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):

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.

More Potts info

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:

Ann L. Holland
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/z/u/e/Mariana-L-Zuelsdorf/

Another great link: http://www.haight.net/~leesue/index.html

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