Glass has been made in America since the arrival of the early European settlers. The story of the glass-house at Jamestown is quite well documented. However, the fact that there was also an early glass house in Philadelphia, that may well have been much more successful, seems to have been largely overlooked.
On 14th July1682, James Claypoole, English treasurer of the Free Society of Traders in Philadelphia wrote that "We are to send over a 100 servants to build houses, to plant and improve land, and for cattle, and to set up a glass house for bottles, drinking glass, and window glass, to supply the Islands and Continent of America". Joshua Tittery, "servant to ye Society, broad glass maker from New Castle upon Tine" (Newcastle-on-Tyne), England, was hired as one of these "to serve four years at £88 per Ann.", possibly to manage the glass house and four other glass blowers came from England as indentured servants. English parish records show that a Joshua Tittery, son of Daniel, was christened in Oldswinford, Stourbridge on 1 November 1636. (Like Newcastle-on-Tyne, Stourbridge was a major glass-making centre, and the Titterys were a well established glass-making family of French descent). Confusingly, several different Daniel Titterys are recorded. Tittery arrived in Philadelphia on 20th September 1683 aboad The America, Joshua Waser master.
According to Arlene Palmer in Aspects of Glassmaking in Eighteenth-Century America, two bottle makers joined Tittery, or went with him in 1683. These were John Joverell of Gloucester and John Moore. This ties up with the fact that in February 1682/3 Claypoole wrote that "They send by our ship workman of several sorts to set up a glass house for window glass, bottles, etc.,... (our ship may refer to the company's ship Jeffrey, Thomas Arnold master). John Moore was likely to have been born in July 1655, son of Henry and Alice, Bristol Quakers.
To assist in setting-up the glass house, William Penn is shown in a port-book entry of July 6 1683 as sending "18hhds. of earth for making glass" from Bristol aboad the Unicorn Thomas Cooper, master (the Unicorn arrived on October 31st, probably by way of Virginia). This was presumably clay for making glass-melting pots.
In another letter in the Letter-book of Claypoole, July 29, 1684, the Society of Free Traders was said to have set up a corn mill and to be in the process of setting up a saw-mill and a glass factory. The latter date seems to conflict slightly with Penn's letter below, but this could simply be anticipation or a confusion in year-end dates. That year two more glass blowers (probably the drinking glass makers) came from London. These were James Harris and Joseph Brooke. These were both reasonably common names, so they cannot be uniquely identified from London parish records (assuming that they were in fact born in London). The most likely candidates for James are; christenings in St Boltoph without Aldgate 15 June 1662 or 8 November 1663 or a christening in Soutwark St Olaves on 9April 1665. If any of these are right it would put James as a relatively inexperienced glass maker, just out of his 'time' as an apprentice. The most likely candidates for Joseph are: a christening at St Boltoph without Aldgate on 2 November 1648, or one at the nearby church of Stepney St Mary Whitechapel on 29 January 1636. A Joseph Brooke 'of London' was also recorded as marrying Mary Humhreys on 17 February 1680. All the churches concerned are close to known London vessel-glass houses. The Brooke's may have been an adventurous glass making faimly at that time, because a Godfrey Brookes was recorded as being amoung five glassmakers who emigrated to Hamburg to make glass in 1690.
In a letter written in 1683 William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, mentioned that glass was being made in Pennsylvania, but he did not state where. He wrote of a tannery, saw-mill and glasshouse, "the last two conveniently posted for water carriage". A later record is said to show that the glass works was in Shackamaxon, about one and a half miles north of Penn's town, in the area now known as Kensington, within the present city limits of Philadelphia. This could be close-to, or on the site of, one of the three later glass house on Dyott or Beach Street/Warren (now Cherry), near the waterfront. All these locations would be consistent with William Penn's letter. One of the reasons for setting up the glass house was to produce glass to trade. An 1682/83 indenture between Penn and the local Indian tribe, in which the Indian town of Playwicki is mentioned, contains a reference to 200 small glasses in an inventory of goods traded.
In 1685 on 3 July it is recorded in the minutes of the Philadelphia Meeting that "Joshua Tittery a Glass maker belonging to the Society complaining to the meeting that they deny him his wages." Joshua Titterie later sued Benjamin Chambers, President of the Society of Free Traders, for a sum of £163 15s. 7d. due as salary under contract from 1683 to 1686 for work and disbursements. Titterie, as the plaintiff, produced the original articles, an account of the disbursements, and witnesses. In his defense Chambers introduced depositions from workmen who had worked with the plaintiff in England to show that he never made a "bitt of broadglass" and was "accompted no workman," and had been dismissed as an apprentice from an English glassworks. It was common for American courts of that period to reduce wages if it was shown that the tradesman was not adequately qualified to warrent premium wages. However, the jury awarded Titterie the heavy damages of £131 15s. (which could have been the amount owing up to the date of the case), suggesting that Tittery had demonstrated his competence. The defendant subsequently appealed to the provincial court, and this is apparently recorded in Pennypacker, Pennsylvania Colonial.Cases, pp. 86-88 (1685). This court action may reflect more the financial troubles of the Society of Traders than the lack of industry on the part of the glass makers.
The Free Society of Traders in Pennsylvania had been chartered by Governor Penn soon after he had obtained his patent and it received extraordinary privileges. The subscription agreement was drawn up in March 1682, in London, where the patent, or grant of incorporation, had been issued, and the first officers were elected there; but it was to be distinctively an American company with its seat at the capital of Pennsylvania, where the first General assembly met in December 1682. A capital stock of £75,400 was subscribed in London under date of April 26, 1682. The society secured 400 acres of land within the city liberties of Philadelphia. Part of this ran from river to river, fronting on a street near where Pine Street now is.
Joshua Tittery was described as a glass maker when he married Cicely Woolly on 4 May 1688, but as a potter by 1699. He died in 1708 or 1709. In 1700 a letter mentions "Joshua Tittery for whom I write for ye Leade Oare has it all & I expect 20s. per Cwt. for it. If any Vessels come hither this fall please send 1/2 a Tun more for another potter who has engaged to take it". This reference does not necessarily imply that Tittery have given up his connection with the glass trade. At about the same time the Lowdens in Bristol were involved in both glass and pottery trades. There is also reference in 1687 of glass makers going to De Costa (who had helped George Ravenscroft pefect 'flint glass') at 'the Dutch pothouse at Lambeth' to buy 200 lb of manganese.
At a meeting of the Property Commissioners held January 30th 1691/2 , a notice was drafted to the inhabitants of Shackamaxson, about a proposed new road to the Glass house, amongst other destinations. This suggests the glasshouse was still open or only recently closed.
A John Tyzack, probably a glass maker, sailed for Pennsylvania in 1687, but it is not clear if this was in connection with the glass house.
By July 1709 (presumably following Joshua's death) the Bristol glass maker Daniel Tittery, Joshua's brother, had unsuccessfully sought financial backing from Edward Shippen (who became mayor of Philadelphia in autumn 1701, the year it received its charter as a city) and other merchants to erect and work a window glass house in Philadelphia. Boston merchants had also considered, and rejected, his plans, since they believed it would be necessary to produce both bottles and drinking glass as well as window glass to ensure commercial success. This is mentioned in a letter from Thomas Fitch to Edward Shippen, August 15th 1709, which is recorded in Thomas's letter book 1702-11, held by the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Mass (to whom I am grateful for providing some of this information). However, the Complete Book of Emigrants 1700-1750, by Peter Wilson Coldham, contains a quote " 3 April 1723. Affirmation by Thomas Bradford of London, Glazier and Quaker, that he well knew Daniel Tittery of Philadelphia, Glass-maker deceased, who was the brother of Joshua Tittery of Philadelphia. This was following Daniel's death and suggests that he had been successful in either setting up or continuing glassmaking in Philadelphia. I am grateful to Richard Emerson for bringing this reference to my attention. A Daniel Tittory and sons Daniel and Nathaniel were making glass in Scotland from 1698 to1707. Daniel elder was described as formerly being in Newcastle. His remit was to make broad window glass and bottles (thanks to Jill Turnbull for the information).
Did this glasshouse prosper? Researching seventeenth century glasshouses is much more difficult than their later counterparts, because of the scarcity of records from the earlier date. Often those experienced at researching later periods assume that the absence of information means that nothing was happening, but that may not be the case. What signs are there that the glass house might have worked for a significant period? Unlike Jamestown and New York, earlier US glass-making sites, glass making became firmly established in the Philadelphia area and near-by New Jersey (and may have actually continued or re-started on the same site). This is a sign that the initial glass house was likely to have been reasonably successful. The successful attempt by Joshua's brother to establish, or re-establish, a glass house in the same city also suggests that the first venture was not a complete failure. The involvement of only Joshua Tittery in the litigation for payment and the comments by the Boston Merchants may indicate that it was the window glass part of the business that was initially the least successful. Did it leave a legacy in terms of a stylistic tradition? Both Wistar's and Stiegel's glass produced in Philadelphia in the eighteenth century share particular traits of seventeenth-century origin. Although European glass in the mid-eighteenth century also re-uses a number of seventeenth century features, these are different from those used on these US glasses. It is difficult to see where these 'later' American styles grew from unless they are based on a genuine American seventeenth century style.
Where do we look for evidence of what might have been produced? The only place is in excavations in "the Islands and Continent of America". The remains of a footed beaker shown below is one such potential candidate. It was found in an 1692 "earthquake" context at Port Royal, Jamaica. I am grateful to: Texas A&M University (TAMU), the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) and the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) for the opportunity to examine this find and to illustrate it here. Many of the finds from this site are almost certainly English in origin, but this particular glass is probably not for two reasons. Firstly, there is little evidence that glasses of this style were made in England in the late seventeenth century. Second, fluorescence analysis of the glass suggests that it is made from lead/soda glass, compared with the English norm of lead/potash glass. Despite making a number of enquiries, I have found no pointers towards a European site that was making lead/soda glass. This kind of mixture would only make economic sense for a coal-fired glass house situated near a sea coast or major salt-water inlet (as in Philadelphia). The soda in the glass would then have been derived then from kelp, made from dried sea-weed. Wood-fired furnaces used the wood ash as the major source of alkali, but this contains a high percentage of potash. An additional point is that the glass shown here has a number of features that would go on to be common elements in the eighteenth-century American glass-designers' repertoire.
Thus there are a number of pointers to suggest that this glass may have been the product of a Anglo/American glass house in Philadelphia, operating in the 1680s. At this stage much of the evidence provided is circumstantial, but if it is true, there is almost certainly more evidence somewhere that can be found by careful and thorough detective work.
Balderson, M., (ed), "James Claypoole's Letter Book London and Philadelphia 1681-1684", The Huntington Library 1967.
Baldwin, Simeon E. "American Business Corporations Before 1786", American Historical Review, volume 8, 1902-1903
Cheek, Mary M., "The Cooperative venture of the Union Glass Works, Kensington, Pennsylvania, 1826-1842", Corning Journal of Glass Studies, Vol 39, 1997, p. 95.
Coldham, Peter Wilson, "The Complete Book of Emigrants 1700-1750", Geneological Publishing Co. Inc. 1992. p.307."
Gillingham, Harrold E., "Pottery, China, and Glass Making in Philadelphia", Pennsylvania magazine of History and Biography, April 1930.
International Genealogical Index
Moore, N. Hudson, "Old Glass, European and American" 1946 edition.
Morris, Richard B., "Government and Labor in Early America", Octagon Books, 1975
Palmer, Arlene M., "Aspects of Glassmaking in Eighteenth-Century America," Annales of the 8th Congress of the AIHV, 1979.
Palmer, Arlene M., "A Philadelphia Glasshouse 1794-1797", Corning Journal of Glass Studies, Vol 21, 1979, p. 104.
Stewart, Michael, "The Indian Town of Playwicki", Paper prepared for the 1995 meeting of the Eastern States Archaeological Federation, and the 1996 meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, New Orleans.
Watkins, L.Woodside, "American Glass and Glassmaking", 1950, p. 23.
Witt, Cleo, Weeden, Cyril, & Palmer Schwind, Arelene, "Bristol Glass" 1984, p.84.