Page 8-Section n
THE PILOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina
Wednesday, June 27,
Moore County
BY CHARLES G. ZUGIH
During the late 1850s, a young
potter named Jacob Dorris
Craven packed up his small
family and moved south into up
per Moore County. The Cravens
had already lived in southern
Randolph County for nearly a
century-in fact, Dorris’s great-
great-grandfather Peter is often
cited as the original potter of this
region. Whether Peter or his sons
were potters remains unproven,
but Dorris’s grandfather John,
father Anderson, and numerous
uncles, cousins, and brothers
were all active in the craft.
Why Dorris chose to leave his
home county at this time remains
something of a mystery. Family
tradition allows that some mem
bers were against slavery and
left Randolph County because of
the growing tensions that would
soon culminate in war. Dorris’s
younger brother Thomas appears
to have accompanied him-a few
pots survive which are stamped
“JD & T.W. CRAVEN”-and
another brother William headed
for Missouri at the same time.
But there may have been more
compelling economic reasons for
Dorris’s migration.
The 1850 Census for Moore
County lists carpenters,
blacksmiths, wheelwrights,
tailors, millers, hatters, gun
smiths, even a basketmaker-but
not a single potter. Moreover,
with the completion of the Fayet
teville and Western, a plank road
running across Moore from the
Moravian communities of
Bethania and Salem to the nor
thwest to Fayetteville in the
southeast, the area was ripe for
commercial expansion, and
distant markets were now much
more accessible. Dorris may well
have recognized the oppor
tunities for a young potter, and so
he set up shop at a site about
three miles west of the current
Jugtown Pottery. In the 1860 Cen
sus he is listed as a “manufactor
of Stoneware” and is the only pot
ter so designated for the county.
Perhaps there were one or two
earlier potters in Moore County,
but if so, they remain
anonymous. Dorris clearly
played the central role in
establishing the craft here. In
terms of surviving signed pieces,
he is the most prolific of all North
Carolina potters. And he trained
numerous other young men in the
art of “turning” and “burning,”
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1
BEN OWEN — The famed late master potter
Ben Owen is shown with one of his products at his
shop in Westmoore.
SELF PORTRAIT — This self portrait of Jac
ques Busbee is owned by Dr. Clement Monroe.
some of whose descendants are
still at their wheels today. The
Census of Manufacturers for 1860
reveals that he was employing 3
men to process 60,000 pounds of
clay, 16 bushels of salt, and 20
cords of wood into 6,000 gallons of
“jugs, churns, crocks & pitchers”
valued at $600. By 1870,4 workers
who were active 7 months of the
year were producing $800 worth
of pottery.
Today the old wares are no
longer used. We buy them instead
for nostalgic or aesthetic or
historical reasons-at prices that
would have made Dorris’s head
spin-and venerate them on man
tels or in curio cabinets. But
Dorris made pots that were to be
used daily and were critical to the
survival of a rural, self-sufficient
people. The majority of forms
wa,s^directly^,c^o to food-
ways, specifically, for preser
vation (jar, jug, milk crock,
churn), preparation (baking
dish, bowl, colander, beanpot),
and consumption (pitcher, plate,
mug, teapot). Less common was
a variety of implements (cham
berpot, chicken waterer, pipe,
gravemarker), as well as some
horticultural wares (flowerpot,
wall pocket) and whimsies (ring
jug, face jug, monkey jug).
The bulk of Dorris’s output was
in salt-glazed stoneware which
was fired to a temperature of
perhaps 2400 degrees F in a long,
low groundhog kiln. Earlier
generations had produced lead-
glazed earthenwares, but by the
late eighteenth century, the toxic
nature of lead had become widely
recognized. And so, during the
second quarter of the nineteenth
century, the safer, .more durable
stoneware gradually displaced
the earthenware in North
Carolina. It was coated with a
salt glaze in the eastern Pied
mont and an alkaline glaze in the
western Piedmont and the Moun
tains. Still, potters such as Dorris
continued a small sideline of ear
thenware, notably in the form of
baking dishes and flowerpots,
right into the twentieth century.
Training in a folk craft such as
pottery was a continuous process.
The shopowners took on their
sons and neighbors and taught
them the fine points of locating
and processing clays, turning on
the treadle-wheel, glazing, and
burning the groundhog kiln. The
technology was traditional and
time-tested, and it was learned
by the young men in informal
ways, that is, through oral
tradition and imitation. Here
there were no schedules or tex
tbooks or classes or Master of
Fine Arts degrees. The aspiring
turner stayed near his mentor,
watching and helping, and taking
every opportunity to try his hand
when the wheel was free. And he
followed no set routine-the
“lesson” for the day depended on
the particular forms needed to fill
current orders.
As the main perpetuator of the
folk craft, Dorris Craven was ex
tremely active as a teacher. In
1870 his immediate neighbors
were William Henry Hancock
and William Henry Luck, both of
whom stated in the Census that
they were “Working in Potter
Shop.” During the 1880s, Han-
cock-along with Manley W.
Owen-turned for E.A. Poe & Co.
in Fayetteville, thus carrying the
Moore County tradition into the
BUTTER JAR — Salt-glazed stoneware butter
jar, c. 1870, J.D. Craven, Moore County, H11-1/8
2 gallons. Stamp: “J.D. CRAVEN. “ Collection of
Mr. and Mrs. Hurdle Lea. The wide, flattened
terminals of the handles and the coggled
gallonage capacity are both characteristic of the
Moore County tradition that Dorris pioneered.
The jar originally had a flat lid with an inner
flange and a finial on top to facilitate handling.
Coastal Plain, where there were
few potters. Yet another likely
disciple was Benjamin Franklin
Owen, who in 1870 lived just four
houses away from Dorris. A four
th was young William Henry
Chrisco, who went to live with
Dorris at age 13 or 14. Chrisco
later constructed his own pottery
just south of the Craven site and
turned ware into the 1930s, until
he was almost eighty years old.
In 1969 his log shop was disman-
teled and hauled off to the
Smithsonian Institution, where
one day it may become a per
manent exhibit.
Dorris did not neglect his
children, notably his sons Isaac
Franklin and Daniel Zebedee,
who later established their own
potteries and represent the last
generation of folk potters. In the
illustration is Daniel’s log shop as
it appeared about 1915. Daniel
appears to be contemplating
some problem in his clay mill
while two of the children take a
welcome break by the shop door.
In the foreground are salt-glazed
storage jars and milk crocks,
perhaps the two most popular
utilitarian forms at this late stage
of the folk tradition. Subsequent
generations of the Craven family-
■particularly Daniel’s sons
Weldon Braxton, Charles Boyd,
and Lester Farrell-played an
important role in the develop
ment of the new forms, glazes,
and technology that transformed
the craft starting right after
World War I.
In particular, the Cravens have
strong ties to the Teague Pottery
at Robbins. The original potter in
this family, John Wesley Teague,
was also apprenticed, at the age
of nine, to Dorris Craven. Then,
John Wesley’s sons Bryan Dewey
(“Duck”) married Daniel
Craven’s daughter Bessie Lee.
Finally, working out of a shed in
his back yard, Bessie’s brother
Charlie has turned many of the
larger forms sold at the Teague
Pottery, which is now run by
Bessie’s son-in-law Hobart Gar
ner and his son Daniel. If fact, if
Dorris’s distant ancestor Peter
Craven was indeed a potter, then
Daniel Garner represents the
ninth generation at the wheel, for
he is Peter’s great-great-great-
great-great-great-grandson.
Perhaps no family has been
more active in the pottery
business in Moore County over
the last century than the Owens.
As suggested, their connection to
Dorris Craven is somewhat more
tenuous. While Frank Owen lived
very close to Dorris in 1870,
Melvin L. Owens suggests that
Frank’s son James H. was the
first potter in the family, and that
he learned to turn with Pascal
Marable in Randolph County.
Then he returned to the homesite
in Moore County-adjacent to the
Joe T. Owen Pottery on Route
705-and taught his father and
brothers. Finally, after working
as a journeyman in Randolph and
Chatham Counties, Jim
established his own shop about
1910, where his son M.L. and his
family carry on the business
today.
Whatever the precise origin of
the craft, the Owen(s) family has
exerted a wide influence in this
century. An orange, lead-glazed
pie dish made by Jim’s brother
Rufus is said to have inspired
Jacques and Juliana Busbee to
found the Jugtown Pottery. Jim
built the first shop there, and
Rufus’s son Benjamin Wade was
for years the main turner. And
when Ben founded his old Plank
(Continued On Page 9)
1885
1984
.o
1784
99 Years In Moore County (200
1984
HYLAND HILLS COLF RESORT
18 Hole Championship Course
All Golfers Welcome
McDonald Brothers Is Proud
To Be A Part Of Moore County
Year-Round Afternoon
Special—‘$10.00
2 P.M. - Dark
Includes Cart
Our Company began in West End in 1885 when members of
the McDonald family began producing turpentine and
lumber for sale. In 1954, we opened our lumber and building
supply business in Carthage. We moved that business to our
new location near Southern Pines on U.S. 1 North in 1975.
Just this year, we opened our new ServiceStar Home Center
that offers everything for the construction industry plus all of
the materials and equipment needed to properly maintain
your home and business.
Allan McDonald
President
Angus McDonald
V.P. And General Manger
Mrs. Allan C. McDonald
Vice President
SDONALD
BROTHERS, INC.
We Join In
Observing
Moore County’s
200th Year!
1784
200
1984
O
Sandhills Seniors Golf Assn
For Ladies & Gents Over 50
Complimentary Golf At
lO Fifteen Fine Courses I
Dues $12/Yr.
SEmtSlAR. Home Center
Hwy. 1 North
Southern Pines
692-2715
VISIT OUR NEW CONDOMINIUMS!
Sorry, our first phase of twenty 2 bedroom, 2 bath units SOLO OUT, but look at our new plans, and buy at
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ALSO LONG OR SHORT TERM RENTALS - FURNISHED or UNFURNISHED
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HIGHWAY #1, ONE MILE NORTH SOUTHERN PINES
PHONE 919/692-3752