New York city (New Amsterdam) early glass house 100 years before Wistarburgh

[Steve/sewell]

As a proud resident of the state of New Jersey and a collector of early glass and in particular glass from Southern New Jersey. I have found through quite a bit of research that New Jersey must relinquish the title as having the first successful glass manufacturer in one Caspar Wistar. He was not the first successful owner of an early glass works in the colony it was a Dutchman in New York City named Evert Duycking, who came to America in 1638. By 1640 he had constructed his first glass house and manufactured mainly window glass. He soon realized the need for utilitarian glass but there were no master gaffers in the colony of New Amsterdam at the time. Soon Master Gaffers were being lured from Germany to come to New Amsterdam to blow glass. Evert Duycking was a general artisan and was succeeded in 1674 by one of his assistants, Jacob Melyer, whose family was said to have made glass "unto the third and fourth generation." Cornelis Dirkson, and members of the Jansen family, and other Dutch artisans also practiced the art of glass-blowing in New York during the late 1600s. Johannes Smedes who had been here quite a while when, in 1654, he was allotted an area of land on which he erected a glass works.

The bordering path between the two glass works soon became known as Glass-makers Street,because Smedes had a neighbor Jacob Melyer, who as mentioned above was said to have made glass "unto the third and fourth generation." To name a street Glass-makers street should have sounded bells and whistles to the early glass historians who briefly mention some of these gentleman but ascribe no title of true importance to them in the early history of glass manufacture in the colony's. After a few years in America, Johannes simplified his name, becoming Jan Smedes. He retired from the glass business in the same year that Peter Stuyvesant "retired" from the Governorship in 1670. His glass works made "bulls-eyes, for the windows and doors of the early homes, and plain utilitarian bottles and all the hollow ware for the citizenry of New Amsterdam. Here is my research of all of the early glass manufactured in New York City at these links on my website. It has taken me about three weeks to compile this information enjoy....

http://historical-american-glass.com/new-york-state-early-glass.html

The following links are my charting of the of the mid 1700s colonial glass houses operating in and around New York city from 1751 to 1771

New Windsor http://historical-american-glass.com/newburgh-glass-house-co-1751-1759.html

Brooklyn http://historical-american-glass.com/brooklyn-glass-house-co-1754-1758.html A very rare bottle from the Gary Katzen AKA milkglassbottles here at ABN is in this section what a bottle first time shown. Gary is fussy about how his bottle shoots glare all over the place but this is the best I could do taking pictures at his house. What a bottle!!!

Glass House Farm Present day Mid-town Manhattan http://historical-american-glass.com/glass-house-farm-glass-house-co-1758-1783.html

 

[ScottBSA]

Thanks for doing this bit of research and posting the pictures of the wonderful bottles.

Scott

 

[buzzkutt033]

super interesting Steve.

thanks for your time and effort.


jim

 

[epackage]

Great stuff Steve, I love all the work you're putting into the history of the glass works themselves, the Albany GW and Glass House Farm links didn't work for me ust so you know...

Keep up the great work!