This pitcher belongs to a friend of mine.  It is said to have been made in England of French clay.  Before it was brought to this country, the Cory coat of arms was burnt on one side.  After reaching America, the American Emblem was burnt on the front of the pitcher, on the other side is a picture of the ship, President, that the pitcher was brought over in and form the vessel floats the American flag, which at that time, contained 16 stars.

In 1994 the Cory Family Newsletter published an article on the Sag Harbor Pitcher and it's current owner, Daniel Corey¹² of Canton, IL (Wm F¹¹, Walter S^1O, George W⁹, Wm⁸, Wm⁷, Israel⁶, Daniel⁵, Elnathan⁴, John^{3, 2, 1}.) This pitcher has been passed down to Daniel from his gr gr grandfather Wm⁸ to the eldest son in each generation. William⁸ was born 1820 near Port Byron, Cayuga Co, NY and moved to South Prairie, Pike Co, IL and before his death wrote a brief history of his life in which he states that "the pitcher belonged to a friend". It appears to be the same pitcher referred to as the Sag Harbor Pitcher in a genealogy of John Corey of Southold, Suffolk Co, Long Island, NY, by Lucy D. Akerly and published in the NY Genealogical & Biographical Record 1900, Vol 31, p 225. She states "... Mr. Currie of Sag Harbor, LI, NY who brought a pitcher from London in 1799 engraved with the family arms..."

Obviously the next step was to search the Sag Harbor records. The 1790 census lists two Corey families: Braddock, and John. The burial records of the First Presbyterian Church of Sag Harbor, Southampton (indexed by Wm A. Beardsley in 1911) lists a John B. Corey who died Dec 1811, age 52, son of Braddock & Chrrity Corey. As it is extremely rare to find anyone with a middle name or initial before 1825 we can reasonably assume this is the J B Corey on the Pitcher.

The pitcher appears to be a piece of Liverpool transfer-printed Creamware (lacks certification by an expert). In 1799 Sag Harbor was a whaling port and Liverpool, England was a large maritime shipping port as well as being noted for the manufacture of pottery and fine china. Small shops sold souvenirs to the mariners off the ships that were anchored in the harbor. A sailor would go into a pottery shop, choose a plain item such as a pitcher, select the desired decals (called transfer prints) which would be fixed to the pottery, then fired in a kiln. Several days later the purchaser would return to pick up his lovely gift. What family member or sweetheart would not be thrilled to receive such a gift?

During the summer of 1996, the New Bedford, MA Whaling Museum featured a display of twenty-four pieces of Liverpool Creamware from teacups to a punch bowl. Six pitchers and a cup had a ship design identical with the one on the Sag Harbor pitcher and several also had family arms.