POTTS FAMILY
HISTORY
My source for information on the
Potts family is from "The
Potts Family in America" by Thomas Maxwell Potts, Canonsburg,
PA, 1901.This was further enhanced by contributions from Cy Potts.
Recently, there have been many corrections to William Potts's
work as it was discovered that much of the information contradicted
itself. I've put the very latest information on the Potts family
on this site which has been verified through proper sources such
as vital records, etc.
There is a line of Potts that descends from Wales that is
thought to be the ancestry of our Jonas Potts, Sr. I will list
it here but it can't be overly stated that this is just conjecture
at this point. However, the line from the original Thomas to his
grandson Thomas is proven, as is the line from Jonas Potts, Sr.
and down:
Thomas Pott, Yeoman, resident Llangirrig, Montgomeryshire,
Wales died after 1654. He and unknown wife had four children:
Evan, John, Anne and Eliz'h Pott. Daughter, Anne Pott married
John Pott whose will was made up in 1672. They had the following
children: Thomas, George, John, Margaret, Alice, Elizabeth, Anne
and Sarah. Thomas Pott, son of John and Anne Pott married Elizabeth
and they had the following children:
John, Thomas, David, Jonas, Margaret, Jane and Elizabeth Potts.
Jonas, son of Thomas and Elizabeth was our ancestor.
It has always been said that Jonas Potts, Sr. wed two women
named Mary. There is some question whether there was in fact two
Marys or which children might have been descended from which Mary.
Mary of Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania was Jonas' second wife.
Tradition of descendants allege that the family came to Pennsylvania
from Wales. This Jonas, hereafter referred to as Jonas, Sr., was
first noticed in Pennsylvania as a witness to the marriage certificate
of John Austin and Jane Potts, September 11, 1686. He was a resident
of Germantown, Philadelphia County, and vicinity for a number
of years, where he sometimes held local offices under the government.
Later he settled on land in Gilbert's Manor, not far from the
present town of Tyersford in Montgomery County. He was a party
to several transactions in the purchase and sale of lands in Philadelphia
County. He was also party to a land transaction in Cheltenham
Township, County Hereford, England.
Jonas Potts held the office of Range for the County of Philadelphia,
his term of office expiring in 1702. He also held the office of
Court Sheriff for Germantown at one time. He seems to have been
a man of determination, and perhaps of an impetuous temperament,
as upon one occasion, in making arrest, it is said that he handled
the man so roughly as to have almost killed him.
He was a member of the Society of Friends, but does not appear
to have been very active in meeting affairs. The imperfect records
of the early Meetings do not show a very clear record of his consecutive
connection with the Society. He seems to have been under the care
of Abington Monthly meeting, but later in life may have resorted
to Gwynedd, or some Meeting in that vicinity.
About the year 1703, Jonas Potts
seems to have been straitened circumstances, perhaps by reason of his wife's
long continued
illness. Radnor Monthly meeting minutes of 1703 show that "Jonas
Potts and his wife being poore, and haveing divers small children,
want assistance to buy a Cow." He was granted the cow.
Among different lines of descendants are several traditions,
which probably have some elements of truth in them as well as
inaccuracies. One tradition alleges that Jonas Potts came from
England in the sixteenth (seventeenth) century and settled in
Pennsylvania. Another claims that the first of the family came
to Pennsylvania with William Penn. Another alleges that the first
Potts settles in Pennsylvania came from Wales, emigrating from
there on account of religious persecution. All agree that the
first settlers were Friends or Quakers.
Jonas and first wife, Mary, had the following children:
David Potts died 1768, married first Elizabeth Lane and second
Ann Roberts. David's children with Elizabeth were: Jonas, Jonathan,
Anna and Mary. Children with Ann are: David, Samuel, Ezekiel,
Nathan, Elizabeth, Christian, Susanna, and Rachel. Link to this
family: www.heritagepursuit.com
Rachel married Joseph Burson August 15, 1719.
Elizabeth married William Heald August 15, 1719.
Hannah (not proven yet that she was a daughter apparently)
Jonas and second wife, Mary, had the following children:
Deborah Potts died July 24, 1718.
Jonathan Potts born 1714? married Amy who was born in 1718.
They had eight children but only 5 are known: Nathan, Amos, Sarah,
David and Ezekiel Potts This family settled in Kentucky.
Jonas Potts married twice-once
to Mary, last name unknown and second to Mary Heckathorn. This
is what Cy Potts has to say about it:
"The birth info on Jonathan, John and David is pretty
solid. It came from Jefferson Co., OH records and DAR stuff.
All three were Rev War veterans as you know. The DAR record for
John states that Mary Heckathorn was his mamma, and Gary Jespersen
(descendant of John Potts & Susannah Hibbens, and a careful
researcher) was not budging from that. As you know, Thos. Maxwell
Potts was confused as evidenced by the conflicting information
in chapters 8 and 21. My take on all of it is that the chart
of page 337 was TMP's last shot at it but he got the spouses
surnames backwards (Heckathorn was first). That puts David, Jonathan,
John, Jonas, Nathan and Joshua as children of Mary Heckathorn
and Thomas, Noah and ____ as children of second spouse Mary _____.
Proof? Why absolutely none
- of course. So my current stand is (subject to change by any persuasive
information). (See notes at bottom of page for more information on Jonas.)
John b. 1751 in Loudoun Co.,
Virginia m: Susannah Hibbens 14 MAR 1782 in Berkeley, Virginia. He d.
Oct 1820 in Columbiana, Ohio and was buried near Scroggsfield, Fox Twp.,
Ohio. His children:
Mary Potts b. Feb
1783 in Pennsylvania m. Thomas
Bolen (her 2nd cousin)
Jonathan
Potts b. abt 1786 in Virginia
Sarah
Potts b. 1787 in Virginia
Jonas Potts
John Potts b. abt 1790 in Pennsylvania
Nathan Potts
James Potts b. August 16, 1796 in Hickory, Washington Cty, PA
Ruth Potts b. 1798 in PA
Margaret Potts
DeborahPotts b. abt 1802
in
OH
Rebecah Potts b. August 8, 1804 in Hickory, Washington Cty, PA
Thomas Potts b. March 20, 1807 in OH
David Potts b. March 20, 1807 in OH
Jonathan b. July 1755
David b. November 1756
Jonas b. before 1758 (Jonas is being rigidly researched
by Dave Osborne)
Nathan b. July 10, 1764
Joshua b. February 4, 1769
Thomas b. ca. 1770
Unknown daughter b. 1770+
Noah b. 1772
The "gaps" appear
at 1758 to 1764, and 1764 to 1769 it would seem. So Nathan could swing
either way I guess.
Poor Nathan."
Two of the Potts' daughters were married on August 15, 1719
at their home.
This book contains many branches
of the family and I will not attempt to record them all here. However, I
have done so for
the direct lines. I do have some pages from the book. Cy
Potts is a wealth of information.
The best source for Potts information will be Cy Potts' web
site at: http://www.potts.net.au/tree/
this site is just starting up so bookmark it and watch for additional
information if you don't find your Potts immediately.
Other Potts cousins with info to share:
Additional information just recently
received from: Dave Osborne
Jonas Potts (Jonas I) was indeed married twice to women named Mary. Recent
research has shown that the second Mary was Mary Burson, daughter of George
and Hannah Burson. There IS proof of this. The marriage of Jonas I and Mary
Burson took place about 1726, and Jonas II was most likely born about 1727/28.
No marriage record for Jonas and Mary has yet been found, nor a birth record
for Jonas II, or any other children Jonas and Mary may have had. It appears
that Jonas and Mary left PA for (probably) Virginia about 1740. Records of
David Potts, son of Jonas, show that he went to Virginia about the same time,
so it's quite possible that Jonas and David went together.
There has always been some confusion concerning where Jonas lived. He's often
called Jonas of Limerick, or Jonas of Gilbert's Manor, or Jonas of Perkiomen.
The fact is.....Jonas lived in two different places. He first lived down in
the lower part of Gilbert's Manor and about 1726/27 he moved up to Burson land
which was right below Limerick Twp., but still in Gilbert's Manor.
Jonas' first wife Mary appears to have been alive as late as July 1721, so
she must have died sometime between then and 1726. This means that Jonathan,
born 1714, (if he was even a son of Jonas I, which I highly doubt) and Deborah
were children of Jonas and the first Mary.
Jonas II,
likely born 1727/28, was married by 1748, and it appears his first wife's
name was Mary Thomas, daughter of Evan
and Ann (last
name unknown) Thomas.
The will of Evan Thomas in 1757 shows "a" Jonas Potts as Evan's son
in law. This has to be Jonas II. No mention is made of a daughter Mary, so
it would seem that Mary had died previously. Jonas II and Mary Thomas had the
following children.....
1.Jonas, born about 1749
2.John, born 1750/51
3.Daughter, born about 1752/53 (married Richard Hart)
4.Jonathan, born 1754/55
5.David, born November 1756
Jonas II married a second time to a woman named Mary, and she is said to have
been Mary Heckathorn. There was a Heckathorn family across the Potomac River
in Frederick Co., MD in the 1750's and 1760's. This was the family of Rheinhard
Jacob Heckathorn, and he had a daughter, Mary, born in the 1730's. Whether
she was the Mary Heckathorn that Jonas married, I don't know, but there are
a couple of pedigrees done by Heckathorn researchers that show that Mary married
a Johannes Potts. IF she was the Mary Heckathorn that married Jonas II, she
was born September 30, 173?, and died July 26, 1820. Mary Heckathorn was the
mother of Nathan, Thomas, Joshua, and Noah.
