Manufacturer Notes: Brantford Stoneware Manufacturing CompanyAt least two styles (and several sizes) of Canadian transfer printed ginger beer bottles are known to have been produced by the Brantford Stoneware Manufacturing Company of Brantford, Ontario. This joint-stock company was established in 1894 and ceased production in 1907.Culhan, Phil, & Wallace, Scott; Transfer Printed Ginger Beers Of Canada (Ottawa, Privately Printed, 2002) _______________________________________________________________________________________ This company was started by Justus Morton under the name of Morton & Company in 1849. The business was located at the corner of Clarence and Dalhousie Streets and made common salt-glazed container stoneware. A. B. Bennett became a partner in the business circa 1856 but the partnership was dissolved a year later and Mr. Morton leased the factory to James Woodyatt and Company. Justus Morton took over the company again with Franklin P. Goold as a partner after James Woodyatt gave up the business to become Brantford’s town clerk in 1859. However, in August of that year Mr. Morton sold the business to Mr. Goold and Charles Waterous. In 1864 the company won first prize at the Canada West exhibition for an assortment of stoneware. On October 29, 1867 Mr. Goold sold the pottery to William E. Welding, a travelling salesman and manager of the business for a number of years, and William W. Belding for $3,200. A fire on December 1, 1872 destroyed the pottery and all of its buildings, including $9,000 of stock and all tools and equipment (Brantford Weekly Expositor, December 6, 1872, p. 3). Mr. Welding sold the property to his partner but then repurchased the site in March 1873 and built a new factory which opened in August of that year. During the 1870s the pottery started to make moulded rather than wheel-turned articles with the mottled tortoise-shell brown glaze known as Rockingham. In late July 1883 the business was destroyed by fire again but this time the exterior of the building was saved so that only the interior needed to be rebuilt (Brantford Weekly Expositor, July 27, 1883, p. 8). Rockingham and yellow-glazed housewares became the main products. In 1894 Mr. Welding retired and sold the business to Dr. David Lowrey, John Hemphill, and Henry Schuler. William E. Welding died in December 1903. The pottery was incorporated as the Brantford Stoneware Manufacturing Company on August 11, 1894. Between 1894 and 1906 the company made Rockingham, caneware, majolica, stove linings, firebrick and ware for chemical and sanitary purposes. In 1906 the business was dissolved for unknown reasons and in January 1907 the plant and the land were sold to Solomon Malener and Abraham Rosenfeld for the Brantford Rag and Metal Company. After being used for different businesses through the years the land and the building were sold to Firestone Stores and the building was torn down in December 1966. More information about this company can be found in The Brantford Pottery 1849-1907 by D. B. Webster and A History of the Brantford Pottery by Robert Deboer. Brantford Public Library www.brantford.library.on.ca/genealogy/stoneware.php _______________________________________________________________________________________ Go To North American Soda & Beers Home |