FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL
MARSHALL POTTERY
INTERVIEW WITH: Frank W. (Pete) Payne,Master Potter
DATE: August 6, 1982
PLACE: Oral History Office, ITC
INTERVIEWER: Esther MacMillan
M: Marshall is in East Texas, isn't it?
P: Yes.
M: We should have it on the tape exactly where it is.
P: It's just off of I-20,on Highway 80, about 35 miles west
of Shreveport, Louisiana.
M:Do you have a Louisiana influence on food and things like
that?
P: We sell an awful lot of ware in Louisiana. Some years back,
our best customers were in Louisiana and Mississippi. Most of
our customers were in there. Yes.
M: I notice the sheet that you put out mentions .. it says,
"Using mules and wagons, the Ellis family began delivering
their churns, jugs and crocks into the surrounding communities
and eventually into the southern states~ But it was chiefly
Louisian~and Mississippi?
P: When it first sta~ted, it was mostly Louisiana. They'd
take it to Shreveport because .. it took them a while to get
there and back in a wagon ... then later on, it began to spread
out just a little bit around Shreveport. Of course Carthage
and Center and the cities around Marshall.
But when we got to the pOint .. they got a truck and started
Payne
P : spreading out a little bit more. South and East .
M: I was going to ask you if the trains carne any where near
and did that he l p? Did you ship on the raitroad?
P : No. Years ago , I guess it was in the 30 ' s, late 20 ' s and
early 30's they had to ship their clay from Henderson , Texas.
Which is approximately 40 miles south of Marshall . Then
about '40 or '41, somewhere in that time period , we de c ided to
look around closer for clays and we found clays that we
could use. We used several different kin~of clays but we
got settled on the kind that was best for stoneware.
2.
And the c l ay that we have now , we have 3 pits , they're
all different kindsof clay . And we used the 3 mixed together
to get what we have now .
M: YOu do! A while back I did an interview with an adobe
maker and he spoke a good deal about clay. He said how
surprised he was, when he began, there were clays o f so many
different colors. Now your 3 clay pits, do they produce
different colors of clays?
P: No. The clay we make our red flower pots from , that ' s
a different clay . We get it about 3/4 of a mile from the
store.
M: Is that terra cotta?
P : Terra cotta. We just call it red. It's real terra cotta.
M: That's what's used so much in Mexico . Let's go back
to this history here. I t says , "In the 1800's a number of
potteries sprang up around the rich clay deposits of East
Texas, using "kick wheels". Is that the kind where your foot
is moving and the thing is turning?
3.
Payne
P: Yeah. It has a heavy fly wheel on it. And you get it
started and the momentum helps to keep it going. I never did
use a kick wheel. I'm lucky.
M: Oh, you didn't? What do you use?
P:An electric.
M: Can you control the speed, electrically?
P: On the wheel that I'm working on here, yes.I have a
variable speed wheel. But at home, we just have 3 speeds on
the wheel I'm working on; on my wheel. I usually use just the
middle speed, which is approximately 160 rpm. Then we have
a lower speed and a higher speed. ~he only time I use the
lower speed is when I'm making something large. I make
mostly pitchers. I make all the pitchers, yes. At the Old
World Store.
If ~ M: Wood fired rock kilns. Is there a lot of rock around there
like ther~is in San Antonio?
P: Oh yes, there's a lot of rock. Not as much as around here.
M:THis intere sted me:" After the over burdelll or top soil was
removed,the clay was mined with pick and shovel by two men."
I never heard the term over-burden.
P: I think they call that strip mining. I'm not sure that's
right or not. But anyhow, they strip off the top surface
which can be anywhere from a foot to 6 or 8 feet. Strip it
off. Then the clay is underneath.
M: Have you ever talked to the man out here during Folklife
who does the chimney?He lives in East Texas and he told about
the kind of clay that they have for the chimneys that is kind
of an unusual c lay, Because there's no rock over there , they
Payne 4.
M: had to build their chimneys with clay. There's a certain
plant, can't remember the name of it, but if they see that
plant, they know that clay is underneath.
P: Is that right. I hadn't heard that.
M: Isn't that interesting?
P: Yes, it is.
M: (reading from paper) In talking about firing, it took
6 cords of split pine and 60 to 65 hours. When I think of the
cost of wood today ... you don't use wood now do you?
P: No.
M: Do you use gas?
P: Yes mam.
M: You can get as high heat as you want .
P: Yes. Our heat runs about .. well, the cone that we use
says 2100 and 94 degrees. I think we reach about 2200.
A number 6 cone.
M:How much does that cut down your firing time?
P: What , you mean between gas and wood?
M: Yeah.
P: Quite a bit. The kiln that we have is a small one. OUt
where I work at the store, one of the smallest kilns that
we have. But still a pretty good sized kiln . We put, I
i magine /an average of 900 pieces on each kiln.
M: ~OO!
P: Uhhuh. And it takes about 16 to 17 hours to fire it and
then it will take twice that to cool it off.
M: You can't do anything with it'til it's cool?
Payne
P:No, no. It has to be down at least to 400 or 450 degrees.
before we can pull it out of the kiln. You see the kiln
is made .. it'~ind of long. And it has 2 cars. We load the
cars up, push 'em in and close the door. It's a very neat
operation, really. It's proven real good.
M:The difference of 16,17 hours of actual firing and 60 or 65
in the old days .. that's quite a difference.
P: You better know it is. Those kilns in the old days
were made like this, see? with a smoke stack out here. For
each fire box, they had one of these little chimneys-
5 •
In the old days, back before my time, they would get the kiln
hot, then they would throw salt in the boxes and salt glaze.
That would glaze the Whol~hing.
M: When you say threw the salt in the boxes, what do you
mean by the box?
P: That's the fire box, where the heat is.
M: Right on the fire!
P:You see the fire box is on the outside of the kiln. It's
where they put the wood to build the fire. And then they
have an up. draft which pulls the heat in and then the chim-ney
pulls it down.
M: You don't have to put the salt on the actual pottery?
P: No, no. Throw it in there and I guess you'd call it
vaporizing. I dont know.
M: What kind of salt?
P: Any salt, I guess. I'm not sure about that. I know when
I first started working there, they didn't have but 1 kiln.
And the whole inside (vas qlazed from th;ll-. "''' 1 1- _ T ""nn""o
6.
Payne
M: I love salt glaze. It's so kind of primitive and natural.
Honest.
P: It's primitive all right.
M: (reading again) It says Sam Ellis .. I~m going to put this in
your file with your transcript ... Today 's second, th{~d and
fourth generation family members work together carrying
on the tradition." I met two young girls yesterday .. were
they grand daughters?
P: They're great grand-daughters.
M: Of whom? Mr. Ellis?
P:Of the man on the back side of your sheet.
M: Mr. Ellis.
P: Uh huh. One of his children is still alive. Sam.
M: Is he working in the pottery?
P: He does some. He does our de caling on different things.
-----
He fires 'em on with an electric kiln.
M: On this sheet, on the back side, there's a quote from the
special edition of the Marshall Messenger, Marshall, Texas,
1905. It's telling about the things that you make. I'm sure
that isn't complete: jars, churns, jugs, milk pans, flower
pots. There must be more than that. Did you make mixing bowls
for women to make their bread in and mix cakes in and.?
P: Those pans they call ... we call those crocks. The biggest
one was a 2 gallon size and it held quite a bit. And you
could mix a lot of bread in one of those.
M: My remembrance of milk pans, they were rather shallow
Payne
M: and rather wide so the cream would collect on
the top.
P: well/they were. Therwer~about this tall and this big
around; the biggest ones.
M: So you'd get more cream for your money.(laughter)
Did they make flower pots from the very beginning?
7.
P: I suppose they did because they were molded. They were
made in molds. They made the flower pots, they made the pots
and they made some one gallon jugs. Various other things
that I can't recall right now .. we made them in molds.
M: Are they still using molds?
P: No, we're not.
M: All wheel?
P: No. They have hgdraulic presses, machine made. Now the
crocks you were talking about, the ones I told you were molded)
they're made by machine now.
M: How does a machine make a pot?
LC\"i)
P:It has a die, you see, and it goes down into it; it just
molds it and then there's a push up that pushes it up and
they pick it and set it off. It's fast; really fast.
M: Makes profit for the owner.
P: Well, it's mass production. So many people wanted them.
At one time we couldn't keep up with it.
M: Now what you do, that's hand work. That's the old folk art.
P: That's right.
M: Does your stuff cost more? It should.
P: Yes. It does. Hand-turned ware costs more. Yes/it should.
We vary the process according to the amount of time it takes
us to make one. That's the only way we can do it. We don't
stick an e X(")'rb "l r . .=!nt- nri 1"'0 r"'\n .; -l- "';" c f. f. ............ "' 1......... ......._ .... .c-' "--
8.
Payne
P: of it.
M: For a person like you who has been at it so long, it must
not take you as long as a beginner, for instance.
P: Oh no.
M: You must be pretty quick.
P: Well, yes. I may be slowing down a little now.
M: You don't look like a person that's slowing down to me.
There's one thing I wanted to know •. Mr. C.T. Connor, also on
this sheet, the manager, this is a quote from 1906 •• " He is
known to be an efficient fancy glaze mixer." There's nothing
in this whole thing about glazes except that reference.
You've mentioned salt glazing. What about the glazing in
the early days?
P: I knew him; that was Charlie Connor. I worked with him
in later years. He came back to work there when he was an
old fellow. I worked with him then. What he did about the
glazes in those days, I carit tell you because I don't know
the particulars about what he did.
M: He was a chemist.
P: Yes. Well .. What we do, we buy the ingredients for our glaze
and we mix it ourselves.
IV\; In other words, you buy the colors and ...
P: No, we just buy .. well .. if you want colors, yes. But
the basic ingredien1 in glazes is feldspar. Then there~
Spanish whiting and zinc oxide and tin and ~p~, which is a
fine clay and a few other things.
M: You buy it all mixed:
P: No , we buy it and fix it ourselves.
Payne 9 .
M: Oh, you buy a'll the components and then you mix it.
P: That's right. Now a chemist is able to take those and a few
others , like iron oxide, cobalt oxide, and a few other
different color oxides and they can get the colors they
want through this glaze; by adding to this glaze.
M: You don't use color glazes, do you?
P: We don't have any now. the only color we have right now is
the stone work glaze, which is a a very fine glaze, right
novl.
M: Is that the blue?
P: Oh no, that's the white. You saw the stuff sitting on
the counter.
M: Oh, that!
P: Yeah, with the cobalt stripes on it? The cobalt stripe is
our trademark.
M: Then the glazes come and you mix them when they get therp..
P: That's right.
M: Are they mixed with water?
P: Yes.
M: They come in powder and they're mixed with water.
And then you apply them, when do you apply them .. after
the firing?
P: No. You see, when the ware is made, we allow it to dry.
And when it's thoroughly dry, then we glaze it.
M: In the air?
P: Yeah, just air dry it. Then we glaze it. We dip it
10.
Payne.
P: in a tub,
END OF TAPE I, Side I, 15 minutes.
TApe I, Side 2
R: •.... certain hours of heat. Then it cools down to where it
can be handled. When it finally comes out on these cars, as
you call them, that's ready. All ready to put in the store
and sell.
P: That's right.
M: In other words, you've got it down to fine tuning, haven't
you?
P: Sure have.
,
M:The cars .. they~e little kind of flat bed things with
wheels, aren't they?
P: Uh huh.They're approximately 5 feet wide and each car is
about 8 foot long. And there's two cars fastened together.
M: Side by side?
P: No, end by end.
M: Are there sides on them so nothing falls off?
P: No. \"ha t we have is some kind o f a ceramic .. I can't
recall the name of the stuff the posts and plates are made
out of. But the posts are about so big and we have different
types. 5's, 6's,8's,12's. 12 is our biggest.
M: Inches?
P: INches. Then the plates are so wide and they set these
plates on these and it makes a table in there. And we set
the smaller stuff in the smaller areas the largest stuff
in the big ones.
Payne 11.
M:How high do you stack?
P: O.K. It is about 32 inches, I think it is. Inches high.
M: Almost a yard.
P: It is. Let me see ... from the bottom of the base
where we set it,is 2 twelves, seven and an eight.
And a five or six.
M: Is that the distance betwee~the pieces? Now the heat
has to get around all sides of that doesn't it.
P: That's right.
M: So there's got to be air space around every single
pot or whatever is in there.
~
P: That's right. unde~e~~~iln ? there's holes about
so big around over each burner and it gets up in there and
it circulates .. the base o f the kiln is made 50 the heat
can tunnel and then come up like this.
M:And down again. It's circulating all the time.
P: Yes. It has to. We put a slow fire on it first 50 that
we'll be sure we're burning the carbon out before it
starts firing. That would mess up the piece of wle if we didn't.
M: The carbon out of the .. ?
P: The inside. It would be like cooking a pie too fast.
Your outside will be burned and your inside will be raw.
M: Where does the carbon come from?
P:It comes out of the clay.
M: It's ·in ·the clay?
P: Uh huh.
M: And the glaze does not inhibit the carbon.
P: No, no. You see that carbon comes out e asy because
---_._----
Payne 12.
P: when that heat starts in there, that carbon's got to
come out. And we bring it out slow so we don't glaze
over it; so we don't bottle it up in there.
M:lt doesn't spoil the glaze as it comes out?
P: No. Just how it gets out of there, I couldn't tell
you .. I'm not that ...
M:I have a picture of that stuff coming out and distorting
the clay(laughter) J That's what I wanted to ask you, the
kiln with the down-draft. And you've just explained it.
P:Well, it's also a sort of up-draft because we have
dampers on top, too. I don't know whether that would be
called a reduction kiln or not. I'm really not up on that
stuff. I'~too busy making up the stuff.
M: Well, that's the most important.
NOw I want to get to y~. You're called Pete and you're the
master potter at Marshall Pottery. It says you've been at 1te
potter's wheel at Marshall 49 years. How did you get
started? -- P: This gentlemen here (picture on sheet ... Sam H. Ellis)
his two sons were both potters. I started to work there in
'32. And I learned from them. This is something you have to
\
)
learn yourself. The biggest part of it •. you can give a person
pointers and show 'em how to hold their hands. But a
person has got to get the feel because you see 90 percent
to me would break my concentration. I say,"Well, there is J or better is in feel and touch.People ask me if talking
,~ _ 4 _ _ ~_
Payne
,I
P: no concentration. It's just a habit. ]
M: Your hands are doing the business aren't~hey. You've
done it so long.
P: Yes.
M: Does it take you a long time t o learn that?
P: Yes, it does . To be a professional potter,like myself,
13 •
orl
any other professional potter, it will take you, oh, in the
neighborhood of 3 years,give or take, depending on the person.
M: I am very sympathic with this because I stood one day
and watched a potter in some craft show or demonstration. ~e
asked on-lookers to come in and they made the biggest mess
of anything you ever saw in your life. I thought to myself
I'd do the same thing. You have to know so much about control-ling
the clay and as the thing comes up, you 're making a
pit~her and it swings out this way and it comes in and out
again .. you have to know exactly when to change ... and all
the time that wheel is turning so that you can't make a muff.
P:That's the key word , control. That is what it amounts to,
control.
M: Now these two sonS of Mr. Ellis that taught you how to
do the pottery ... were you pretty young when you started it?
P: I was 16 when I started. That was during the Depression
years.
P: Was it a matter of trying to make some money?
P: It was a matter of livin'.
M: A matter of keeping alive.
P: That's right.
Payne 14.
M:Not really that you were compelled to be a potter?
P: That's right.Actually I worked there from '32 to about
'35 before I really got started in this.I think it was
about '36, probably, when I started. And actually I've
~,
been~this 46 years. The making of it. But I've been with the
plant this year will be 50 years.
M: THey ought to give you a gold watch! You've got one!
( laughter) It says here that, in those days, potters
worked~O hours a day , six days a week. I bet you got paid
very little a day, like a dollar a day.
P: Wasn't even that much. It was really hard to find work
anywhere. At the time I went to work there, I worked those
hours for $4.50 a week. and we kept a landlord. But if it
hadn't been for that, there wouldn 't have been anything.
Because I was taking care of my family.
M: You had a whole family to take care of on $4.50 a week?
P: My mother,my brother, sister, grandmother.
M: YOu were the only wage earner.
P: At that time, I sure was .
M: Hard to believe these days.
-"J
P: Yes,it is hard. One other thing of interest you might
like to hear. 40,45 years ago, there were I would say hund-reds
or thousands of professional potters allover the
and get a job. The way they did, they were kind of a J United states. They could go into any plant they wanted
rovin' people . They'd get tired of one place, they'd go
someplace else because they could always get a job.
Payne 15.
M: I've read1and in interviewing people, too, I've dis­covered
people who worked on newspapers could always
get a job .. In th~e days the people roamed; the young
men particularly, didn't they?
P: Yes. And according to what I was told, I don't know
where it came from or how authentic it is , they claim
there's not over 22 or 24 or 25 professional potters left.
In the United States.
11: A lot of"craftsy" people ,-t\'o,-,.j""
P: Yes. But Lmean really professional potters.
M: How did you earn the title Master Potter?
P: Well, if it's down here, here it is right here(referring
to sheet): has mastered every stoneware item that's to
be made. Anything from 2 inches high to 36 or 40 inches high.
M: In other words, (reading) "Pete as Master POtter has
"mastered every stoneware item ever produced at Marshall
Pottery and has created many designs of his own."
)
His own designs, that's interesting. Like what?
P: One of them was a flower pot with a saucer on it
and it had flukes around the edge of it. YOu might have seen
some of them. Then there was a vase that we calle d a cemetery
vase. We used to sell thousands of those in southern Louis-iana
every year for their All SAints Day.
M: How high? Fairly sizeable?
P: About like this ... we make two sizes.
M: About 15 inches; pretty high. Any decoration or just
a plain
'D. T"c- +- ... +-,....~ ...... "".- ~,' ...... .- .......... ~ 1 ...... _ ..:..~_ .L
Payne 16.
P: at all.
M: No~yo u couldn't do that, they'd steal them wouldn't
they?
P: Oh yeah, they wou l d .
M: In an interview I did some time ago dealing with the
first renovation of La Villita, they were doing some
excavating and they found an old Marshall pot .. anJapparently
in those days, the sale of liquor, at least in that spot,was
illegal~his was part of a still. And here it was buried
in the ground. They dug this up, in perfect condition, and
it was considered an absolute, priceless treasure. At that
time, whoever I was interviewing, mentioned there was a
woman somewhere in Texas who has a collection of old
Marshall pottery worth a fortune. So you see, it's not only
prized today but it's prized for way back when .
Do you think of anything e lse that I need to put on this
tape about pottery?
P: The pottery was first started by a fellow by the name
of Rocker.
M: (referring t o sheet) in 1895.
P:In 1905 is when Mr. Ellis bought it.
M: So for 10 years Hr . Rocker must have had it.
P: Then there's a fellow by the name of Charlie Studer
whom I knew and worked with. Someway or other, he was in
~artnership with Mr. Ellis.
,
N: (reading) Here iT says that Mr. Ellis lent him $350
to build a kiln. "Two days l ater , Mr . Studer left town
leaving the deed to the pottery under a rock,
Payne
M:Attached was a note, saying,'Mr. Ellis, you now own
a pottery.'"
P: As far as I know that's, authentic.
M: Why did Mr. Studer depart, do you suppose?
P: I don't really know. After this took place ... he came
back to the Pottery like Charlie Connor did. And I worked
with him some.
M: Do you suppose he couldn't pay Mr. Ellis the $350?
P: That's probably it.
M:lsn't it amazing that this Pottery has endured?
P: Oh my yes.
M: It's wonderful, really.
P: .You can see the picture. This is what it was: I kiln.
And now the kilns that are made like this are much larger
round and then we have tunnel kilns. Continuous kilns that
goes through continuously on cars. We have two of those.
We had three and they tore one of 'em down for some reason.
But this is the way it was (see sheet) when it started.
M: Just primitive. Just primitive wooden shed, sort of.
P: And when I started there, they had a two-story build­ing
here. The molding was done upstairs and the glazing
and the kiln-setting and the turning was done downstairs.
M:M: Do you do your work in public so people can watch
you?You mentioned being in the store.
17 .
P: Oh yes. We have hundreds of people come through, especially
this time of year.
M: I've always wanted to get up there.
P: I hope you can. You'll like i t. Because that is ofte-
Payne 18.
P: store!
M: Were you here last year?
P: Yes.
M: What - do people ask you, the tourists, when they
come by?
P: Mostly they ask me, does it hurtmy hands?
What does it do to my hands?
M: What does it do, anything?
P: Feel of my hands.
M: They're not rough. Smooth as they can be.
P: Another question is 'how long have you been dOing it?'
And I'll tell 'em 46 years and I'm catchin' on! And then the
kids, they always have something to say about my dirty
hands. Then I'll go to shake hands with them and all that
kind of stuff. A lady asked me yesterday a question I
couldn't answer.I had just made a piece and set it off.
And she said, "vlhat makes it stand up like that?"
M: That occurred to me,too.
P: I says, Well, I guess the good Lord does. I couldn't
really explain it.
I M: Its got to be the texture of the clay. You were talking
about letting it air dry before you put the glaze on,I
could see those rows of pots and I thoughtwhy don't they go
1 Squish, like that, and they dont.
P: Sometimes if you've got real soft clay and when you go
to set it off, if you don't set it down real easy, it will
squat.
~
~
I
~
,
~.
~
r.
r
Payne
M: Does the weather make any difference. You have a
muggy, hot, damp day.
P: It sure does. Yes.
END OF TAPE I, Side 2, 15 minutes.
19.
c
MARSHALL POTTERY"
'~~~}~'<~" " ':~
.'. ~ Marshall.Texas . SInce
:,:'< '~Six cords
-i.'-.' .
_':,':of split wood
'B":' ,;:':.'i" fumished heat . ',.'.' ';,:', ::"::,..::r,':f "~'"-:",.,,;,,;";; ~, ~," ,~;'."~ ,"'',Io r t h e
- ,. , <, _ .-',"~;,: \ r~ci{ kiln,
. ' and it was fired for
.~-.' ..
,, 60 to 65 hours. "
r6)86Year~ ~r~~~HtryC~
For thousands of years, pottery was not an art "':': it wa.. . · n~c2s~i1• ., Pottery jars
were used for preserving. pickling and storage; jugs for s't*up an squeezings:
churns for making butter from sweet cream.
Although pottery has often been decorated for aesthetic reasons. such decora·
tion never changed the basic utilitarian value of the pottery.
In the 1800's a number of poneries sprang up around the rich cla'y deposits 01
East Texas. Using kisk - wh'n~ and wood·fired r~s. these potteries pro­duced
useful pieces much in emand around thi"iOi:iin.. _.
Clay was originally found in washed·out ditches. After the over-burden or top­soil
was removed. the clay wes mined with pick and shovel by two men. One
man would haul while the other dug the next load.
After soaking in 8 pit the clay was put into a horsedrawn mill that sliced up the
large chunks. When the clay emerged from the mm it was ready to be pounded
into balls for the poner's ahapl. However. as the potters turned. they still had
t o pick out small lOCks an sticks that remained in the clay. _.}
The stoneware w as fired in a rock kiln using 6 cords of split pi~~. 'ft took 60 to
65 hours. When completed. the w are was sold locally to farmers and
storekeepers. .
In 1905 Sam Ellis aCQuired an ailing Marshall Ponery in payment of a debt. Us·
ing his skills as a businessman and through the dedication of his two sons and
daughter, the Pottery began to prosper and grow. . > ." .. : . ... - ( .
Using mules and wagons the Ellis family began delivering their chums, jugs and
crocks into the surrounding communities and eventually into the southern
-~, "
Today. second, third and fourth generation family members wo.-k together
carrying on the tradition of this ancient art.
-". • u,,·.-l .•..
'-;~ Pete Payne. Master Potter
Horse-drawn
Clay Mill
Digging and
Hauling Clay
~ , . . --.......:. :JOt.
_ L A
Frank W. "Pete" Payne, Master Potter at Mar­shall
Pottery. has been at the potter's wheel in
Marshall for 49 years. When iust a young boy
he began his apprenticeship at the Pottery
under the tutelage of Sam Ellis, Sr,
In those days potters worked 10 hours a day •
six days a week. They began their training at
the wheel making the smaller stoneware items . •
As their skills improved the potters turned the '.' :":'
larger items which were much in demand at '
that time, A 20·gallon iar was turned from an
SO·pound barn clay and made in two pieces. '
mil as a Master Potter has "mastered" every
stoneware item ever produced at Marshall Pot·
tery, and has created many designs of his own.
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C"'':> Marshall Pottery: The Early Years c.-.~
talt January Mr. W. F. Rochr cam. to this city from Columbus. Kentucky, and established
the Marshall Pottery Wonts. The excellent clays and earths to be had right at Ilis door.
together with the practically unlimited demand for his products in 8 home market, haye .11
combined to assur. th. succass of hi. project from the day that he bagan work. H. started
up with six men. and ha. now a capacity of 75,000 gallons. with excellent prospects of fur­ther
enlargement with the beginning of the f'U and winter trade .
The Pottery .. tu,nin9 ouJjera. chums. jugs. milk pans, flower pots.)nd in fact. any and
everything in the pottery ]h •. Orders will b. taken for original designs in vases and other
decorative piece •• and filled quickly and satisfactorily, both the artistic quality and durability
,
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~:~\ _;,:o~ .t~;i~~.~.bein~ _~~~~;~~.~e~: ~ . . . ;·:~';':i~}J.~i:~£.~·t;j;.H1:~;\l-J;~:1
:;: . Mr. 'Rocker employs none but akUled workmen. and is himself well equipped in the matter of ~.I :;tl. .. :.·;·1.1" ,.:>~:,~?_~~. , .!
; ... < both skill and experience for the successful management of his thriving and promising 1n- : ...... f" :~;1!.1 ... ~ · ,;,,_;;: ,;;
.~?\- --, dustrial plan.t. which will necassarily grow to large.pr?portions as its products l?ecome.b~tter : '~f.rr~;.?~.;·.~ ",;,!J
... known in thiS and other markets. H. is already shiPPing goods all over Texas and LOULSi8na. · ., · -!...L" . · - _ •
' ''.
. • nd has been continually enlarging his territory avar since ha cama to Marshall. Home people
should se. to it that no orders. that he can till. go out of town. for to patronize home enter­prise
is th._ only way to make a city.
Source: "The Marshall Pottery". Special Edition of the Marshall Me.s.nger. Marshall.
Texas. August. 1895. p. 7 .
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~S.H. Ellis Expands Pottery,
Few persons other thiln officers of COlT . ' • ===::c:
mercia I organizations possess anything
approximating itn ~dequate comprehension
of Ihe vast advancement made during the
pasl two years in the trade. commerce. and
manufactures of Marshall. There h,as. been
great development in our industrial in.
terests for cne thing and all indiations point
to shll greater accessions thereto. Among
the leading companies emJilged in for­warding
the manufacturing industry of our
city is the Marshall Pottery Comp.any.
manufacturers of flower pots. churns. jars.
butter jars. crocks. stoneware, jugs, and in
fact everything in the line made by potteries
in Ihiy section of the country. Mr. C.T.
Connor. the manager, is an expert in the
handling of this line of goods. He is known to
be an efficient fancy Rlaze mixer and
chemist, and the goods w Icn consHtuie the
present line made by the Marshall Pottery
Company are well worthy of the liberal
patronage the concern expects.
Taken as a whole this is an enterprise thaI
stands out conspicuous among like concerns
and is one of whic.h the citizens of Milrshall
should be proud. The present owner. Mr.
Ellis. · .... ho has had charge but a short time;
IS fasl pushing the business to the front. He
believes Ihal the people of Texas and
LOUISiana want and will pay for the
rem,lrkably fine ware that can be made
trom the clays found in this county.
.~I;' Mr. Ellis, you now own a Pottery .
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the apital stock for
dem.and being so great thilt .it
will be necessary to increase
the pl~nl. Part of this money
erecting : ~nother large
._ estimated the daily output
. upto two ars . . 1" , t' .,-~" ...
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;'-Aiready ',;-~n ; exte~si~~ ;: busi~~s'~ '; is1.'~~~l l
" goods i;eing sold in.all pOi -~- ~~ --'-; --' ~ ' - ' _ .. --" ~
. many points in .adjoining
'!;'.'.:
The new building is 3& x 65
·'down-drafl one of the besl. At
£iiil employs ten men, but this will
creilsed to twenty shortly,
Mr. Ellis is an old citizen of
having lived here l' years. and
in the community. "".:'
From the Marshall '~
Messenger. 1906.':
Source: "The Mushalt Pottery," Progress
Edition of the Marshall Messenger, Mar.
st...lI. Tex"as. July 1906. p. 6. ,:
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"'MR. ELLIS , YOU NOW OWN A POTTERY: In 1905 Sam H. Ellis. an immigrant blacksmith :
lrom Cornwall. England. lent Mr, Sluder $350 10 build iJ kiln tor his pottery. Two days later
Mr Sluder letl (OW" le ,IVIIIY the deed to the polterv under iI rock . Allilched was iI note say­;"
g. · ·Mr. EI"s, y OIl now U WII , / pO fi e r y . .