Book Notes
Ohio Pottery and Glass Marks and
Manufacturers. By Lois Lehner. (Des
Moines, Iowa: Wallace-Homestead Books,
1978. 113p.; illustrations, notes, biblio-
graphy.) A useful updating of John
Ramsay's 1947 check list of Ohio potteries, with
additional material on Ohio glass
manufacturers, this work contains brief company
histories arranged alphabetically by
town or city and accompanied by reproduc-
tions of known ware marks. The
bibliography indicates an uneven utilization of
available material and neglect of some
important sources. Failure to consult some
county histories results in a number of
omissions-the Moxahala and Wellington
factories, for example. There are
numerous descrepancies of dates between the
author's account of East Liverpool
potteries and those of Wilber Stout's history of
the clay industries of Ohio and William
H. Vodrey's check list of East Liverpool
potteries, neither of which is included
in Lehner's bibliography. The book is also
marred by numerous misspellings, such as
Senaca, Sciota, Muskingham and
Painsville. Consulting city directories,
county atlases, manufacturers' census
reports, and other basic sources would
have greatly improved the accuracy of this
work. Sources of information are often
not documented. Despite such problems the
book is a helpful compendium for both
the historian and the collector of Ohio
pottery and glassware.
James Murphy
The History of Thornville, Thornport,
and Area Ohio. (Thornville, Ohio:
Thornville-Thornport History Committee,
1977. 72p.; illustrations, maps.) This
book is a brief history of a small town
founded in either 1801 or 1802 in the Buckeye
Lake area. It is well illustrated and is
an interesting addition to Ohio's town
histories.
Robert Daughterty
At the Crossroads: Michilimackinac
During the American Revolution. By
David
A. Armour and Keith R. Widder. (Mackinac
Island, Mich.: Mackinac Island State
Park Commission, 1978. v + 249p.;
illustrations, maps, appendix, motes, index.)
The American Revolution in the Old
Northwest featured more than just the
exploits of George Rogers Clark in the
Illinois country. Because historians of the
region have often omitted accounts of
the British post at Michilimackinac, the
authors offer as a corrective a detailed
review of the frequently difficult day-to-day
existence of the garrison stationed
there during the war. Located at the juncture of
Lakes Michigan and Huron,
Michilimackinac was Great Britain's northernmost
post in the Great Lakes area. The fort
came under threat of attack by American
raiders such as Clark, and later by
France and Spain as well. As Britain's sole ally,
the Indians constituted more of a
problem than a help because constant negotia-
tions were required to retain their
allegiance and prevent them from warring
amongst themselves. As the authors
admit, their book suffers from its almost
exclusive reliance upon papers left by
those British officials who kept written
records. Thus the story of those who
left no such records-enlisted men, Indians and
local residents-is described as seen
through the eyes of the more literate. An
interesting text accompanies a series of
excellent illustrations, especially those of
the reconstructed forts at
Michilimackinac and Mackinac Island.
Robert Daugherty
124 OHIO HISTORY
United States Congressional Districts
1788-1841. By Stanley B. Parsons,
Willi-
am W. Beach, and Dan Hermann.
(Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1978. xvi +
416p.; tables, maps, appendix,
bibliography, index.) This compendium of statisti-
cal political data should be of great
value to those interested in early American
political and legislative behavior.
Focusing on the House of Representatives during
the early national period, the
editors-compilers provide a useful tool for aggregate
voting analysis. The book is well
organized, with the data arranged in convenient
chronological and alphabetical order. A
serious piece of scholarship, this work is a
valuable contribution to the study of
early American congressmen, including those
from Ohio, beginning with Jeremiah
Morrow, the state's first congressman, in 1803.
Robert Daugherty
Fairview Park in Historical Review. By Margaret Schaefer Goebelt. (Fairview
Park Ohio: Fairview Park Historical
Society, 1978. xii + 364p.; illustrations, maps,
appendix, bibliography, index.)
Obviously a labor of love, Fairview Park provides
an interesting look at the history of a
small town near Cleveland in the century and a
half since its founding in the early
nineteenth century. A lifelong resident of the
community about which she writes, the
author emphasizes biographical sketches,
personal reminiscences and the
activities and contributions of civic and social
organizations. She also devotes some
space to the history of the town's churches,
schools, and other buildings, as well as
its parks, highways and bridges. The book
will appeal primarily to local
residents.
Robert Daugherty
Fort Laurens 1778-79: The
Archaeological Record. By Richard
Michael Gramly.
(Richmond: William Byrd Press, Inc.,
1978. 100p.; illustrations, tables, maps,
bibliography, appendices.) This book is
easily the most complete archaeological
report yet published on any Ohio site of
the Historic Period. Well written and
excellently illustrated, the work
details excavation at Fort Laurens, Tuscarawas
Co., a short-lived outpost of the
Revolutionary War, and serves as a fine example of
the growing cooperation between archaeologist
and historian. Funded by the Ohio
Historical Society, the excavations
uncovered few archaeological remains, but the
little material recovered did enable
Gramly to locate precisely the fort itself, a
possible hospital and the unexcavated
cemetery associated with Fort Laurens, as
well as a blockhouse possibly built by
Col. Henry Bouquet in 1764. The author
speculates intelligently on the cooking
habits and diet of the soldiers and discusses
the dichotomy between the material
culture the officers and the rank-and-file. The
book illustrates and briefly describes a
selection of the 679 Historic items recovered
as well as an assortment of prehistoric
lithic materials ranging from Archaic to Late
Prehistoric in age.
James L. Murphy