Joseph Rushton, the son of a Randolph County, Alabama, pottery operator, came to Rusk County, Texas, sometime between 1868 and 1870. He may have worked for potter Taylor Brown before establishing his own firm, which operated between 1873 and 1900, producing both slip-glazed and alkaline-glazed wares.

This tall pot is a churn, used for processing cream into butter by agitating the cream with the up-and-down motion of a dasher, causing the fat to coalesce into lumps of butter. The liquid that remained was buttermilk. The churn’s two handles would have aided in both lifting and pouring.