Faience Factory Ownership

The local ceramics factory figured prominently in the lives of the husband and brother of Agnieszka (Szczesnicka) Wisniewski (my 4x great grandmother.) Her husband Blazej was a foreman there and her brother Bartlomiej was a worker there. They are ancestors on Katarzyna Kaszucka’s (my great grandmother) maternal side. Also Maciej and Jakub Wiciejewski worked as potters (my 3x and 4x great grandfathers on Katarzyna Kaszucka’s paternal side Within the Lublin region in the 18th century until the mid-19th century, there were factories in four areas that were established by Polish magnates, including in Tomaszów Lubelski. They were built to compete with imported products. The factories started out making imitations but then they hired artists that created original designs. A popular color was blue. Different factories produced different products such as pottery, porcelain dishes and stoneware. In Tomaszów Lubelski,, in the Zamość Estate, a faience and porcelain factory was begun in 1794 by Alexander August Zamoyski, age 24 and a ceramist, Franciszek Mezer. They established a contract where a square and buildings were signed over to the business. “The manufactory buildings were located on Lwowska Street -- it was the only paved road in the city -- on both sides. In the period of its greatest prosperity, 50 employees were employed here. For the first 12 years, until 1806, only earthenware was produced”. http://wystawy.biblioteka.pollub.pl/exhibits/show/ceramika/historia-tomaszow Local forests were available for the fuel and the clay was brought in from Wolowska, near Lviv, approximately 150 miles away. The local clay was useful only to produce faience, not porcelain. Faience is “fine tin-glazed pottery.” A glaze was developed that allowed for decorative painting to be added which was a major innovation in the history of pottery. It required a kiln producing temperatures above 1,830 degrees F (1,000 C.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faience