecker stoneware.

My nephew, Jason, fishing for stoneware sherds in Merrimacport, Mass. at high tide, July, 2014.

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that happening? In all, we found dozens of

examples of stoneware sherds, some of which were decorated with blue cobalt, and all of which were salt glazed. Theres no doubt in my mind that Pecker was more than a red earthenware potter: He was also a stoneware potter who had drawn his inspiration from English and German styles, similar to the work of the stoneware potters Frederick Carpenter and Jonathan Fenton in Charlestown, Mass.

Known Pecker stonewareI know of six surviving examples

of Pecker stoneware marked with his name (Wm Pecker), including the crock found in Kentucky. Furthermore, a similar two-gallon crock was discovered at a country auction in New Hampshire a few years back with a similar perched bird on a branch and a flower decoration. There are also four other known signed jugs; one being a one-gallon jug not marked with a gallon number. Many stoneware potters in New England around the turn of the nineteenth century did not mark one-gallon jugs. There are also two two-gallon jugs, each marked with a 2; one of which was found during a house cleanout in Wenham, Mass. in 2012. There is also a single three-gallon jug known marked with a 3. All of these examples reside in private collections today. My belief is there may be some unmarked examples without an attribution today; however, that is something else I have yet to prove.

Peckers stoneware style and form appears to show a Charlestown, Mass. influence, but it is possible that Peckers influence came directly from imported European stoneware. However I assume that due to the differences in stoneware and red earthenware production, Pecker must have learned the secrets of producing stoneware from an established stoneware potter. The clays in Merrimacport, Essex County (Mass.) and southern New Hampshire were not of the quality needed for proper stoneware production so Pecker likely contracted to have the proper clay shipped to Merrimacport. Its still a bit of a mystery to me if the stoneware bricks used for the kiln were made in Merrimacport

or were brought there. Importing clay would have been expensive for Pecker so his stoneware business was possibly short-lived, but I have no actual proof of that and the sherds may suggest otherwise.

Perspective of Pecker stoneware

William Peckers involvement with the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century stoneware in coastal Massachusetts is still under investigation. It is my suspicion that his stoneware was sold in the same areas as his red earthenware. Small towns and cities in New Hampshire, possibly southern Maine, Haverhill and Newburyport in Massachusetts and throughout Essex County were probably his main markets. The Boston-area was pretty much dominated by stoneware products made in Charlestown. Pecker may have also viewed his stoneware as a secondary product behind the red earthenware business. From what I have seen, all of the stoneware forms and sherds correspond with typical late eighteenth-century stoneware products made in places like Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York adopting early English and German styles as their models.

Peckers skill is rather unique for most American utilitarian potters at the turn of the nineteenth century. It appears he was equally skilled in stoneware and red earthenware production. No matter the medium, he appears to have mastered the craft and its even more fascinating that he appears to have conquered the chemistry it takes to successfully operate stoneware and red earthenware kilns simultaneously. Very few potters in New England understood the requirements and skill it took to master such a dual craft only a few decades after the American Revolution. Its even more fascinating considering that Pecker was only a country-style potter with possibly less financial resources than many potters who worked in urban industries in the years around the turn of the nineteenth century. William Pecker should not only be remembered today for his well-known talent as a red earthenware potter he should also be remembered for his more recently discovered skill as a stoneware potter.

Stoneware sherds and wasters found in the river at Merrimacport, Mass. Likely related to William Pecker.

Sherd with bird decoration found in the Merrimac River in Merrimacport, Mass. Very similar to the decoration on the Kentucky crock, together with another sherd with a different type of incised decoration.

Low tide on the shore of the Merrimac River in Merrimacport, Mass., December, 2014.