Vince Martonis, a pottery historian and a resident of Chautauqua County for 73 years, will speak at the Opera House on Thursday.

The Fredonia Opera House will host Vince Martonis, Hanover historian, for a PowerPoint program on the three 19th century potteries of Chautauqua County on Thursday at 7 p.m.

The pre-1825 settlers of Western New York were very much in need of pottery vessels to help them handle daily life. These included cups, saucers, mugs, plates, jugs, crocks, pots, milk pans, and candle holders. Such items were made from the local clay which was found in abundance in the area.

Local clay resulted in redware, also called earthenware, not stoneware. Stoneware clay at that time was mainly found in the Long Island area or New Jersey. It fires at a much higher temperature and is much stronger than redware. It had to be transported into the area, which didn’t occur for the most part until the Erie Canal was finished to Buffalo in 1825, and it was costly.

In Chautauqua County, there were only thee redware potteries which had significant production in the 1800s. The earliest was the Fenton and Whittemore pottery in Mayville, Jamestown, and Fluvanna, which produced ware from 1812 to about 1860. The Haven and Kenyon pottery was along Route 20 in the Town of Sheridan from 1818 to 1828. The Caleb Mathews pottery was in the Town of Gerry from 1821 to about 1860.

Martonis, a pottery historian and a resident of Chautauqua County for 73 years, published books on the Haven and Kenyon pottery and the Caleb Mathews pottery in March and April of 2024. His book on the Fenton Pottery was published in April. He has studied all three potteries since the early 1980’s and collected thousands of sherds from the potteries. The sherds enable him to understand production glazes and forms the potters used, and thus he is able to identify unmarked pieces of pottery.

His Haven and Kenyon book contains 15 color photos, as well as other graphics, and traces their history back to c. 1800 in Oneida County. Four identified pottery pieces are shown and discussed, including one owned by a botanic physician from Forestville and Sheridan. Sherds showing an array of glaze colors are also shown in photos. Martonis includes a basic explanation of redware, as well as the critical elements of provenance, form, and glazes.

The Caleb Mathews book contains 30 color photos and other graphics. Mathews’ work at the Paul Cushman stoneware pottery in Albany during the seven years prior to coming to Gerry in 1821 is also detailed. Martonis explains how Mathews experimented with using a mix of both local and stoneware clays. He also created more functional handles for lifting the pots and crocks, pictured in photos in the book.

The Fenton/Fenton & Whittemore book contains 17 color photos. The pottery benefited from Jacob Fenton’s early years of potting in various locations in New England and then later in Burlington,, also from Samuel Whittemore’s New England experience. So both had more than basic experience when they potted here. After a short time in Mayville, Jacob and his son William came to Jamestown at the request of James Prendergast who helped them build both a pottery and a tavern. Whittemore partnered with William later.

The books are being sold below cost at $15 for the Mathews one and $10 each for the other two. For the time being, they are available at the Fenton History Center in Jamestown and the Barker Museum in Fredonia. Check the web sites for each for open hours.