My Name Is James Bennett
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James Bennett—Pioneer Potter© The following biography of James Bennett is based on an early version written by Loretta Riles, great-granddaughter of Selina Bennett, James Bennett’s daughter, as a college term paper. I first found it at The Museum of Ceramics in East Liverpool, Ohio, and it has inspired me to continue my work in genealogy. Much of Loretta’s text is written in the first person. I have edited the text to remove some inaccuracies, expanded some sections, and added photos where available. One section of Loretta’s original paper has been deleted. She described James and his family as living beside the family of Daniel Bennett, James’ brother, in “twin” houses. Extensive research by the late Daryl Devine of census records and maps from the period disproves that situation. The brothers never lived beside each other, never lived in twin houses, and while Daniel lived on Brownsville Road, James never did. Preface The following is a story of James Bennett, the first of the Bennett family to come to the United States. It is more than a simple story though, and its scope extends farther than just to our family. Its importance is more than an interest in genealogy. James Bennett worked hard and left his mark on the pottery industry of this country. None of the testimonials to his capability or his importance to the pottery industry comes from family records. They come instead from those knowledgeable in the field of ceramics. The Bennett’s are illustrative of the many families who came to Pittsburgh in its early days and, in fact, those that came to this country in general. His story is, in essence, the story of any immigrant who came to this country to improve his conditions of life and work. This story was re-enacted again and again with each arrival of immigrants. One can almost sense the hard-working, driving character of James Bennett. He was an exacting man, an unceasing worker. But that is the nature of the immigrant – to work hard, to save money, and to have a better life. James Bennett was also typical of immigrants in that he wrote to his family back in England and encouraged them to come to this country where opportunity was great. His story is, then, not only of the Bennett’s, but also of this country. Copyright William Huber 2018 1 Early Years in England My name is James Bennett. I was born May 13, 1812 in Stapenhill (boxed in red at right), Derbyshire, England.a My parents are Daniel Bennett and Martha Webster Bennett. My father was a bookkeeper for a coal company and also worked as a footman and a manual laborer. He was also very involved in the Methodist church. I was the fourth of eight children, and my three younger brothers would play a large part in my later life. When I lived in Derbyshire, I worked for several years as a packer-apprentice at a local pottery, which was the first step in the long apprenticeship system common in England. Immigration to the United States I immigrated to the United States alone in May of 1835 and celebrated my 23rd birthday while on board the ship. After landing at Castle Garden in New York, I traveled across the Hudson River to Jersey City, New Jersey, and began employment at the Jersey City Pottery, working for David Henderson. It was at that time one of the foremost establishments of its kind in the United States1, a position which Mr. Henderson maintained by employing a group of men who had received their training in England2. Mr. Henderson was very interested in the a In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Stapenhill as follows: “STAPENHILL, a township and a parish in the district of Burton-upon-Trent and county of Derby. The township is partly in Burton parish; lies on the river Trent, 1 mile SE of Burton r. station; and has a post-office under Burton-upon-Trent. Pop., 1,111. Houses, 247. The parish includes the townships of Cauldwelland Stanton-with-Newhall, and comprises 4,620 acres. Pop. in 1851, 2,267; in 1861, 3,077. Houses, 625. The property is not much divided The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Lichfield. Patron, the Marquis of Anglesey. The church was rebuilt in 1830, and is in the early English style. There are two Wesleyan chapels and two national schools.” From GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Stapenhill, in East Staffordshire and Derbyshire | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time. URL: http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/20455 Copyright William Huber 2018 2 techniques used by English potters and we English potters found work easily in this country. In fact, newcomers were welcomed because they brought the newest techniques with them. Not long after arriving in Jersey City, in May or June of 1835, I met Jane Milnor Stevenson, a woman six years younger than myself. She also was a native of England, from Hull in Yorkshire. Jane and I were married on July 31, 1836 and I continued to work at Henderson's Jersey City Pottery. Potteries in America in that day made stoneware dishes, mugs, crocks, churns, and other similar ware as well as sewer pipes, flat tile, and various types of ceramics, but they made no white china or similar fine things which had to be imported, mainly from England3. Since 1830, the Jersey City Pottery had been making yellow ware and its derivative, Rockingham, which, as made in America, was usually yellow ware fired with a brown glaze. The first successful attempt to compete with England was achieved by Mr. Henderson and his manufacture of yellow ware4. (It was usual for a potter to work for a company until he gained enough experience to open his own business. In this, James Bennett was no different from other potters. He stayed on at the Jersey City Pottery for two years, from May 1835 to 1837, and owed much to Mr. Henderson regarding his training. The Jersey City plant pioneered along several lines, but “it was also a ‘nursery’ for the industry in general, being the first employer, or the first American employer, of a number of potters who later became important elsewhere. These include … James Bennett ...” 5 In 1837, Jane and I made the many preparations needed to be made for the journey to the West. (Being in such close proximity to New York, it would have been possible for them to have taken a boat from New York to Philadelphia rather than have traveled inland. Upon arrival in Philadelphia, they would have been outfitted with all the necessities for the arduous trip over the Allegheny Mountains. The Pennsylvania National Turnpike had been completed in 1820, but the trip from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh still took two weeks. In Philadelphia, provisions like a Conestoga wagon and other necessities for the trip could have been bought. At Pittsburgh, the wagon could have been transported on a flatboat or a steamboat down the Ohio. Pittsburgh was located at the threshold of a journey that enabled goods and persons to reach New Orleans by continuous water routes. We don’t know their specific method of travel from New Jersey to Pittsburgh, but, as described below, James’ siblings later traveled via the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal and Allegheny Portage Railroad across Pennsylvania. It is likely that James and Jane did also.) Copyright William Huber 2018 3 A panic had hit Pittsburgh particularly hard in 1837 and we decided not to stay, but only passed through the city. Business was slackened and factories had closed and both workmen and merchants felt the hardships.6 The city suffered generally and I could see that it was the wrong time and place to think about setting up a pottery there, so we moved on. I didn't know it then, but I would live to see Pittsburgh at two different stages of its development: in 1837 on our way out West and again seven years later, in 1844, when we finally returned to Pittsburgh to settle in the area and to build a pottery. When Jane and I left New Jersey, we did not have a specific city in mind in which to settle. We wanted to travel until we saw something that suited our needs. Upon arriving at Pittsburgh and seeing the panic that the city was experiencing, we knew that we would have to go further west. We traveled down the Ohio River and finally came to Troy, Indiana, where a new pottery was being formed by James Clews, a successful potter from Cambridge, England. Troy, marked by the on the map above, was then and is still a tiny village on the Ohio River, at the southern border of Indiana. We arrived in Troy in June and shortly after our arrival our first child, Mary, was born on September 2, 1837. Things went well for me as I obtained a position with the Indiana Pottery Company. An Englishman, James Clews, had received financial backing from local residents and ran the Indiana Pottery Company. It was difficult getting that new pottery ready out there in that wilderness and many of those who took part in the attempt died of malaria, as did our baby, Mary. She died in September of 1837, having lived only nine days. It was a heartbreak for Jane and me. Copyright William Huber 2018 4 A year later, on December 30, 1838 twins were born to us.a We named them William after my grandfather and Daniel after my father, but William also failed to survive.