John Vickers

John Vickers: Quaker, Abolitionist, Potter

In Potters and Potteries of Chester County, Dr. Arthur James describes a regional triad of “Quaker, Abolitionist, and Potter.” John Vickers (1780-1860)  embodies this tradition, demonstrating how belief, social action, and labor converged in a single individual.

John Vickers as Quaker

John Vickers’ life and work were deeply shaped by Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) beliefs, which emphasized equality, moral accountability, and the presence of “that of God in everyone,” or the “Inner Light,” within each person. Many Quakers in England and the American colonies were among the earliest and most consistent vocal opponents of slavery. 

Despite their significant role in antislavery and reform movements, Quakers made up less than one percent of the U.S. population and were often viewed as socially and politically unconventional (Hamm). They concentrated more in southeastern Pennsylvania, including Chester County, where some townships were majority Quaker. Their advocacy of racial equality and, in some cases, women’s participation in reform, challenged dominant norms of hierarchy and segregation. Quaker-led calls for equality were frequently dismissed as impractical, subversive, or “radical” departures from accepted social norms (Davis).

John Vickers as Abolitionist (Activist)

John Vickers’ father, Thomas Vickers, was a founding member of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, in Philadelphia. (Benjamin Franklin served as president from 1787 until his death in 1790). The Underground Railroad was not a single path, but a “trackless” network of individuals – stationmasters, conductors, agents, stockholders, and their families – who risked their safety to assist those seeking freedom. Operating outside the law, the network relied on coded language, trust, and cooperation in coordinated, high-risk resistance.  Following the passage of the brutal federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, activist assistance increased and went even further underground.

John Vickers did not act alone; he worked in secret cooperation with Quakers and free Blacks living in Chester County; the identities of many participants remain unknown. Only a small fraction of the U.S. population participated in the Underground Railroad, with activity more concentrated in regions such as Chester County, a borderland just north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Over time, approximately 100,000 people escaped slavery through the Underground Railroad; nearly 4 million remained enslaved by 1860. Several thousand are believed to have passed through Chester County.

The John Vickers farmstead and pottery in Lionville, Uwchlan Township (Downingtown), in the heart of Chester County, served as a key station, with concealed spaces in his kiln, woodpile, and wagons (Switala; Smedley; James). His work is noted by William Still, the “Father of the Underground Railroad,” as Chester County was considered to be a hotbed of abolitionists.

Accounts of Vickers report that he often signed letters of introduction to the next station as “Thy friend pot,”  a phrase that concealed identity while signaling safe passage within the network. Because secrecy was essential, surviving documentation of Underground Railroad activity is fragmentary or indirect. Thus, oral testimony, memoir, and historical compilations remain crucial sources.

Consistent with the clandestine nature of anti-slavery activity, letters and writings by John Vickers held in the Chester County History Center archives do not contain reference to his abolitionist work. However, John’s granddaughter, Sara Oberholtzer, wrote about her memories of that time in her poetry and essays.

Meaningful interaction between Black and white women and men on equal terms was highly threatening to social norms. Pro-slavery advocates and much of the press labeled abolitionists “fanatics,” “extremists,” or “radicals” (Davis; Sinha). Retaliatory violence was a constant risk. 

In Philadelphia, a sanctioned mob burned down Pennsylvania Hall in 1838, only days after its opening, where women had spoken publicly to an integrated audience (the Free Speech Center). Fearing similar attacks on the Fallowfield meeting in Chester County, some members built People’s Hall in 1845 to facilitate abolitionist meetings. (People’s Hall may be the oldest continuously used building in the U.S. that was constructed specifically for abolitionist activities.)

Vickers’ actions placed him within a minority coalition whose very structure, which was integrated, collaborative, and justice-driven, was seen as extreme.

John Vickers as Potter

Vickers learned his trade from his father, Thomas Vickers of Caln Township, and established his pottery in Lionville, Uwchlan Township, in 1823. The Vickers family pottery used a wide range of styles and techniques, producing red and black  (manganese) glazed earthenware, cream-colored Queensware, and sgraffito ware. Most potters at that time were also farmers in the summer and were known as “bluebird potters.” As a fifth-generation potter, John Vickers became a leading figure in Chester County, creating arguably some of the finest examples of a distinctive local style that combined Quaker ideals of simplicity with Pennsylvania German decorative traditions, particularly in his flowerpots, called “fancy pottery” back then (Scott).  The land throughout Chester County, including Historic Yellow Springs, is rich in iron-bearing red clay. John’s decision to establish his pottery in Lionville (now Downingtown) was based on access to “good clay and abundant forest” (Oberholtzer).

John Vickers’ daily life shows that belief, action, and labor were inseparable. 

The Flowerpot

John Vickers’ abolitionist flower pot, held at the Chester County History Center, is a rare example of radical, compassionate art in action. The vessel was used for flowers as intended, so the sgraffito inscription has been partially damaged by salts, and although fragile, it remains legible and includes a rare signature. It poses the following questions, or “queries”:

   Is this a Christian world?
        Are we a human race?
   And can man from his brother’s soul
       God’s impress dare efface?

Material objects from the Underground Railroad rarely survived or were never produced due to the need for secrecy. That such a vessel, with an explicit moral critique and made by an abolitionist, exists makes it an extraordinary artifact. It transforms everyday craft into a vehicle for dissent, embedding abolitionist thought into domestic space within a society hostile to its message.

Quaker Queries

Asking questions, or “Queries”, instead of inserting conclusions, is a longstanding Quaker practice to prompt reflection and self-examination rather than prescribing belief.  In this spirit, Vickers’ flower pot asks us to consider our own foundational beliefs. Like the Quaker tradition from which it emerged, we hope this exhibit invites ongoing reflection. 

 

References 

• Davis, David Brion. The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution. 1975; 1999.
• Hamm, Thomas. The Quakers in America. Columbia University Press, 2003.
• James, Arthur. Potters and Potteries of Chester County. 1978.
• Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. Regional histories of Chester County industry, 1883
• Scott, Susan. Chester County Redware
• Sinha, Manisha. The Slave’s Cause: A History of Abolition. Yale University Press, 2016.
• Smedley, R.C. History of the Underground Railroad in Chester and the Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania, 1883.
• Still, William. The Underground Railroad. 1872.
• Switala, William J. Underground Railroad in Pennsylvania, 2001.