John Potter of Rhode Island: Counterfeiter

An article in Yankee magazine, August 1978, explained that a house built in 1730 on the bay in Matanuck, Rhode Island by one Capt. John Potter has a fascinating history. "Down in the cellar is where the original owner, Capt. John Potter, and a number of his cronies manufactured counterfeit money..... all described in the Rhode Island Historical Society's book, Counterfeiting in Colonial Rhode Island. Seems he was eventually caught and ended up paying a fine of 10,000 pound, half in gold dust and the balance in cash, in order to keep from going to jail and having his ears cut off. Ouch!"  The article, which I reproduced in Potter Profiles, Vol. 5, September 1985, did not have any further information on this John Potter. Anybody know any further history on him, his family or his descendants??

A "Lost" Potter Found

I am happily working as a volunteer on the 1940 census indexing project. Living in Washington state, I've chosen Washington pages. Last evening I found a "stray" Potter lady-person living in Tower Pct, Cowlitz County, Washington on 23 April 1940:

Clem E. BARR, head, age 56, divorced, born Pennsylvania, occupation timber faller/log camp
Tilda POTTER, housekeeper, age 57, widowed, born Oregon
James LEE, grandson, age 6, born in Washington

Interesting to speculate on the dynamics represented here. Was Tilda born or did she become a POTTER?  Is Tilda POTTER the mother of James LEE? Was she Tilda POTTER LEE and resumed her maiden name? Or did she become Tilda POTTER after husband LEE died? Or is little James LEE not related to Tilda but to Clem.... James is his grandson?? Interesting, interesting. One more stray piece to the Potter puzzle.

A Potter Name Incribed

SGT ALBERT RAYMOND POTTER	SGT ALFRED N POTTER	SP4 DON POTTER
SGT JAMES FRANK POTTER	SSG JAMES RALPH POTTER	PFC JERRY LEE POTTER
CPL LARRY EMERSON POTTER	CPL NEIL WARREN POTTER	1LT PAUL D POTTER
SGT PAUL PRICE POTTER	CPL RAYMOND GEORGE POTTER	PFC RICHARD EDWARD POTTER
PFC ROBERT ALLAN POTTER	SP5 ROBERT GLEN POTTER	CPL WESLEY ROY POTTER
WO WILLIAM DON POTTER	LTC WILLIAM JOSEPH POTTER Jr	SGT WILLIAM STEVEN POTTER
CAPT WILLIAM TOD POTTER	BM1 WILLIAM VERNON POTTER

I did not know; there are 20 men surnamed Potter whose names are inscribed upon the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. I was there last week, spending spring break with son, Benjamin, and grandsons, Austin (13) and Grady (18). Along with hundreds of others, we filed slowly and silently past the black marble memorial to the fallen heroes of the Vietnam War. I did a tracing of the only Potter I spotted but a Google search brought me the names of the 19 others. There were tributes left even now and even still. A visit to this memorial should be on every American's bucket list.