{"id":6315,"date":"2014-02-25T17:18:48","date_gmt":"2014-02-25T17:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=6315"},"modified":"2014-02-25T17:18:48","modified_gmt":"2014-02-25T17:18:48","slug":"researching-your-family-heirlooms-gaudy-dutch-pottery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/researching-your-family-heirlooms-gaudy-dutch-pottery.html","title":{"rendered":"Researching Your Family Heirlooms: Gaudy Dutch Pottery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this guest blog post, Mary shows how old newspapers can help you better understand your family heirlooms, focusing on some Gaudy Dutch pottery she inherited from her grandmother.<\/em><\/p>\n

The first step in compiling your family history begins in your home: gathering all the family documents, letters, photos, and heirlooms you can find. The goal of many genealogists is to go beyond the names and dates on their family tree; they want to get to know their ancestors as real people\u2014the lives they led and the times they lived in.<\/p>\n

Heirlooms help fill in some of your family\u2019s stories\u2014and in order to better understand these precious objects that have been passed down through the generations, research in old newspapers such as GenealogyBank\u2019s online Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> can be really beneficial.<\/p>\n

Pottery Heirloom from My Grandmother<\/strong><\/p>\n

Among the heirlooms from my grandmother\u2019s estate were several items described as \u201cGaudy Dutch\u201d pottery. There were several plates and an assortment of cups and saucers, each hand-painted and of a unique design.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Source: the Author\u2019s personal collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We divided these old pottery pieces among family members, without knowing their personal history.<\/p>\n

Yes, we knew that they had passed from our great grandmother to her daughter, but nobody could ascertain how many generations of the family had owned them\u2014much less used them to sip tea. At the time, I remember being impressed that these pieces had come all the way from the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

History of Gaudy Dutch Pottery<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, after doing some newspaper research I realized that my assumption was incorrect: Gaudy Dutch pottery did not come from the Netherlands after all. Actually, this type of pottery was made in England for export to the American market, primarily between 1810-1820, with some examples made through 1842.<\/p>\n

The style is known primarily as Gaudy Dutch, but similar styles can be found under other names, such as Gaudy Welsh and Gaudy Ironstone. Only 16 patterns of Gaudy Dutch were ever made: Butterfly, Carnation, Dahlia, Double Rose, Dove, Grape, Leaf, Oyster, Primrose, Single Rose, Strawflower, Sunflower, Urn, War Bonnet, Zinnia, and once called No Name. (Can you guess which pattern I have? See answer at bottom.)<\/p>\n

You can view photos of Gaudy Dutch pottery and learn more here: Kovels Price Guides<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The descriptive term \u201cgaudy\u201d came from its Japanese Imari-style patterning, but the other half of the name, \u201cDutch,\u201d derived its popularity from German settlers, known as Pennsylvania Dutch. Dutch did not indicate an origin from the Netherlands, but from Germany (as \u201cDeutsch\u201d means German). (See http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pennsylvania_Dutch<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), 19 November 1978, page 228<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Researching Heirlooms in Newspapers<\/strong><\/p>\n

How can you use historical newspapers to research your family heirlooms? Well, for one thing, early advertisements provide a uniquely interesting environment to explore the history of heirlooms.<\/p>\n

Although I knew that the name of my pottery was not originally \u201cGaudy Dutch,\u201d I still searched by that keyword in very early newspapers\u2014and quickly discovered absolutely nothing.<\/p>\n

For my next queries I incorporated descriptions, such as \u201cpainted tea cups,\u201d and these search results were a little more fruitful. Although I\u2019ll never know for certain, I suspect the painted cups and saucers of this 1817 Massachusetts newspaper advertisement were for my type of earthenware.<\/p>\n

\"pottery<\/a>
Boston Daily Advertiser (Boston, Massachusetts), 4 February 1817, page 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Further newspaper archive queries into later time periods turned up a number of helpful articles, such as this one.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), 8 March 1965, section 3, page 7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tea Time and Our Ancestors<\/strong><\/p>\n

How many cups of tea have been poured into my Gaudy Dutch teacup, I\u2019ll never know\u2014but I do know that the custom of tea drinking will forever be entwined in the fabric of American history.<\/p>\n

Yes, there was a time, during the Boston Tea Party (1773), when Patriots hurled tea into Boston Harbor. But our American ancestors returned to imbibing their favorite non-alcoholic drink: tea. I like to think that this cup kept someone company on a cold winter\u2019s night, was there during extended birthing of children, and even during the best of times!<\/p>\n

I hope you\u2019ll consider researching your family heirlooms in newspapers. You never know what you\u2019ll find! If you do learn something interesting, share it with us in the comments section. We\u2019d love to hear your story, and see if it inspires others.<\/p>\n

What Gaudy Dutch Pattern Is It?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is \u201cSingle Rose\u201d; follow this link<\/a> from Google\u2019s image search to see the diversity of the \u201cSingle Rose\u201d pattern of Gaudy Dutch pottery. To see other samples, search images by their specific pattern names.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Source: the Author\u2019s personal collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do you have special pottery and dishes passed down from your ancestors? Share with us in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this guest blog post, Mary shows how old newspapers can help you better understand your family heirlooms, focusing on some Gaudy Dutch pottery she inherited from her grandmother. The first step in compiling your family history begins in your home: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12713],"tags":[6485,682,6482,6480,6481,465,6484,2020,27,6483,6486],"class_list":["post-6315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genealogy-research-tips","tag-ceramics","tag-england","tag-family-heirlooms","tag-gaudy-dutch","tag-gaudy-dutch-pottery","tag-historical-newspapers","tag-netherlands","tag-newspaper-archives","tag-newspapers","tag-pottery","tag-tea"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6315\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}