DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Suttles Pottery, out here in Wilson County. Now, every good Texas story's got roots somewhere else — and this one starts in Zanesville, Ohio, where two brothers came of age during the Civil War, both of them fighting on the Union side. When the war was done, they did what a lot of men did: they moved on.
They moved to Texas. The older brother, Isaac Suttles — born around 1840 — shows up in the 1870 census over in Seguin, where he was working at Wilson Potteries. He'd married a woman named Mary Ann McBride back in 1866, though records suggest she may not have made the journey to Texas with him.
That's a quiet kind of loneliness tucked into a census record. The younger brother, George Washington Suttles, born in 1844, had married Elizabeth Strate — born in 1845 — back in 1861. George doesn't show up in Wilson County records until 1877, but they reportedly made the move to Texas in 1876, and the reason given is Elizabeth's health.
So the land that called these brothers south wasn't just ambition. Sometimes it's something gentler than that. Once George arrived, the two brothers set up together at a kiln out in the sand hills near La Vernia.
They fired bricks, household stoneware, decorative stoneware — work that took skill and patience and a feel for clay and fire that you don't learn overnight. By 1877, a newspaper article was already taking notice, highlighting their workmanship and remarking on the high demand for what they were turning out. Two brothers from Ohio, and Wilson County couldn't get enough of what they made.
Around 1882, they moved their operation right into La Vernia — to a kiln near the very site this marker stands. The Suttles were members of the Asbury Methodist Church, the congregation now known as La Vernia United Methodist Church. They were part of this community in the deepest sense.
And then, in September of 1884, Isaac Suttles was killed in Abilene, Texas. Possibly during a robbery attempt. The marker doesn't say more than that, and we won't either — but that's the kind of line that lands heavy.
A Union veteran, a potter, a man whose hands shaped useful and beautiful things out of raw earth, gone like that, far from his kiln. George kept going. He continued operating the kiln in La Vernia for many years.
He and Elizabeth reared four children, and their descendants remain in the area to this day. Elizabeth passed in 1905. George Washington Suttles lived all the way to 1930.
Now, the physical evidence of what George built here is largely gone — no apparent remains of the kiln survive. But firsthand accounts and archeological excavations, along with ongoing investigations, paint a picture of what this operation would have looked like: an updraft-type kiln, a clay mixing area, a potter's wheel, and waster piles of broken pottery sherds scattered across the ground. George probably used salt glaze and Albany slip techniques, and perhaps an alkaline glaze technique as well.
That's not guesswork — that's what the archeology suggests. Few records survived to tell the full story of Suttles Pottery. But here's what we do know: two brothers, veterans of a hard war, built something real in the sand hills and then on the streets of La Vernia.
They shaped this town — literally — one fired piece at a time. The clay is long cold, the kiln is gone, and most of the records have faded. But the marker stands, and now you know the name Suttles.
What the marker says
Following the Civil War, two brothers, both Union veterans, moved from Zanesville, Ohio to Texas. Isaac Suttles (c. 1840-1884), who wed Mary Ann McBride in 1866, appears in the 1870 census for Seguin, where he worked at Wilson Potteries. Records indicate his wife may not have moved to Texas with him. His brother George Washington Suttles (1844-1930), who married Elizabeth Strate (1845-1905) in 1861, first appears in Wilson County records in 1877. They reportedly moved to Texas in 1876 for her health. George joined his brother at a kiln in the sand hills near La Vernia, where they fired bricks and household and decorative stoneware. An 1877 newspaper article highlighted the brothers' workmanship and noted the high demand for their products. Around 1882, they moved their operation into La Vernia to a kiln near this site. The Suttles were members of the Asbury Methodist Church, now La Vernia United Methodist Church. In September 1884, Isaac was killed in Abilene, Texas, possibly during a robbery attempt. George continued operating the kiln in La Vernia for many years. He and Elizabeth reared four children, and their descendants remain in the area. Few records exist about the Suttles Pottery operation in La Vernia, but firsthand accounts and archeological excavations, as well as ongoing investigations, indicate George had an updraft-type kiln and probably used a salt glaze, Albany slip techniques and perhaps an alkaline glaze technique in his work. His operation here would have included a clay mixing area, a potter's wheel, the kiln and waster piles of broken pottery sherds. Although no apparent physical evidence of the kiln remains, the Suttles operation was a significant part of La Vernia's past and of the history of Texas industry and artistry. (2004)