Raile Potters
Taken from the book The History of Plochingen by Otto Wurster (out of print)
translated by Ed Scultz from German to English
The pottery profession in Plochingen is very old. Still today there are reminders of the pottery alley (by Haus Marktstrasse 16) and that here at one time belonged a profession where fine handwork was practiced. The necessary Tonerde (Clay earth) was obtained by the native potters in Steinshart. It was stated in 1449. Ruff Haffner dug a pit of 2 feet (meters) out of the Haffner mine in Steinshart - also that if he dug a pit he could not cause problems or damage to a hospital nearby - also he could not cause damage to trees - the rules state that the hospital authorization can forbid any further work if the rules are not followed or if there is damage to the hospital. Later a mining tax had to be paid for taking the Tonerde (clay earth) from the pit. In 1887, the resident potters, Bach and Burger, paid 1 Mark for the year to take clay from the community pit.
As long as Plochingen belonged to the Oberamt Stuttgart, the native potters had a right to show their product in the weekly Stuttgart marketplace. After a new division of the Oberamt districts in 1811, the native potters worked under the Esslinger potter organization and had the permission to participate in the weekly Esslinger marketplace.
The names of the older Plochinger potters are:
Jakob Friedrich Raile , 1772 to 1841 and his son Johann Jakob, 1810 to 1859
Georg Christoph Fussle, 1751, who came from Pappelau, and his brother Johannes Friedrich who has been in Plochingen since 1759. Five descendants of these two brothers also were in the pottery professions. The later ones of these 5 descendants emigrated to America between 1852 and 1875.
