T H E JOEL POTTS FAMILY
By Thelma Benham Gardner *
November 20, 1998
This is a history of a branch of the Potts family which developed in the vicinity of Taylorville, Illinois.
Joel Potts, a native of Kentucky, came to Christian County, Illinois, in 1850, and was the nucleus of this family. He believed that his forefathers were Quakers in Wales and came to America with William Penn. As with many pioneer American families, their ancestry was tradition. Without the advantages of modern communications, their family history records were almost nil. However, in this case, Joel's opinion has been largely substantiated by historical collections relating to the Potts family in Great Britain and America. These collections were compiled by Thomas Maxwell Potts of Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, and published in 1901. Before proceeding with the biography of Joel Potts and his descendants, it would be well to examine his ancestry. The history begins in England.
THE DERIVATION OF THE NAME
In Patronymica Britanica, London, 1860, page 274, the following is found: "Pott or Potts." The reason for the assumption of this name is not obvious, yet similar words have distinguished families of importance in other countries. For example, there were in Flanders in the
fifteenth century a noble family of Pott who bore a pot in their armorial coat. There was also an Italian house, called the Little-Pots (Pignateli, while a line of Spanish grandees rejoined in the
thrice-illustrious name of Padila "Frying Pan"). In the north of England, "potts" is a topograpical term implying deep circular hollows in the ground. This surname designates a Northumbrian clan. Evidently, "Potts" is a place name of one who lived near "deep circular hollows in
the ground." This name was found in isolated instances in different parts of Great Britain at a very early period, but it was not until the period of the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603) that we find any of this family or special social importance settled in one spot, so that one is able to make a connected pedigree. About 1600, Roger Pott of Dunge, England married Anne Sutton. He was evidently of the original stock according to pedigrees recorded in the British Museum. From these it is supposed (but not proven) came the family of persecuted Quakers who emigrated to America around 1681 from Llanidloes, Montgomeryshire, North Wales, and vicinity.
CHESIRE, ENGLAND
Earwaker's East Cheshire, Past and Present, or a History of the Hundred of Macclesfield, in the County of Palatine, of Cheshire, etc., 1877, contains frequent mention of the Pott family, and of these, the most important will be found in Volume 1 page 17. In a list of names of
"Knights, Gentlemen & Freeholders in Cheshire," in 1445, is given the name of John Pott of Macclesfield Hundred. This date of 1445 is probably the earliest in which a member of the Pott family is recorded.
QUAKERS
About 1660, upon the fall of the Commonwealth and restoration of the Monarchy of England, a systematic persecution of all dissenters was instituted, and the new sect of Friends or Quakers were especial sufferers on account of their doctrines and practices and their firmness
in the face of opposition. MacCaulay said, "At the Restoration the Quakers were regarded as the most despicable of fanatics." Among the early adherents of the Quaker faith taught by George Fox was Thomas Pott, of Styall Green in the township of Pownall Pee, Cheshire,
England. He was born about the year 1618. He seemed to be a man of substantial character and sterling principles, and by reason of his firm adherence to his religious convictions, he was the subject of repeated persecutions, as was found from abstracts taken from "A Collection of
the Suffering of the People called Quakers of a Good Conscience, etc.," by Joseph Besse, London, 1753. There were seven of these extracts relating to the persecution of Thomas Pott and others. The last occurred in 1684, as follows:
"Thomas Pott, of Wimslow, for a meeting at his house, was fined 20 s., but being very poor, the officers, who broke open his doors and rifled his house, could find no more good that amounted to 21 os. 6 d.,which they took, and the poor man and his family were obligated to seek
lodging at their neighbors' houses." Several of his neighbors and friends emigrated to Pennsylvania, in America, and two letters written (in 1683 and 1684) to them are in possession of the Pennsylvania Historical Society at Philadelphia.
THE POTTS OF WALES
In the middle of the 17th century, a family of Pott, who were supposed to be of Cheshire stock, settled in Montgomeryshire, Wales. They may have come into Wales by way of Shropshire, England. Their home was in the Parish of Llangirrig on the northern bank of the river Wye, and only a short distance from the neighboring mountain of Plinelimmon.
The eldest member of the family of Llangirrig, as far as is known, was a Thomas Pott, who made his will in 1654, and probably died about 1658. There is evidence that he and his family were Quakers; however, he could not have been Thomas Pott the persecuted Quaker of Styall Green
according to these dates. He had four childrenEvan, John, Elizabeth, and Anne. Thomas Pott of Llangirrig was the great-great-great-great-grandfather of Joel Potts of Christian County Illinois.
Ann Pott, daughter of Thomas of Llangirrig, Wales, married John Pott (possibly a relative). Their place of residence seems to have been Mantgnerog, in the Parish of Llangirrig, John Pott died about 1672 or 1673 leaving Ann and seven children: Thomas Pott, George Pott, Margaret Pott, Alice Pott, Elizabeth Pott, Ann Pott, and Sarah Pott.
Thomas Pott was named for his grandfather, and was probably the eldest of the seven children, married a lady named Elizabeth. They had seven children: John, Thomas, David, Margaret, Jane, Elizabeth, and Jonas.
Thomas evidently died in Wales, and his widow brought their seven children to America and settled in Pennsylvania. This was before the year 1683, as evidenced by a deed recorded in the Recorder's Office in the Deed Book K 3, Vol. 6 Page 42. They were among the first of the name Potts to have settled in that state. It is noted that the name is now spelled Potts instead of Pott.
In 1685, Elizabeth was married to Edmund Bennet of Bucks County, PA. There is evidence, both historic and traditional, that the Potts family came to Pennsylvania with William Penn, who was responsible for bringing many of the persecuted Quakers to America. Penn made his first voyage in 1682, but he was preceded by other ships, which he had sent in 1681, and it is believed that Elizabeth Potts and family were passengers on one of these.
Jonas Potts (born ca 1680 in Wales), youngest son of Thomas and Elizabeth Potts, was first noticed in Pennsylvania Records on September 11, 1686, as a witness to the marriage certificate of his sister, Jane Potts, and John Austin. He was a resident of Germantown, in Philadelphia County and farmed in Montgomery County, PA. He was twice married and the given name of each wife was Mary. He is thought to have died in Loudoun County, Virginia. The children by his first wife, Mary ____, were: David, Rachel, Elizabeth, and Hannah Potts.
By his second wife, Mary ____, were these children: Debora, Jonas, and Jonathan Potts. Jonathan Potts was the grandfather of Joel Potts of Christian County, Illinois. He was born in 1714 in Pennsylvania, the son of Jonas Potts of Philadelphia County by his second wife. He moved first to Loudon County, Virginia, and then to Kentucky, where he spent the remainder of his life. His wife's name was Emey, and they were married in Pennsylvania. As far as can be determined, they had eight children, three whose given names are unknown. The other children were: Nathan Potts, Amos (born Dec. 1743), Sarah (born Jan. 1745, married Robert Rowland), David Potts (born 1751, died 1823) married first to Elizabeth Luna, his second wife was Martha Tines Short).
Except for David, the father of Joel Potts, there is very little information about the other children. Two of the sons are said to have been drowned in a river by the parting of a raft. Joel said his aunt Sarah married Robert Rowland, had children, and moved to Missouri. He also said that another aunt [note: this aunt was actually Sarah] married a man named Burke, and that Burkesville, Kentucky took its name from him. She had no children and is said to have lived to the great age of 115 years.
David Potts, son of Jonathan and Emma Hall, and father of Joel, was born in 1751, in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. He was a veteran of the Revolutionary War, and died in 1823 in Mercer County, Kentucky. In Kentucky, he suffered much from the incursions of the Indians. In religious faith he was a Baptist. This is the first indication that a member of the family had changed from the Quaker faith. David learned to read after his marriage, and then continued to read the Bible. He was married first to Elizabeth Luna. After her death, and when he was about sixty years of age, he was married to Mrs. Martha Giles Tynes Short, a widow with two children.
The children of David and Elizabeth Luna Potts were: Jeremiah, Jonathan, John, Isaiah, David, Catherine, Mary, Margaret, Amy, and Rebecca. The only child of David and Martha Tines Short Potts was Joel Potts.
At this point it seems advisable to summarize the ancestors of Joel Potts, as follows: John Pott (Cheshire, England, 1445, [indefinite]), Roger Pott (Dunge, England, 17th century, [indefinite]), Thomas Pott (Llangirrig, Wales, 17th century), Ann and John Pott (Llangirrig, Wales, 17th century), Thomas and Elizabeth Pott (Llangirrig, Wales), Jonas and Mary Potts (Pennsylvania, 17th and 18th century), Jonathan and Emey Potts (Pennsylvania, 18th century), David and Martha Tines Short Potts (Kentucky, 18th century).
THE JOEL POTTS FAMILY
Joel Potts was born on October 20, 1811 in "Bluegrass Country" near the Salt River in Mercer County (now Boyle County), Kentucky. Across the hills some fifty miles to the west lived Thomas and Nancy Lincoln and their twenty-month old son, Abraham. When Joel was 12 years of age his father died, and two years later, in 1825, he moved with his mother and two step-brothers to Morgan County, Illinois. In 1832 he served in the Black Hawk War, in Captain William B. Smith's Company of Illinois Volunteers. Across the prairie, only a few miles to the northeast, another son of Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln, also volunteered in the Indian War.
It was July 15, 1834, that he married Miss Sarah Ann Blizzard, daughter of Nathan and Catherine Blizzard. Sarah was born Dec. 22, 1818, in Clark County , Indiana. To this union were born:
1. Louisa Jane b. Oct. 15, 1835 d. 1847
2. Maria Elizabeth b. Sept. 5, 1837 d. July, 1928
3. Nathan Columbus b. June 10, 1840 d. March 25, 1885
4. Gilbert Lafayette b. Aug. 8, 1841 d.
5. William Albert b. Feb. 26, 1843 d. Before 1860
6. George Dallas b. July 17, 1845 d. Jan. 6, 1910
7. Cyrus Alonzo b. June 22, 1847 d. Nov. 3, 1918
8. Susan Catherine b. Nov. 28, 1848 d. Nov. 28, 1848
Sarah Ann Blizzard Potts died Nov. 28, 1848, at the birth of her last child, Sarah Catherine, and they were both buried in Yates Cemetery near Prentice, Illinois. In July 1844, Joel purchased from Nathan Ware eighty acres of land in the E1/2 SE1/4 Section 26, T17NR9W of the third Principle Meridian in Cass County, for one hundred sixty dollars total. This farm was about three miles west of Ashland, Illinois.
In June 1850, Joel Potts purchased from Nancy Nichols of New Haven, Connecticut, 318 acres of land designated as the NE1/4 and the NW1/4 of Section 1 T13N R3W and the E1/2 SE1/4 of Section 36, T14N R3W and the NE1/4 SE1/4 of section 1 T13N R3W of the Third Principle Meridian in Christian County, Illinois. The purchase price was $1416.00 total.
Joel Potts and his family moved to this land in 1850, where he spent the remainder of his life. The log house in which he lived for many years was located in the SE1/4 SW1/4 NE1/4 Section 1 T13N R3W (1 3/4 miles west and 1/4 mile south of Sharpsburg, Illinois). He was married three times. His second wife was Mary Ann Clark, who was killed in a horse and buggy accident, July 25, 1878, near Sharpsburg. He then married Mrs. Ruth Clark Meyers, a sister to Mary Ann. She died August 15, 1892. There were no children by the last two marriages. In May, 1852, he purchased from the General Land Office of the United States 72 acres in the SW1/4 Section 6 T13N R2W of the 3rd Prime Meridian. The Land Office Certificate Number 16588 bore the signature of Millard Fillmore, President of the United States.
Joel Potts was a Predestinarian (Hardshell) Baptist, and later was a founding member of the Walnut Hill Universalist Church near Sharpsburg. In politics he was a Jacksonian Democrat, and in all relations of life he was direct, straightforward and manly. He was a student of the Bible and an able quoter of Scripture. As were most pioneers, he was an accurate marksman with the rifle. His muzzle-loading rifle is now in possession of the New Salem State Park Museum, near the place where he first settled in Illinois. His last days were spent with his son, George Dallas Potts, a fourth-mile north of the log cabin family home. He died there on July 19, 1898 at the age of 87 years. He was buried in the Old Walnut hill Cemetery beside his last two wives. It was his last request that no hearse be used or funeral be preached. The cemetery is located in the SE1/4 NE1/4 NW1/4 Section 1 T13N R2W 3rd P.M.
Two references have been made previously to Abraham Lincoln, because it is of interest to realize that Joel Potts was born and lived at the same time and within the same areas as did Lincoln. Joel had lived near Ashland five years when Lincoln came to New Salem. Anyone who is interested in knowing how people lived at that time can get a vivid idea at New Salem State Park. Lincoln left New Salem in 1837 and moved to Springfield. In 1850, Joel Potts moved to Christian County, twenty miles southeast of Springfield. There is no evidence that the two men ever met, but there must have been several opportunities.
THE FIRST GENERATION
Three of Joel Potts' children died before he left Ashland, Illinois. The other five who moved with him to Christian County were: William Albert died in Christian County sometime between 1850 and 1860. He probably is buried in the Old Walnut Hill Cemetery west of Sharpsburg.
Maria Elizabeth, who married William B. Davis, Dec. 18, 1859. To this union were born four children: Flora Evaline, born 1861 - died 1906; George Albert, died in infancy; Joel Jerome, born Dec. 28, 1865 - died 1947; Julian Eugene
They spent their entire lives near Sharpsburg, Illinois. William Davis died Sept. 3, 1900, and Maria died in 1928. William was the first one to be buried in the New Walnut Hill Cemetery west of Sharpsburg.
Nathan Columbus Potts served in the Civil War. He enlisted August 14, 1862 in Company E, 77th Regiment, Illinois Volunteers and was discharged as a corporal in the 130th Infantry, Company D on June 17, 1865. He fought in the battle of Vicksburg, then entered with his company in the Red River Campaign. On April 8, 1864, he was captured by the Confederates at the Battle of Mansfield, Louisiana and spent more than a year as a prisoner of war in Tyler, Texas. On April 12, 1866 he married Fianna Elnora Kemmerer (b. December 25, 1845, Northampton County, Pennsylvania) in Edinburg, Illinois. They spent the remainder of their lives in one home near Sharpsburg. Here are their children:
1. Charles Edwin b. Nov. 10, 1866 d. May 16, 1947
2. Almond Alonzo b. Sept. 21, 1868 d. Jan. 29, 1953
3. Myron Elmer b. Jan. 7, 1870 d. Sept. 27, 1939
4. Luella Matilda b. July 2, 1871 d. Sept. 5, 1947
5. Addie Ilona b. Sept. 9, 1872 d. July 28, 1873
6. Herbert Franklin b. Dec. 13, 1874 d. Sept. 11, 1927
7. Harry Joel b. May 23, 1876 d. December 7, 1914
8. Joseph Carmen b. June 28, 1877 d. Jan. 31, 1960
9. Archie Elsworth b. Jan. 8, 1879 d. July 26, 1928
10. Fianna Maria b. June 9, 1880 d. Sept. 20, 1970
11. Myrtle Elmina b. June 6, 1882 d. May 12, 1964
12. Nathan Clyde b. May 21, 1884 d. April 1, 1939
Never fully recovering from the trials of his imprisonment, Nathan Potts died March 25, 1885, at age 45. Fianna Elnora Potts died January 14, 1922. Cyrus Alonzo Potts, who spent most of his adult life in the vicinity of Atchison and Olathe, Kansas, was married first to Florence Miller in Illinois in 1878, and second to Mary E. Maupin (born July 26, 1857 in Kentucky) in 1891 in Kansas. Children by the first marriage were:
1. Elmer Clarence b. April 11, 1879 d.
2. Claude Henry b. Oct. 18, 1881 d. October, 1960
Children of the second marriage were:
3. Byron b. Jan. 28, 1894 d. Feb., 1979
4. Florence Marie b. July 1891 d.
Florence was married to James King and lived in Ottawa, Kansas. Byron died in Seattle, Washington in February of 1979. Mary died April 13, 1913 and Cyrus died November 3, 1918. Both are buried in the Olathe Memorial Cemetery, Olathe, Kansas.
George Dallas Potts, who spent his life farming in the vicinity of Sharpsburg and Taylorville, was twice married. His first wife was Lenora A. Langley (born April 27, 1848 in Christian Co. IL) daughter of Robert Preston and Minerva Pitman Langley, early pioneers of Christian County. They were married Dec. 5, 1866. Five children were born to this union:
1. William Albert b. Nov. 17, 1867 d. Oct. 22, 1937
2. Joel Preston b. May 17, 1869 d. May 31, 1869
3. Rufus Monroe b. Sept. 30, 1870 d. July 21, 1948
4. Cyrus Alvin b. Jan. 18, 1873 d.
5. Dempster Orville b. Mar. 15, 1875 d. Feb. 26, 1950
Lenora Langley Potts died at the age of 28 on Aug. 14, 1876. She was buried in the "Old" Walnut Hill Cemetery. Her name, however, is found on the George D. Potts tombstone in the new Walnut Hill Cemetery.
The second marriage was to Sarah Elizabeth Flinn (b. Feb. 24, 1856, Sangemon Co. IL) on Nov. 18, 1877. Three children were born to this union:
6. Tony Roscoe b. Apr. 17, 1880 d. Nov. 1966
7. Lenial Otis b. Mar. 15, 1884 d. 1919
8. Orie Earl b. Mar. 11, 1890 d. July 17, 1890
George Dallas Potts died at Taylorville January 6, 1910. He was 64. Sarah Flinn Potts died at the age of 78 on July 8, 1934 at Sharpsburg. Here is concluded the history of the Joel Potts ancestors and first-generation descendants. This should serve as a basis for anyone who desires to further explore a particular branch of this family.
* This account was written in 1965 by Thelma Benham Gardner. Thelma was the great grand-daughter of Joel and Sarah Ann Blizzard Potts, grand-daughter of Nathan and Fianna Elnora Potts, and daughter of Fianna Maria Potts and Frank Ernest Benham of Taylorville. Some updates and modifications have been made since 1996 by Thelma's daughter, Yvonne Gardner Fraley of Taylorville, Patricia Potts Mullens of Austin, Texas and Ellen Potts Parsons of Bedford, Texas (grandaughters of Joseph Carmen Potts), George Charles Gibson of O'Fallon, Missouri (grandson of Charles Edwin Potts), George Calvin Potts of Tucson, Arizona (grandson
of Cyrus Alvin Potts), Cyrus Edward Potts of Walnut Creek, California (grandson of Rufus Monroe Potts), and Lynda Potts Ireland of Leawood, Kansas and George Dallas Potts II of Wichita, Kansas (grandchildren of Dempster Orville Potts).