Notes on Daniel Potter & wife Lydia Hale, Early 1800s in NY, Part 1

Back in Potter Profiles, Vol. 11, March 1987, Virginia Zadorozny (who lived in Palmyra, NY) sent this material as it pertained to her line. She added this note that came with the material:  "This chapter on the Potters was written by Clayton Buell Potter, grandson of Daniel Potter and Lydia Hale. It is included in a handwritten book compiled in 1909 by Edward Augustus Parks, the stepson of Clayton's sister, Cassandana Potter Parks.

"The Potter family is a large one; they have been long in the promised land and have followed the admonition to increase and replenish the earth.

" I'm not to tell about all the Potters, for it would be too much to read if it were written. If you search the records, however, you may find that the Potter family in America sprang from two brothers who left England for America abut 1636.....both landing in what is now known as the New England states.....one remaining there while the other went into the most southern colonies. Our branch is from that one who remained in the eastern states.

"Daniel Potter and Lydia his wife, my grandparents, lived at Granville, Washington Coutny, New York, probably as late as 1813. They had nine children:  Allen, Clarissa, David, William, Daniel, Joseph, Hannah, Silas and Achsah, and our family records shows that Joseph, the sixth child, was born at Granville. Once when stopping at Whitehall in Washington County, I called on Judge Joseph Potter, one of the judges of the Supreme Court, and in talking of the matter, his records of the family in general were the same as what I had learned of my own ancestors. He was of the same Granville stock.

"The family of Daniel Potter were pioneers for they went far west when the virgin forest covered the western part of New York state. They settled in the town of Machias, Cattaraugus County, at what is now the foot of Lime Lake....an artificial lake made by my Grandfather when he dammed the stream that was of considerable volume, flowing from immense springs and filled with speckled trout. He built a sawmill below the dam, which I believe was later carried away by a freshet breaking the dam. Grandfather and all the family were hard workers....they had to be to clear that heavy clay soil of trees, stumps, roots and stones. In logging, Grandfather got one of his legs broken below his knee and had not been long recovered when a log rolled against the same leg and crushed it so badly that about six inches of the bone was lost and ever after he wore a thimble on that leg to stiffen it so that he could get about. Personally I knew but little of him. I never became much acquainted with him; he was old and broken when I knew him and seemed quite unsocial to me. But I believe that family was credited as of good standing and sterling integrity.

(To be continued......)

Chester A. Potter, 1891-1947, s/o Alfred.

Spotted these two stones in Pines Cemetery, in Spokane Valley, Washington. According to the U.S. censuses and our Washington Digital Archives website, here is what I learned about these Potters:

Chester A. Potter was born in 1893 in Iowa, the son of Alfred and Emma U. Potter. He died on 25 Oct 1947 in Yardley, Spokane Co, WA.  All his life he had been a railroad car inspector. Nellie or Nelly M. was born in 1889, also in Iowa,  and died in 1961.

In the 1920 census, the couple were living in Malden, Washington with John F. Kight, age 69, born Iowa and his wife Cornelia R., aage 68, also born in Iowa. John Kight was a railroad bridge carpenter. Chester A. and Nellie M. were both 27, born in Iowa.

By the 1930 census, they were living in Spokane. Chester was a railway inspector. Also in the household were John F. Knight, father-in-law, age 79, b. Iowa, and Cornelia R., mother-in-law, born Ohio. (??)

On the 1940 census, Chester A. and Nelly M. were still in Spokane. He was a railroad car inspector; he had education only through the 8th grade; he owned his house; he had worked 39 weeks in 1939. Also living with them were Milton L. Kight, age 63, brother-in-law, born Iowa, and Cornelia R. Kight, mother-in-law, age 89, born Ohio.

It does appear that Chester and Nellie had no descendants; please add any information YOU know about this couple. (Note the different spellings: Kight - Knight.)

Alfadonna Potter, b. 1921

Here is the marriage license between Alfadonna Potter, age 18,  and Paul Edgar Hughes, age 76. She was from Grand Coulee, Washington and he was from Mason City, Washington. They married in Pend Oreille County, Washington on 3 January 1939.

Grand Coulee Dam was constructed between 1933 and 1942 in Washington; both Mason City and Grand Coulee are towns close to the construction site but Pend Oreille County is the far northeast county in the Evergreen State. I did not find Alfadonna nor Paul in the 1930 or 1940 censuses. But I'll bet they were both in Washington for jobs with the dam construction.

But the vast differences in their ages begs a question:  WHY??????

Thomas/David POTTER & Elizabeth/Hannah WILKERSON Question

"Lacey F." left a comment that "Thomas Potter and Elizabeth Wilkerson are my 4th great-grandparents" and cited/questioned about Potter Profiles, Volume 17 (which was published in the fall of 1988), pages 42-43. I have scanned and posted them here for Lacey and for anybody having this same question.

My question is, Lacey says that Thomas and Elizabeth are her great-grandparents and Marilyn Rose posted her line from David and Hannah. Hummm?

As I recall, Marilyn Rose was a member of the Seattle Genealogical Society. If unable to contact her any other way, you might try SGS. 

Potters Mentioned In Early North Carolina Wills

Browsing in Abstract of North Carolina Wills, "the original and recorded wills in the office of the Secretary of State," by J. Bryan Grimes, first published in 1910, I found these Potter mentions:

Samuel Potter, mentioned in the will of William and Amy Goodman,  1793.

Miles Potter, Sr., in his will of 1798 mentions his children:  Robert, Miles, John, Joseph, Abraham, Skipper and Margaret McMurray.

John Potter's will, in 1752, mentions children William, John and Elizabeth.

William Potter's will, in 1778, mentions children Elizabeth and Margaret.

In the will of Solomon Walker in 1791, his wife was Martha and it mentions his daughter, Susannah Potter.

You can add this book to your research library via Amazon.com !

If your Potters are like my hubby's Phillips, they are "lost" in North Carolina and I check out everything I come upon!

Grace E. Potter marries in 1936 in Washington State

Grace E. Potter, "of legal age," and of Eugene, Oregon, married Eugene C. Weber, age 29, of Odessa (Lincoln Co), Washington, on 11 July 1936. They were married in Pend Oreille County in northeast Washington............ quite a ways (in 1936) from Eugene, Oregon and even Lincoln County. Makes me wonder if they had run away together?  No wonder we sometimes cannot find our "Lost Ladies!"