Peter Pattaw 18th Century Carlisle Potter

For several years at the end of the 18^th century and the beginning of the 19^th century, a pottery was operated in Carlisle by Peter Pattaw.

Pattaw, whose name was spelled Pottow, Pottaw, Pettaw, Paddow, Puttow and even Puda in various records, came to Carlisle from Philadelphia where he was taxed as a potter living in the city’s Middle Ward in 1783, and he may be the same man recorded on the 1786 Septennial Census in Maiden Creek, Berks County, PA.

In 1797, the Carlisle newspaper reported that Peter Pottaw, potter, “having learned his business in the city of Philadelphia, where he followed it for several years, has erected a new Pott House in High street, Carlisle.”¹ The 1798 Direct Tax (Glass Tax) listed the following buildings on his property: A two-story wood (log) house and lot 18’ x 21’ with a one-story log addition 15’ x 18.’ A log kitchen 9’ x 9’, a log kiln house 21’ x 21’ with no windows, a one-story log out house 16’ x 16’ and a one-story log Potash works 16’ x 16’. From the names of his neighbors on the 1800 Census, his property was likely on West High Street near Lot #28.

Pattaw had at least one apprentice. In 1798, Pattaw placed an advertisement in the newspaper offering a reward for the return of “Matthew Young, about 17 years old, 5 feet 4-5 inches high who was to learn the potting business.”²

The 1800 U.S. Census records the household of Peter “Puda” as consisting of one male 26-45, one female 10-15 and one female 26-45. Pattaw was listed on the 1802 Tax Assessors Duplicate for 1802, but he had left Carlisle by the time of the next surviving tax assessment in 1808.