Copper Tea Kettle, John D. Drinkhouse (1802-1871), Easton, Pennsylvania, Circa 1845

The Drinkhouses were an important family of tinsmiths in northeast Pennsylvania from 1757 when the first Johann Adam Trinckhauss arrived from Germany through the nineteenth century. John D. Drinkhouse, the maker of this copper tea kettle, was born in Reading and moved to Easton, Pennsylvania in his late twenties. Being in proximity to New York and Philadelphia, Easton was an important center of commerce in the 1800s. Tax records show Drinkhouse working in Easton from about 1830 to 1864. For a similar example to this kettle, see Donald J. Horvath and Shelley Horvath Poston, Early American Copper Kettles, Red Metal Press, Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania, 2010, ex. 33, p. 106-7.