Greathouse of Philadelphia County, PA

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1757, Feb 19 - Advertisement: Sale of Plantation with Tile Kiln by Johann Grothausz

Excerpt from Edward W. Hocker, Genealogical Data Relating to the German Settlers:

Johann GROTHAUSZ offers to sell a plantation three miles above Germantown, in Springfield (Montgomery County), whereon there has been a tile kiln for a long time; situated on the Great road to Germantown.

Footnotes:

1) Description of Roof Tile Craft.

Excerpt from Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania Germans: A Celebration of Their Arts, 1683-1850, October 1982

Plate 59

ROOF TILES, 1760-1800 [ View Exhibit ]
Berks and Montgomery counties
Red clay, unglazed; average height 14" (35.6 cm)
John and Rosamon Moxon
Checklist 31

Redware roof tiles were manufactured from the time of the earliest German settlements in Pennsylvania. The thick clay depoosits necessary for making tiles were fournd all over southwestern Pennsylvania under the rich, limestone-based topsoil sought by the Pennsylvania Germans as the best farmland. In 1743 Georg Adam Weidner of Oley, Berks County, advertised in Christopher Saur's Germantown newspaper for a workman for his tile kiln. Johann Grothausz advertised for sale in 1757 "a plantation three miles above Germantown, in Springfield [Montgomery County] whereon there has been a tile kiln for a long time."*

Ceramic roof tiles had been a traditional roofing material in Europe and were a staple for Pennsylvania German potter's enterprise. Made to order in large batches, some tiles, like these, were specially decorated as presentation pieces or good-luck wishes in the Old World tradition. Unlike Europe, however, Pennsylvania yielded a plentiful supply of wood on each homestead's wood lot, and split wood shake repaced the heavier ceramic material as roof coverings.

*Quoted in Edward Hocker, "Extracts from German Newspapers," 1935, pp. 1, 66, typescript, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Sources:

Edward W. Hocker, Genealogical Data Relating to the German Settlers of Pennsylvania and Adjacent Territory: From Advertisements in German Newspapers Published in Philadelphia and Germantown, 1743-1800, 1935. Sower’s Newspaper (Pennsylvanische Geschichts-Schrieber later changed to Pennsylvanische Berichte; aka Sower’s Newspaper), Page 66, 1757, Feb 19 - Advertisement: Sale of Plantation with Tile Kiln by Johann Grothausz.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania Germans: A Celebration of Their Arts, 1683-1850, October 1982. Page 82, Roof Tile Exhibit View @ Archive.org ; Page 94, Plate 59 description: Roof Tile Craft, Johann Grothausz Tile Kiln View @ Archive.org