Four Generations of McCoy Pottery

Involvement of the McCoy family in the pottery business can be traced back to 1848 when W. Nelson and W.F. McCoy started a pottery business manufacturing utilitarian stoneware items. For the next four generations the McCoy name would be closely linked to several of the major pottery companies operating in the Zanesville & Rosville area of Ohio. The who, what, where and when can often be confusing. My goal here is to present an overview of that inolvment in one place. For those wanting more information there are several very good books on the subject.

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In 1899 James W. McCoy founded the J.W. McCoy Pottery Co. and located it on the west side of Perry Street right across the railroad tracks from the W.B. Lowery Pottery and the Roseville Pottery Co. The factory produced McCoy's Mt. Pelee and Rosewood lines. Today these items are quite to find because production of these lines ended when fire destroyed the pottery and storage sheds in early 1903. The plant was rebuilt and when reopened they started making Olympia and Loy-Nel-Art which was named after J.W McCoy's three sons: Loyd, Nelson, and Arthur.

In 1908 Albert Cusik came on board as a new designer and started making many original lines which included his well known grape and corn utility lines, his famous Liberty Bell umbrella stand and of course his Woodland and other lines of jardinires and pedestals.

Important changes were taking place around that time. George S. Brush, who resided in Zanesville and had worked for J.B. Owens Company, purchased the Union Pottery in the Putnam section of town on the Muskingum River. In 1906, he produced kitchen and sanitary ware, most renowned was the Lucile Toilet Ware, named after his daughter. The one kiln plant was burned to the ground in 1908.

Here is where it starts to get confusing

In 1910 Nelson McCoy along with his father jointly founded the Nelson McCoy Sanitary Stoneware Company in Roseville, Ohio for the manufacturing of functional and decorative stoneware. In addition to the manufacturing functions the company mined and sold clay to many of the area potteries.

The family controled both companies until the death of J.W. McCoy in 1914. After this time they began divesting their interests in the J.W. McCoy Company in favor of George Brush and by 1925 he had gained complete control of that company. The name was then changed to Brush-McCoy and eventually just Brush.
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