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THE HISTORY OF THE BROWN & McCOY POTTERY
By Dewayne Imsand

Paul Moody of Richman, VA made a remarkable discovery of a previously unknown Roseville maker of stoneware. Paul found a salt glazed crock that has the inscription, “BROWN & McCOY WHOLESALE DEALERS IN STONEWARE ROSEVILLE. O”. Paul’s find brought to light the fact that there had been another McCoy pottery, of which collectors were unaware. Just how this pottery “fit” into the known history of the McCoy potteries was intriguing, so I began an investigation. The following is what I found.

The “Brown” in the inscription was William C. Brown Jr. who was born in 1827. At that time, his family lived in Muskingum County, Ohio, his parents having moved there from Delaware some years prior. When William was 21 years old, he married Mary Catherine Dilts.

By 1850, William and his wife had moved to Perry County, Ohio and he was in the pottery business. In 1875, at the age of 48, and more than 26 years in the pottery business, he sold his property and moved upstate to Alliance, Ohio. He died there in 1905.

Back in 1870, a connection between the Brown family and the McCoy family occurred. The “McCoy” in this connection was J.W. McCoy. J.W. was born in 1848, the same year as his family arrived in Muskingum County. His father, W. Nelson and wife Esther, had settled in Putnam, which later became a part of Zanesville.

Originally, W. Nelson was a farmer, who also produced stoneware in the summer time in a small, log cabin “Bluebird” pottery shop he had built. After eight years of farming and his summertime pottery production efforts, W. Nelson took a job at a grocery & dry goods store in downtown Putnam.

In 1870, when J.W. was about 23 years old, he married Sarah (Sade) Elizabeth Brown. She was from the adjacent Perry County and was the daughter of William C. Brown Jr. During the following year, J.W. and his wife moved to the community of Roseville, in south Muskingum County. Roseville is very near to the location of his wife’s parents, just across the Muskingum-Perry County line.

McCoy references have reported that J.W. opened a General Merchandise store in Roseville in 1876, but I was always curious why he and his wife moved to Roseville five years earlier, and what he did during that time. It appears most probable that the reason he moved was that his stepfather offered to take him in as a partner in the pottery business, and together they established the Brown & McCoy Pottery.

Before 1870, there were very few potteries in the Roseville area. We know, however, that William Brown had been in the pottery business in Perry County since 1850. Therefore, it is surprising that neither his name, nor the Brown & McCoy Pottery has ever appeared in print.

Today, information on these early times is very difficult to find, consequently little is known about the pottery that William Brown had, and of particular interest, the Brown & McCoy Pottery. However, since the Brown & McCoy pottery advertised by inscribing their wares, it does seem likely that the pottery was more than just a small, two-man operation. We do know that the life of this partnership was not very long, only about five years.

The reason that William Brown decided to get out of the business in 1875 is unknown, but maybe he was just tired after 26 years of making pottery. As mentioned above, William sold his property and moved upstate. It is most likely that the pottery was included, because in the following year, J.W. opened his General Merchandise store in Roseville.