Peaseware - Fruit of the Garden of Eden*

Family History

The pivotal figure in the study of Peaseware is David Mills Pease. His family tree is rich with people of vision and stature who demonstrated great public and private spirit. The list includes prominent individuals first to establish towns and serve their government holding various elected and appointed offices. Many were skilled woodworkers and toolmakers; they maintained strong religious convictions through each generation.

David's first ancestor to come to America was Robert Pease (1607- 1644). He emigrated from England on the ship Francis, landed in Boston and then settled in Salem, Massachusetts in April 1634 where he became the progenitor of the many Salem and Enfield Peases. His family belonged to the First Church in Salem. His brother John is believed to have founded Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard where much later Benjamin Warren Pease (1866-1938) became a town selectman and accomplished waterfowl decoy carver.

Robert's second son John, Sr. (ca. 1630-1689) traveled from Salem to Enfield, Massachusetts (now Enfield, Connecticut) in the fall of 1682 with family and friends and founded that town. Enfield became an early religious community well populated with Peases. A Shaker Village was established there in 1792 and continued until 1917.

The Mills

At the end of the eighteenth century, David Pease's cousin Seth surveyed old Girdled Road which crosses Big Creek at the southeastern end of Cascade Valley. A choice spot, it offered a positive and familiar set of circumstances which attracted David to construct a four room, barn-frame home circa 1850. Girdled Road was well traveled being the first major connection between the northwestern Pennsylvania border and Cleveland, Ohio. At this crossing Big Creek turns and drops substantially, factors ideal for harnessing energy from constantly falling water.

Forms and Types

When pioneers began building homes and communities, they had many needs and desires. Safe storage of food was vital. Secure containers were indispensable to protect food from pests and to keep essentials such as herbs, mustard and other seeds, salt, pepper and maple sugar chunks dry. Other household articles included spool holders, sewing companions, sock darners, pin cushions, needle holders, open salts, salt and pepper shakers, pill boxes, chairs and beds, table legs, candle holders, posts, handles for tools, miniatures, toys and on occasion, non-functional whimsies.

To fulfill those needs, David Pease introduced a new style of spindle-turned woodenware that surpassed regional designs. He possessed an inherent aesthetic sensibility nurtured by exposure to historic Connecticut River Valley refinements. The impact of visual resources such as eighteenth and early nineteenth century "high style" furniture and pewter vessel configurations are reflected in Pease and Brown forms.

A number of particular anatomical design treatments define Peaseware. Finial shapes, body and lid profiles, foot conformation, decorative banding, wood selection and finishing, accessory handles and tool marks collectively distinguish Pease from other makers. Other factors to consider are variables related to various family members, their skill levels, creative inclinations, aesthetic sensibilities, purpose of production, availability of materials, tool capacities and historical period. Custom orders, specialty gifts and transitionary experimentations account for other stylistic variations.

Forms and types can be classified into four periods. Containers from the earliest era, circa 1850 to 1860, tend to be purely functional with simplified knob finials. Considerable variation exists in approaches to lid and body ornamentation. Presumably, aesthetic solutions were being perfected at this time, and that is one reason early pieces are rarer in number. The second period, circa 1860 to 1890, is when the most recognizable "classic" lidded vessels dominated Pease production. Decorative "exhibition" pieces represent a third phase from circa 1876 to 1906. Then from 1910 to 1950, James and Roy Brown actively continued the tradition.

Since designs evolved over that century, individual motifs should not be relied upon to determine Pease or Brown authorship. For example, delicate finials on classic lids, typically referred to as "acorn" types, are one method commonly utilized to categorize or exclude artifacts as Pease or Brown. This by itself is not a trustworthy deduction. Instead, attributions should be founded on a convincing number of quite similar or significant characteristics.

The area between the finial and lid edge usually received embellishment. Classic treatments include incised concentric lines and bands in sets of two or three and raised domes also occurring mostly in groups of three. On many, incising appears in triple clusters characterized by a thin line, a wide central band contained by another thin line with some bands occasionally darkened. Lid edges are followed by a receding curve which extends to the joint at the body. The lid/body connection is always a half-rounded concave transition.

Body profiles vary with purpose. Bulbous forms commonly feature two raised collars near the top, with some more prominent than others, a broad central band and two less pronounced lower stripes. Containers were also made in matched sets of graduated sizes. One less common style was fashioned with a moveable hinged iron or brass wire and a maple or walnut handle affixed to the body via staples. Bail handles eased the burden of carrying one or more full containers.

Profiles of urns and jars possess their own set of characteristics. Jars generally have a predominantly smooth recessed and canted central section bordered by a wide top and bottom. Urns, by contrast, display the most variation in design features. Bulges, incised lines, bands, ridges and plain areas exist in combinations from piece to piece.

From the earliest period on, foot conformation on all forms follows a basic consideration: would objects stand firmly? For that reason, dimensions relate to the width of lids or rims providing a stable base for practical and visual reasons. Foot edges were rounded to prevent chipping and bottoms were normally concaved to better sit on irregular surfaces and to lessen weight. Bottoms still exhibit original turning and chisel marks made when removing finished forms from lathes. Telltale evidence from these cuts are potential fingerprints that might help identify specific turners.

Dark lines occur on some pieces as decorative banding. Turners simply used carpenter's pencils to crisply mark rotating forms. During finishing, varnish sealed in the graphite designs and deepened their color.

A few containers are marked indicating individuals for whom they were made. On one, David Pease personally hand wrote "G.W. Dusinberg Aug. 14, 1858." On a second example, a bail-handled container has written on its inside lid "Eddie Culver" and on the bottom "Eddie Culver Jan 16 1885." Culver was a locally-based Great Lakes freighter captain. Although the wire handle and body profiling vary slightly from classic models, the overall character of this Culver container is recognizable as Pease. Comparisons of existing handwritten alphabet letters and numerals on Peaseware with old family paper documents are important in helping determine a turner's involvement. Since each maker's penmanship has specific graphic characteristics, careful analysis of their handwriting is the most reliable key to proper maker identification; then, educated attributions can be applied to other unmarked container

Technique

The initial step in the production of Peaseware began with the harvesting of local virgin deciduous trees. From existing artifacts, maple, especially sugar maple, was the preferred wood because of its availability, superb workability, tight grain and below average tangental/radial shrinkage rate ratio. Containers were also fashioned from readily accessible apple, beech, black walnut, birdseye and curly maple, mulberry, pear, poplar, red oak, figural sumac and wild cherry.

Symmetrical Pease designs originated from solid rough-sawn blocks of wood with its end grain running vertically. That particular grain orientation is a recognizable trait of all Peaseware which was made with grain directions paralleling the lathe's turning axis. By contrast, today's turners often set their wood on the lathe with grain patterns perpendicular to the rotation axis. Log sections were cut to rough lengths and split into approximate cylindrical contours while in the forest eliminating unnecessary transportation of excess weight, considering trees were sawn wet or "green." This permitted workers to conserve wood and their energies when hand chopping timber. Heartwood was selected for these slices intentionally avoiding direct centers of trees and newer outside growth sapwood.

Back in the shop, field-chopped contours were prepared for shaping, then pieces for lids and bottoms were separated from the same block during turning. This resulted in multiple component containers with parts identical in color and grain pattern. Parts were often marked with penciled numbers to maintain correct matches. A second and critical factor was that the pieces, originating from the same location on a tree, were equally wet and would, therefore, dry at the same relative rate. As wood dries, it shrinks at a predictable rate and changes shape; circles become ovals, boards "cup," etcetera. Pease craftsmen realized early on that utilizing the stable lateral characteristics of vertical end grain could help preserve snug fitting connections. Today, long after many objects were produced, perfectly rounded shapes have since changed into irregular ellipsoidals. Joints, by contrast, remain parallel and true crediting the knowledge and skills of the Pease / Brown families.

Experienced eyes and hands recreated basic types without reliance on patterns resulting in each turning having its own individuality. Outsides of hollowware were cut smooth while rotating on the lathe but interiors and bottoms typically retain original tool marks which record the careful movement of razor sharp cutting tips across the wood. During this process, makers varied wall thicknesses to reduce cracking, lessen weight and establish durability. Generally, walls are thicker on shoulders near the rim, thinnest on sidewalls and thicker again on bottoms. On some voluminous forms, side walls are barely one-eighth of an inch thick. They are light weight for their size introducing a hand-held aesthetic to the visual design; they feel good to hold.

After the "green" forms were detailed, they were most likely buried in the mountains of fresh damp shavings and then later air-dried; once properly dry, they were varnished. Oral history indicates that items were varnished in the homes of relatives; Miss Lenna Brown was one reported to have done "finish work" for Pease Mill. Varnish heightened the rich colors of the wood, contributed to long-term preservation of Peaseware and resulted in a mellow patina over time. Now maple containers, for example, often are covered with an appealing honey-colored crackled surface. Bottoms and all unexposed surfaces, by contrast, were not sealed. The majority of Peaseware was for basic household use; however, the Peases also produced special "exhibition pieces." Alternating strips of light and dark

Expositions

David Pease originally furnished local residents with items considered both a necessity and a luxury. While basic needs of neighbors were being fulfilled, efforts were also made to distribute products to nearby communities via horse and wagon. Realizing a larger market existed, his family began to capitalize on numerous major trade shows as well as county fairs and festivals organized across the continent. David had round paper labels printed to identify his creations. Labels glued to the inside of lids or bottoms read "D.M. PEASE, MANUFACTURER OF AMERICAN HOLLOW WARE, SPOOL STANDS, And all kinds of Fancy Turned Work, Address Orders to D.M. PEASE, CONCORD, LAKE CO., O." New turnings were conceived for these events. A selection of Peaseware, including special exhibition vases turned from thirteen sections of black walnut and maple, were carted from the Valley in 1876 to the distant United States International Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia.

In Ohio an annual fair began in 1870. The Cincinnati Exposition of Manufactures, Products and the Arts attracted over 300,000 visitors per year. Pease hollow ware was displayed and awarded medals of distinction. Fourteen years later, in 1884 through part of 1885, Curtis Pease attended the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans, Louisiana. There for about nine months, he wrote home repeatedly to have more turnings made and shipped to the fair. Small pill boxes were added to the product line for this exhibit. Everything sold. Upon Curtis' return, there was ample profit to pay all outstanding debts and provide for expansion of a shop shared with Otis Brown. Otis also operated a saw mill across from Curtis on Cascade Road.

A covered dish with pedestal base was designed for sale at the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition. One small bail handled container is marked "Sept. 27, 1898 bought at Detroit Exposition." Peases attended the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York which highlighted technical and cultural achievements. Significant displays included a 375 foot electric tower powered by Niagara Falls and Thomas A. Edison's new wireless telegraph. The image of a bison was applied to the Pan-American turnings. Such events helped increase sales and wide-reaching recognition. A recently discovered ninety-seven piece maple and walnut covered urn with four captive rings has an important rubber stamping on the bottom. It reads "Hall & Brown Wood Working Machine Co. World's Fair St. Louis 1904." The label documents Otis Brown's participation as a turner. Two years later, Pease thread caddies and small bail handled pails were marked "Cincinnati Fall Festival 1906;" ironically, that was the year of Marvin's death and the closing of the original Pease Mill. However, brothers James and Roy Brown revived the idea of traveling to fairs during the 1930s, demonstrating turning and selling their wares across the country.

Prospects for national and international exposure via the expositions prompted exploration of new directions in the late 1800s. Peaseware, once a purely functional personal concept, slowly evolved. In response to outside stimulation and in an attempt to increase sales, product offerings included miniatures, souvenirs, novelties and gift items. Specialty products and complex glued-up ware with loose but "captive" rings and attractive woods drew attention to exhibits where visitors could focus their attention on the enduring strength of the company, everyday treenware.

Conclusion