May 31, 2012 - One of the first, if not the very first, African-
American-owned businesses in Texas was in Capote, not far from
Seguin in Guadalpe County. The business was known as H. Wilson
and Co. and was one of three potteries in operation around
Capote from 1857 to 1903. The first Wilson Pottery was a slave-
based business started in 1857, after John McKamey Wilson, Jr.
settled in Guadalupe County with his 11 children and 20 slaves.
John M. Wilson was the minister of the Seguin Presbyterian
church and headmaster of the female academy of Guadalupe
College. He was also a keen promoter who wrote articles about
the composition of various clays in the area and their
suitablity for pottery. He might have built the first Wilson
Pottery to show that he knew what he was talking about, but he
probably did it to make money because utilitarian stoneware was
much in demand on the frontier. None of this is to suggest that
John Wilson was a potter. Instead, he hired professional potters
to teach the craft to his slaves --