there has not been forty Shillings' worth less 

 Commodity imported since it was Erected 

 was before; the poorest Familys being the only 1 

 chasers, who not being able to send to England for such 

 I hings would do without them, if they could not gett 

 them Here. 13 



Clearly, we, like the Lords of the Board of Trade, 

 are led to believe that a semiskilled country potter was 

 operating a small shop which produced crude pottery 

 incapable of competing with English wares. The 

 word "poor" can be interpreted doubly, connoting 

 both poverty and low quality. Hence, by inference, 

 it was an enterprise destined to failure. But such an 

 impression of failure was not supported by Gooch's 

 own evidence that the pottery works were continuing 

 year after year. In 1 734 he reported : 



As to Manufactures We have at York Town, on York 

 River, one poor Potters' work for earthen Ware, which is 

 so very inconsiderable, that there has been little less of 

 that Commodity imported since it was Erected, than 

 there was before. 14 



The 1735 report was equally depreciating, 1,1 while 

 the following year Gooch opened his report with the 

 comment: "The same poor Potter's Work is still 

 continued at York Town without any great Improve- 

 ment or Advantage to the Owner, or any Injury to 

 the Trade of Great Britain." '" 



The 1737 report on Trade and Manufactures even 

 contained a special subheading: "Potters' Work." 

 There then followed: "The Potter continues his 

 Business (at York Town in this Colony) of making 

 Potts and Panns, with very little Advantage to him- 

 self, and without any dammage to Trade." 17 One 

 wonders why Gooch's persistence in mentioning this 

 enterprise in such terms almost annually did not lead 

 the Board of Trade to question his reasons for men- 

 tioning it at all if the pottery was so insignificant. 

 Perhaps they did question it, because in the next re- 

 port, filed in 1739 after a two-year interval, < iooch 

 dismissed the pottery succinctly, almost impatiently, 

 as though to turn aside further questions that might 

 be raised: "The poor Potter's Operation is unworthy 

 of your Lordships notice." Gooch then proceeded 

 with an admission that: 



13 Ibid., p. 1 53. 



14 Ibid., p. 189. 

 '"• Ibid., vol. 1324, p. 3. 

 "■ Ibid., pp. 30-31. 



17 Ibid., p. 104. 



PAPER 34: THE "POOR POTTER - ' OF YORKTOWN 



The Common People in all Paris of the Colony, and 

 indeed many of the better Sort, are lately gott inl 



of Loom Weaving coarse cloth for themselves and 



\nd our Inhabitants on the other side of the 



wry good Linnen which they sell up 



Country. Nor is the making of k 



with own Tanning less practiced, tho' 



the Leathi t.i s 



It was easier, of co imon 



People in all Parts oi were engaged in 



domestic manufactures than to a i to 



concentrate on a single commercial, industrial en- 

 terprise. Only with difficulty could sanctions have 

 been brought to bear against home industries through- 

 out the colony — a single manufactory reported almost 

 annually for eight years was quite another matter. 

 To have lasted this long, the "poor potter" must have 

 been less than poor, and his pottei v must have had an 

 importance that either had to be revealed by truthful 

 statement or dissimulated. It appears that Gooch 

 chose the latter course: the pottery being a large en- 

 terprise was noticeable; being noticeable it had to be 

 reported; but being large it contributed to the wealth 

 of the colony while competing with British imports 

 which did not, and therefore it should be condoned. 

 Gooch made a practical decision which may reflect 

 his obligation to the colonists: the pottery works had 

 to be downgraded in his reports and attention dis- 

 tracted from it. 



The "Poor Potter" and his Wares 



Who, then, was the "poor potter," and how wide of 

 the mark was Gooch in so designating him? 



The first clue was found in a ledger kept between 

 1725 and 1732 by John Mercer, who was to become 

 master of the plantation Marlborough in Stafford 

 Countv as well as an influential colonial lawyer. In 

 1725, at the age of 21, Mercer was making his way 

 in the world by trading up and down the rivers of 

 Virginia, buying imported goods in towns like York- 

 town, where he had a large account with the wealthy 

 merchant Richard Ambler, and exchanging these im- 

 ports for raw materials at upstream plantations. 

 Included in John Mercer's ledger is an account 

 with one William Rogers having the following 

 entry: "Bv Earthen Ware amounting to by Invoice 



i- Ibid . p. 83. 



79 



