Howard Connor

Connor Pottery, Ashland, Benton County. Interview recorded in October 1981.

Connor was born in Wickliffe, Kentucky, the son of journeyman potter Charles Tipton Connor. C. T. Connor established a pottery in Ashland, Mississippi in 1940, less than twenty miles from the Tennessee state line.

At one point, Connor Pottery was an extensive operation, utilizing a large beehive kiln and employing thirty workers. The pottery specialized in both hand- and jigger-turned wares. After a 1967 fire destroyed the pottery, Connor shifted his business to concrete gardenware and wholesaling the work of other potters in the region.

Unfortunately, the Connor tradition came to an end with Connor’s recent passing.