Well established local tradition indicates that clay pipemaking in the
homes, for home and neighborhood use, started almost as soon as the
first settlers reached the area, and after the suitability of the local
clay was discovered. Initial county organization in this part of
Virginia was well underway by the 1740’s.
Bradshaw’s _History of Prince Edward County_, Virginia, 1955, p. 5
states, _Batho Austin road to be cleared from the Appomattox River near
Colonel Richard Randolph’s quarter to Hill’s Fork on Vaughan’s Creek by
all who lived near the route and were not employed on other roads.
1742._
Vernon C. Womack, Clerk of the Circuit Court, Prince Edward County, in a
personal letter states, “Since the south fork of Vaughan’s Creek
originates a short distance from where the pipe factory was later
located in Pamplin, this might be the starting point. John Wood’s map of
Prince Edward County, dated 1820 which shows that part that was later
cut off to form Appomattox County, gives a detail network of roads
through Kelso’s Old Store, which appears to be near the present location
of Pamplin.”
_There were stores at Sandy River, Wm. and Samuel Matthew had a store at
Walker’s Church, and Kelso’s Old Store was between Walker’s Church and
Merriman’s Shop_ (now Pamplin).” The statement is footnoted _John Wood
map_, 1820. (Bradshaw, 1955:319).
_Merriman’s Shop Post Office, 94 miles from Richmond, 185 miles from
Washington._ (Martin, 1835:269).
_Advertisement for renewal of bids for rural route for port office in
Merriman’s Shop in 1843-1848_ (Bradshaw, 1955:315).
The area that was later to become Appomattox County had been,
successively, included in the areas of several earlier and larger
counties. Appomattox County was formed in 1845. The railroad came
through Merriman’s Shop in 1854, and was renamed Pamplin. The Appomattox
County Courthouse burned and the county records were destroyed by fire
on February 2, 1892 (Communication from Mrs. Aldah Gordon).
Mrs. Bess Franklin Mattox reported, “Nicholas Pamplin, a resident of
Merriman’s Shop, was the only citizen who permitted the railroad to go
through his land without charge and so the village was renamed for him”
(Mattox, personal communication). For a time it was known as Pamplin
Depot, then Pamplin City, finally simply Pamplin.
The home manufacture of pipes has had a long history in this part of
Virginia and can be considered as well underway by the 1740s. It existed
long before the Company came to Pamplin and continued after the Company
had ceased operations, or as long as there was an active demand for clay
pipes.
The Home Industry finally came to a close in 1953. “Mrs. Betty Price of
Appomattox County was the last to make pipes. I have a mold used by her.
She made them from childhood and in her prime could make 40,000 pipes
per year, having been taught by her mother in 1866 when she was eight
years old. Her mother had made them a lifetime before her. In the last
year of Mrs. Betty Price’s life, 1953, she made 500 pipes at the age of
95. They were made from clay from her own farm.” (Personal letter from
Dr. Clyde G. O’Brien of Appomattox, and her son, Jack Price of Pamplin).
A column by the _News-Leader_ correspondent from Appomattox, April 30,
(year unknown) said, _Hollywood bar reached all the way to Pamplin to
get Mrs. Betty Price’s pipes for use by the Indians in the movie,
“Northwest Mounted Police”. Cecil B. DeMille’s research man ferreted out
the Powhatan pipe some months before the film went into production.
Several dozen were ordered. Frank Lloyd also bought pipes to be used in
the production of “Howards of Virginia”._
Practically speaking, all of the pipes made at the homes were made by
white women, and from about the time of the first settlement of the
territory, as the special suitability of the local clay for that purpose
was early discovered.
Miss Wilsie Thornton of Pamplin said that this industry had become
especially important after the War Between the States, because with so
many men having been killed and the area in such straitened
circumstances, the women were badly in need of some means of making a
living. The pipes they made could be traded at several general stores,
or sold for a few cents, and there was no cost for materials.
One such establishment at which the local women disposed of their pipes
was J. R. Franklin & Co., of Pamplin. Some of these pipes were recovered
when the cargo of the sternwheeler, _Bertrand_, which sank in the
Missouri River at Port La Force, Nebraska, April 1, 1865, (Petsche,
1970:1) was salvaged in 1968-69. The official list of artifacts
recovered in the salvage operation, supplied by Jerome E. Petsche,
National Park Service, who was in charge of that operation shows:
_Pipes, Smoking; Several types and sizes recovered; briars and clay; one
lot included clay bowls exclusively, others contained stems and bowls.
Consignee: Vivian and Simpson, Virginia City. Manufacturer’s
stenciling_: ‘THE CELEBRATED VIRGINIA POWHATAN (CLAY), J. R. FRANKLIN &
CO., SOLE AGENTS FOR THE MANUFACTURERS, PAMPLIN DEPOT, APPOMATTOX
COUNTY, VA.’ Field lot numbers MPC 104, MPC 358, FSC 171.
The following description of the pipe shipment on the _Bertrand_ was
provided by Ronald R. Switzer, Director, Bertrand Conservation
Laboratory, National Park Service, Missouri Valley, Iowa.
“The pipes are of one type and design (Plate 2). Forty pipe bowls plus
136 fragments ... all but 15 are chipped or broken, condition otherwise
good. Clay, predominantly grayish-tan, mottled with brick red and brown.
Paste soft, fine, and uniform, ... exterior has soft sheen.
Preservation: Brushed with soft bristle brush in running tap water to
remove mud.” (Switzer, personal communication).
This pipe is similar to (Plate 19 U); however, there are slight
variations due to differences in individual molds made for production of
the same pipe form.
The two pipe forms (Plate 19 T & U), were the only examples we found
that carried the peculiar pinkish-gray tan color, and they were found
only among the pipes made by the Home Industry. They were probably made
of clay from the same source and by the same individual, since home
pipemakers usually dug their clay on their own premises, and the
condition of the pipes, after a century in mud and moisture, indicates
that the work was done well.
The shipment was contained in a wooden box, which was approximately 15½
inches long, 8½ inches wide, and 8 inches tall (Plate 2). The stenciling
on the box is faint, but legible.
“Lettering on the top of the box indicated the consignee but is so faded
that it was impossible to obtain a good photograph; however the stencil
once read,—B. A. L. Vivian & Simpson, Virginia City, M. T.” (Plate 3)
(Switzer, personal communication).
“One end of the box was lettered, No. 1, 216, M. Size” (Plate 3). The
meaning of this can only be conjectured, however it may have indicated
shipment No. 1, to this consignee; containing 216 pipes; of Medium size.
The stencils identifying the consignor, J. R. Franklin & Co., appeared
on both sides of the box and were identical (Plate 3). The same, except
in abbreviated form, appeared diagonally on one end of the box.
The account book of the store at New Store, Virginia, about 23 miles
northeast of Pamplin, which is in the collections at Appomattox
Courthouse, records that on Sept. 1, 1866, I. H. Schenault was paid
$8.00 for 1,600 pipes, and later, (apparently the same day) was paid
$8.75 for 2,175 pipes. The latter was evidently a partial and immediate
“in trade” transaction.
So in the Pamplin area in the 1860s general stores were taking clay
pipes made in the home industry, allowing about ½¢ each in trade for
commodities, and at least in one instance were shipping them west for
use by the miners in the gold fields.
Mrs. Betty Price has said that the Powhatan “Original” (Plate 13 A) the
“Hamburg” (Plate 14 F) and the “Zuvee” or “Zoo” (Plate 19 T) were some
of the first pipe forms made in the area. (_News-Leader_, April 30, year
unknown).
Many of the clay pipes made at homes near Pamplin were traded for
commodities at the Thornton General Store in Pamplin, and this store was
truly “general”, for it handled, in addition to groceries, everything
from threshing machines and horsepower mills to silk thread.
Miss Wilsie Thornton had a copy of her Father’s letterhead: the letter
was dated, Jan. 9, 1892. The letterhead reads,—
_W. D. THORNTON, DEALER.
General Merchandise and Agricultural Implements.
Wholesale dealer in All Styles of Clay Pipes and Stems
Manufacturer’s Agent for
Aultman and Taylor Threshers, Horse Power and Farm Engines.
Also Buckeye Reapers & Mowers & Thornmill Wagons._
“The pipes made by the local women,” Miss Thompson said, “were traded to
the Thornton Store for the necessities of life. The pipes were stored in
the basement of the store and packed in barrels, in either pine needles
or sawdust, and shipped to the Baltimore Bargain House, or to other
wholesale houses. From the wholesale houses they were shipped to the
Cotton States and to the West. Large orders were filled for a tobacco
factory in Pennsylvania, where they sold bags of tobacco with the
pipes.”
Pamplin pipes have been reported from the sites of Fort Laramie,
Wyoming; Fort Sanders, Wyoming; Fort Stambaugh, Wyoming; Fort Phil
Kearny, Wyoming; Fort Union, New Mexico; Fort Sully, South Dakota; and
Fort Davis, Texas (Wilson, 1971).
Miss Thornton’s parents were married in 1874, but the store was already
in operation at that time. Her father continued operation until his
death, December 16, 1897; after that the store was run by her brother. A
bank, the “Farmer’s and Merchant’s National Bank” was also operated in
the store. In later years the building became a drug store.
Finally with time and disuse the old building came down and erosion,
with perhaps some intentional filling of the area, took place. So the
site of the old general store, which in its heyday had meant so much to
Pamplin and Appomattox County and its people in their daily living,
became simply a vacant area.
Some years ago Miss Thornton had made a train trip and met an old
colored woman in a rest room to which they had both gone to smoke. (When
we met her, Miss Thornton chain-smoked at the age of 89). The colored
woman had a sack of tobacco and pulled out a clay pipe which Miss
Thornton recognized as of the kind that her father used to take in
trade, so she asked the woman if it was a good one.
The woman answered, “Law, yes, but I can’t buy them any more!” so Miss
Thornton told her that it was made long ago, in her home town, and that
she would try to get her some.
Her next problem was to find some pipes. After several days she thought
of the pipes that she felt sure were covered with earth and still in the
basement of her father’s old store, so she talked to her cousin and next
door neighbor, Mrs. Bess Franklin Mattox.
Shortly after that, they dug at the site. Mrs. Mattox thinks it was
around 1958, though possibly 2 years earlier. “Erosion through the years
had covered the pipes and when we first started to dig we found none,
then there they were, under the dirt. We found two or three sugar
barrels full. Tar was on a few of the pipes, from road tar that was also
stored in the basement and spilled”. (This tar, in hard-dried rough
spots, is present on some of the pipes we examined; however it chips off
readily and leaves the pipe relatively clean).
So the colored woman who couldn’t find a Pamplin pipe to buy received
“either 15 or 16” and Miss Thornton received a letter of thanks from her
from Atlanta.
Miss Thornton still had approximately 1,450 of the home manufactured
pipes for us to see when we visited her in July 1969, and Mrs. Mattox
had a few.
Dr. Clyde G. O’Brien of Appomattox has had a lifelong interest in the
clay pipes of his area and in the history of their manufacture. He has a
collection of pipes as well as two pipe molds, and has given us much
information.