Flax and Linen

One of the crops grown on nearly all of the early area farms was flax. The self sufficient nature of the early settlers of the area deemed it necessary for each household to produce clothing as well as food and shelter.

About one-quarter acre of flax per person per year was needed to produce a sufficient quantity for cloth. Flax grows from seed to fibre in less than nine months. The seed was usually sown in a corner of the oats field.

After drying the stalk was worked for the fibre contained in it. The fibre was stored from fall harvest until early winter when the family had more time for the spinning process. Frequently, hired girls added extra hands to the spinning procedure.

Crazy

Spinning wheels were prized possessions. Many women brought them to the marriage as a part of their dowry. Different spinning methods produced tightly spun yarn for the warp and loosely spun yarn for the weft.

The yarn or finished cloth had to be bleached with wood ash.

Most of the weaving and dying of the cloth was accomplished by professional weavers. Both the skill of the weaver and the type of yarn produced by the household determined the quality of the linen produced.

The cloth was needed not only for clothing but for bedding and other household uses. Around the barn it was used to process milk and cheese and needed to store grain and flour.

During the mid and latter l9th Century the travelling weavers with their large, portable looms created prized coverlets. Pennsylvania German patterns and the family names, as well as the name of the weaver, were frequently woven into bed covers now highly valued by collectors and museums. A unique piece called the "Crazy Quilt", shown at left, was invented in 1880.

Passmore's Pottery

The Passmore area of southeastern Washington Township takes its name from William Passmore who received the deed to 1000 acres in 1735.

Today, Passmore is known as the home of "The Grandview Speedway". Weekend visitors to the attraction are probably unaware that the packed red clay which serves so well as a race track was the source of one of the area's early industries.

This rather remote crossroads in Washington Township provided an accessible supply of clay and adequate woodland to provide fuel for the kilns. Before the Industrial Revolution, the potter, as well as all craftsmen, were an instrumental part of society.

Henry Fuchs purchased a 201 acre tract from a Philadelphia merchant named Israel Pemberton in the 1760's. By 1810 Henry Frey, a potter from east District Township, was living on the farm which belonged to Mr. Fuchs, his father-in-law.

Henry and Margaret (Fuchs) Frey had seven children and when he died in 1821, the farm was divided in quarters and sold to sons, Henry Jr., Jacob, John and George. During this period of the 1820's, the area became known as Freytown (Frystown).

Although Henry Frey's sons evidently continues the pottery craft, Henry Jr. died in 1823 and his parcel of the farm had to be sold. Abraham Glaes purchased this parcel in 1825. Henry Frey's son George continued to live on the family farm until his death in 1869 and continued creating pottery until 1846.

Abraham and Sebastian Glaes were sons of Frederick Glasz, a tanner in Pike Township. Frederick served in the Patriot army and was a teamster at the Valley Forge encampment.

Sebastian Glaes probably spent winters at the potter's wheel and summers tending his farm. He operated the pottery and farm until his death in 1869. Abraham Glaes continued making pottery on the tract he acquired from the Frey family until the early 1840's. His property was sold in 1853 to Benneville Schoch who also may have operated the pottery.

The clay was dug before the frost in the fall and carted to a stockpile next to the clay mill. Water was added to the clay in a large tub set into the ground.

An upright shaft fashioned with cutters in the center of the tub was turned by a horse harnessed to a beam placed horizontally atop the shaft. The horse circled the tub for an hour before the clay was pliable enough to store in lumps to be molded.

The stone walls of the kiln were lined on the inside with bricks. After the pottery was molded on the potter's wheel it was baked for 36 hours in the kiln which remained sealed an other six or seven days.

The jars, crocks, cups and plates were indispensable in the kitchens and springhouses of area homesteads.

The potter also created more frivolous objects such as spittoons and penny banks with confident skill. The red clay also provided tiles for roofs and clay pipes.

Wares from the potteries at Passmore were sold in Reading, Allentown, Pennsburg, and Pottstown and, in the heyday of the nineteenth century, required a full time teamster.

By the turn of the century, locally made pottery was being sold only in country stores. When the last of Passmore's potters was creating redware he peddled his own items from a one horse covered wagon.

The last and possibly most memorable potter was John C. Glaes, the eldest son of Sebastian Glaes and his wife Sarah Gery. He was highly regarded by township residents for his clear mind and intelligence. Although his extensive education was leading toward the ministry, he became a teacher and taught several years in Berks and Lehigh Counties.

Pic

Mr. Glaes' (pictured at right) varied interests were focused on the mathematical exactness of surveying. He was a well known Surveyor for many years and already served as county auditor for three years when he learned of his father's death.

John Glaes sold much of the farm and retained only about five acres at the intersection of County Line and Hoffmansville Roads and an additional eight acres containing clay and meadowland.

At the pottery on what has been called Locust Corner, John Glaes was a charismatic figure. He operated the pottery with the help of several employees, but it has been said he would interrupt the wheel to recite poetry.

Mr. Glaes' opinion on all local matters was valued. He served as Justice of the Peace here from 1867 to 1877. A post office was organized here by Mr. and Mrs Glaes.

John Glaes' wife, Susan (Francis) Glaes operated a millinery shop in her home. Mrs. Glaes was respected as a devout church member and was active at the Sunday School in Niantic.

Morton L. Montgomery's "History of Berks County" refers to Susan Glaes as a resident whose "intelligence and energy made her one of the most be loved women in her neighborhood". Mrs. Glaes died January 13, 1908 in the Opera House disaster in Boyertown.

The post office was discontinued at Passmore shortly after her death. The mail was then handled at Schultzville and Barto, and the frequent passage of people at the crossroads diminished. No longer could ladies obtain a hat trimmed by Mrs Glaes.

Even the pottery was no longer in demand with factory made tin and glassware readily available. But until his death in 1911, Township residents stopped their daily activities to welcome John G. Glaes and his potter's wagon, the potter who was known to have an algebra book or French grammar at hand as he carted his wares about the countryside.

Civil War Captain

The Dale Forge farm (illustrated below) was home to Captain William A. Schall. He was Captain of Company G. 167th Pa. Regiment and was mustered in for nine months service on October 20, 1862.

Dale

The company of soldiers from Washington Township included twenty-four Catholics who were members of Father Bally's flock. On the morning before they left home, they attended Mass and received Holy Communion.

Captain Schall was not a Catholic. However, he carried on regular correspondence with Father Augustin Bally. He invited the priest to visit the Union encampment at Suffolk, Virginia to administer Easter Communion to the soldiers. First illness and then the interference of the Provost Marshall prevented the promised visit.

The regiment under Captain Schall was attached to the 8th Corps Army of the Potomac; and later to the lst Corps. They saw service at Yorktown, Richmond, and other camps, before being ordered to Gettysburg

Captain William Schall was discharged in August 1863. In 1872, he began farming at Dale Forge farm. Later, he was engaged in the coal and lumber business at Barto, also dealing in grain. He lived in Washington Township until his retirement in 1900.

Excerpted from "CONTINUING THE VISION -- PRESERVING THE VALUES", the history of Washington Township prepared to commemorate the Sesquicentennial of the Township's establishment. Copyright 1990, Washington Township Historical Committee.

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