hard to find antique privy-dug mid-nineteenth century teal blue iron pontiled blobtop soda bottle manufactured for a new jersey glassworks. the body slopes into into a long, narrow neck and applied tapered blobtop with significant whittling. at the base is a deep kickup with heavy residue from the iron pontil. seams evidence manufacture with a two-leaf mold embossed on the front body with the name of the glassworks "williamstown / n.j.". crudities are typical of its age and date of manufacture, including bubbles, and surface wear or discoloration. overall in good condition. the first glassworks located in squankum (williamstown) was built at the suggestion of a man named william nicholson in 1835. the company was formed without a charter and was called "free will glass manufactory." a mill and pot house were also constructed. by the fall of 1835, the company was ready for business. the company had molds for making two-gallon demijohns to half-dram vials, as well as pint and half-pint flasks. godfrey's cordial, london mustard, turlington's balsom and opodeldoc bitters were also blown. the company lasted for only one "fire." the owners decided to sell the glassworks and dissolve the company. the assets of which were purchased by william nicholson for $5,700. the company was reorganized with new investors, but as a result of the depression of 1838, the company failed again. in 1839, joel bodine erected a new glass plant across the street (chestnut street) called the washington glass works. then, in 1846, bodine and his three sons — joel a., william h. and john f. — founded the firm of joel bodine and sons. joel bodine withdrew from the company in 1855 and his three sons continued to operate the firm until 1864, in spite of the disruptions of the civil war. finally in 1864, john f. bodine and walter r. thomas created bodine, thomas and company. in 1866 they incorporated as the williamstown glass manufacturing company. they continued to make blown glass bottles until 1871. glassmaking under the bodines went through three periods, based on the fuel that was used to melt or fuse the raw materials to produce glass. initially wood was used to fuel the furnaces (the abundance of glass factories in south jersey was due to the abundance and cheapness of the wood supply). with the building of the railroads in south jersey, coal as a source of fuel became available to the glass industry. the williamstown railroad company was chartered in 1873 and ran from atco to williamstown for a total of 9 1/2 miles. this section of the rail line was built through the efforts generated by john f. bodine and the interest of the williamstown glass works. the last fuel used at the glassworks was gas and fuel oil. in 1865, the j.v.sharp company requested that the williamstown glass works blow a glass container with a large mouth to permit the canning of tomatoes. the sharp company was based in williamstown. the high point of the williamstown glass works was in 1883. that year the company did a wide range of business, making not only godfrey and turlington bottles but also bottles for swiss cologne, aqua de florida, wines, schnapps, porter, soda, snuff, inks, flasks, yeast powder, cod liver oil, etc. beginning in the early 1900s, the automatic bottle machine was invented by michael owens, marking the decline of mouth blown glass production in south jersey. by 1915 the williamstown glass works was owned by the garfield family and employed 600 men. it specialized in the manufacture of liquor and beer bottles. this company ended production in november of 1917.