USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Volume II > Part 48
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65
GEORGE POTTER, an officer of Cromwell's army in the Civil War, born in Lan- cashire, Eingland, in 1635, received a grant of confiscated lands in Ireland for his services in subduing the adherents of Charles I., in Ireland, and establishing the authority of the Great Protector there. These grants were confirmed to him after the accession of Charles II, in 1660, and held by his family for many years. They consisted of the lands of Oaghill Mallans, Carty, Garderghill, Fore- meih and Comry, all in the manor of Naghlierestepba, county Fermanagh, and came to be known as Potterstown and Pottersrath.
ABRAHAM POTTER, born at Potterstown, county Fermanagh, in 1690, became possessed of the ancestral lands there, but sold the greater part of them prior to his death in 1750.
JAMES POTTER, grandson of Abraham Potter, born at Potterstown, September 10, 1745, married there, August 4, 1774, Margaret Armstrong, of Scottish ances- try, and about 1791 became possessed of lands at Rilaghquiness, county Tyrone, and took up his residence there.
GEORGE POTTER, a younger son of James and Margaret (Armstrong) Potter, born October 10, 1781, married, at Rilaghquiness, county Tyrone, Ireland, March 9, 1811, Anne Scott, born in county Tyrone, October 15, 1781. They contin- ued to reside at Rilaghquiness until 1828, when, having inherited but a small por- tion of his father's estate, he decided to seek his fortune in America, and with his wife and children sailed for Philadelphia, where they arrived early in the year 1828. George Potter died in Philadelphia, October 15, 1838, leaving a small estate.
The children of George and Anne (Scott) Potter were: Jane Scott Potter, born in Ireland, 1812, died in Philadelphia, 1834; Thomas Potter, of whom presently ; Margaret Potter, born 1822; and Ann Potter, born May 5, 1828, married, October 30, 1845, James Carmichael.
THOMAS POTTER, only son of George and Anne (Scott) Potter, born at Rilagh- quiness, county Tyrone, Ireland, August 4, 1818, came to Philadelphia with his parents in 1828. He received the foundation of a good English education and was desirous of studying for the ministry, but the death of his father made it imperative that he apply himself to the maintenance of his widowed mother and two younger sisters. His business life had begun in the Bush Hill Oil-Cloth Works, of Isaac Macauley, as an apprentice to the business of oil-cloth making. Desirous of obtaining an education, his nights during his apprenticeship were devoted to diligent study under the tuition of his mother, and he succeeded in gaining an excellent education. In the oil-cloth works he proved diligent and attentive to the interest of his employer, and was made manager of the works at the close of his apprenticeship.
1030
POTTER
In 1838, at the age of nineteen years, Mr. Potter established himself in busi- ness and shortly afterwards purchased the Bush Hill plant of Mr. Macauley, on easy terms, such was the confidence of his old employer in his business ability and integrity. The venture was a success, and the foundation of the ex- tensive manufacturing establishment of Thomas Potter, Sons & Company, at Second and Venango Streets, the largest of its kind in the United States, Mr. Potter having sold the Bush Hill property in 1870, and removed to the extensive works erected at the new location, and established the new firm.
Thomas Potter realized a large fortune from his manufacturing establishment and held many positions of trust. His first municipal office was that of con- missioner of his district, to which he was elected in 1853. Realizing his own struggle to obtain an education, he was an ardent advocate of the improvement of educational facilities, and served as school director and later as school con- troller. Shortly after the consolidation of the city, he was elected to the city council, and his interest in education was at once recognized by his being made chairman of the school committee of councils. His interest in the cause of education continued through his whole life, and in recognition of his services in that behalf, in 1890, twelve years after his death, the Board of Education named the school at Fourth and Clearfield Streets, the largest in the city, "The Thomas Potter School", in his honor.
Mr. Potter became chairman of the Finance Committee of Councils and took a leading part in municipal legislation. In 1861 he carried through councils an ordinance appointing a commission to assist in supporting the families of Union soldiers from Philadelphia, absent in the service of their country in the field, and gave the use of his private office for carrying on the work. He was one of the early members of the Union League, and there gave his ardent support to the same cause, being a member of the committee appointed to raise money for the support of families of volunteers.
One of Mr. Potter's most important achievements in city affairs was the car- rying through Common Council a bill for the erection of an Academy of Fine Arts, an Academy of Natural Sciences, and other educational institutions, on the square at Broad and Market Streets, now occupied by the City Hall. The bill was defeated in Select Council but the wide-spread agitation on the ques- tion greatly developed the public interest in such institutions. Mr. Potter was also chiefly instrumental in securing the organization of a paid fire department for Philadelphia, in acquiring for the city the eastern section of Fairmount Park, and in the passage of the bill requiring the city treasurer to pay warrants in the order of their date and number.
He resigned from Council in 1868, and went abroad for his health, spending some time in European travel. Returning to Philadelphia, he was elected presi- dent of the City National Bank, and filled that position until his death, Septem- ber 20, 1878. His known business ability and sterling integrity led to his ap- pointment to numerous positions of trust, private and public, and he was held in high esteem in business circles. The firm of Thomas Potter, Sons & Com- pany, composed of his sons, and others, now incorporated, still carries on an ex- tensive business in the manufacture of oil-cloth and linoleum, with offices at 522 Arch Street.
Thomas Potter married, October 2, 1845, Adaline Coleman Bower, born Au-
1031
POTTER
gust 21, 1818, daughter of George Bower, born at Womelsdorf, Berks county, Pennsylvania, June II, 1784, died in Philadelphia, August 5, 1846, and his wife, Catharine (Cameron) Bower, born in Philadelphia, August 17, 1788, died there July 15, 1865. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Potter :
George Bower, b. Aug. 7, 1846, d. Oct. 4, 1876;
Margaret, b. July 16, 1848, d. Nov. 23, 1854;
Lt. Col. Thomas Jr., b. July 12, 1850, a member of the firm of Thomas Potter Sons & Co., Inc., and assistant quartermaster-general, National Guard of Pennsylvania ;
WILLIAM, subject of this sketch;
Margaret Potter, b. Dec. 12, 1854, wife of William H. Cox Jr .;
Henry Albert Potter, b. Dec. 19, 1856, of firm of Thomas Potter Sons & Co; James, b. 1857, d. 1867;
Charles Adams, b. Oct. 4, 1860, also of the family firm.
CAPTAIN JACOB BOWER, grandfather of Mrs. Potter, was a son of Conrad and Catharine (Huber) Bower, and was born in Reading, Berks county, Pennsyl- vania, in 1757. On June 25, 1775, at the age of eighteen years, Jacob Bower was appointed sergeant of the Reading Rifle Company, Captain George Nagel, Colo- nel William Thompson's rifle battalion, raised under resolution of Continental Congress. This company was the first of Pennsylvania troops to report for duty at General Washington's camp at Cambridge, arriving there July 18, 1775. It was composed of expert riflemen and did valiant service in the campaign around Boston. Jacob Bower was made quartermaster of Thompson's battalion, on the arrival of the whole battalion at Cambridge. With the expiration of his term of service and the transferring of the scene of action to New York, Quar- termaster Bower was commissioned first lieutenant of a company in the Flying Camp, Colonel Robert Magaw, January 18, 1776, and participated in the disas- trous battles of Long Island and Fort Washington, in which Colonel Magaw's battalion was practically destroyed. With the re-organization of Magaw's reg- iment, as the Sixth Regiment Continental Line, Lieutenant Bower was promoted to captain, February 15, 1777, and served with that regiment in all the important battles of the war. He was transferred to the Second Pennsylvania Regiment, Continental Line, January 1, 1783, when the war was practically ended. He was one of the officers of the Continental Line, who in the cantonment on the Hud- son river, May 13, 1783, formed the Society of the Cincinnati. He was also an original member of the Pennsylvania State Society of the Cincinnati, which convened at the City Tavern, Philadelphia, October 4, 1783. With the organiza- tion of the Pennsylvania militia immediately after the close of the Revolutionary war, Captain Bower was commissioned major of the First Regiment. On the breaking out of the second war for independence, Major Bower was commis- sioned by Governor Simon Snyder, brigadier-general, and he commanded the First Brigade, Sixth Division, Pennsylvania Militia, during the War of 1812-14.
It was not only in the military establishment that Jacob Bower was prominent, but in all the public affairs of his county. On June 3, 1793, he was appointed by Governor Thomas Mifflin commissioner to establish the branch of the Bank of Pennsylvania at Reading. He filled the offices of register of wills, recorder of deeds and clerk of Orphans' Court, of Berks county, from 1792 to 1799, and was county auditor, 1799-1800. He died at Womelsdorf, Berks county, August 3, 1818. The following obituary notice of him appeared in the Berks County Jour- nal, August 8, 1818:
1032
POTTER
"Died at Womelsdorf, in this county, on Monday last, aged 61 years, GENERAL JACOB BOWER. The deceased was a faithful and active officer during the whole of the Revolutionary War. He sacrificed at the shrine of Liberty, a large patrimony, but like many of the veterans of the Revolution was doomed to feel the stings of adversity in his old age".
He was buried at Zion's Lutheran Church at Womelsdorf, Berks county. Cap. tain Jacob Bower married Rebecca, daughter of Colonel Joseph Wood, one of the most intrepid officers of the Continental army in the Revolution.
General Jacob and Rebecca (Wood) Bower had six children, two of whom died in infancy. Their son, George Bower, before mentioned, the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, removed to Philadelphia and died there in 1846. Adaline Coleman (Bower) Potter, the mother of the subject of this sketch, and daughter of George and Catharine (Cameron) Bower, born August 21, 1818, died in Philadelphia, February 20, 1896.
COLONEL JOSEPH WOOD was born in the north of Ireland in the year 1721, and came with his parents, John and Jane Wood, to Pennsylvania, prior to 1740. The family settled in what became East Hanover township, Lancaster county, not far from Jonestown, now Lebanon county, and he was reared to the life of a pioneer. He was commissioned an ensign of one of the Associated Companies of Pennsylvania in 1747, and served in the French and Indian wars, serving with distinction as a lieutenant at the battle of Bushy Run in 1763. On Decem- ber 9, 1775, Continental Congress passed a resolution to raise four additional battalions in Pennsylvania, whose officers were to be recommended by the Con- mittee of Safety of the Colony. Joseph Wood, as an officer in the Provincial wars, was at once recommended for commission and received his commission as senior captain, January 4, 1776, in the Second Pennsylvania Battalion, but be- fore the battalion was completed, January 18, 1776, was promoted to major ; on July 29, to the position of lieutenant-colonel, and September 3, 1776, was commissioned colonel, commanding to succeed Colonel Arthur St. Clair, who had been commissioned brigadier-general.
The Second Pennsylvania Battalion, Colonel Arthur St. Clair; the Fourth, Colonel Anthony Wayne; and the Sixth, Colonel William Irvine, were designed for the expedition against Canada, and as fast as the companies were formed they were forwarded to the Hudson river, and five companies of the First were at Fort Edward, and on the 19th were ordered up to Fort George, fourteen miles further north, where they were joined by the other two battalions to St. John's on the Sorel. On June 2, 1776, Colonel St. Clair was ordered to attack the camp of Colonel MacLean, who had advanced as far as Three Rivers with eight hundred British Regulars and Canadians, Colonel St. Clair's command numbering six hundred men. Four days later Irvine's and Wayne's battalions were ordered to join St. Clair's and General William Thompson, of the old Pennsylvania Rifle Battalion, was placed in command, with orders to attack the British at Three Rivers unless it was found inexpedient. The command was misled in the swamps by false guides and the expedition proved a failure, and but for the intrepid daring of Colonel Wood and his command the boats of the Americans would have fallen into the hands of the enemy. The command joined Arnold in his retreat from Montreal, and after extraordinary trials and
himpotter.
1033
POTTER
vicissitudes, of forced marches through swamps, etc., long without food, of sickness and defeat the whole force reached the Isle Aux Noix, on June 19, where great numbers of the officers and men were taken sick. On June 27th, thy took vessels for Crown Point which they reached on July 5, and passed on to Ticonderoga on the 7th, Colonel Wood being severely wounded in the left leg and left arm, on the trip from Crown Point to Ticonderoga. Colonel Wood's and Wayne's battalions remained at Ticonderoga until January 24, 1777, when the Second left with General Wayne for home. On March 3, 1777, the non- commissioned officers and soldiers of Wood's battalion presented their petition to the Council of Safety in Philadelphia, where they had then been for three weeks, setting forth their arduous service for the past year
"in a Country where this Currency would not pass, or in Deserts where few of the Necessarys of Life were to be got, and if any at an extraordinary price; and endured much fatigue and hardships in Marching and hard Labour Building Breast Works, etc., and lost many of our dear friends and Acquaintances, nor Could our Rations be got as Allowed by the Honourable the Congress, as we seldom got and but Flower & Salt Pork or Beef, and all wee received in Restitution for the Remainder was some three Dollars and some Two and some none. All this we Endured with Cheerfulness, Resting on promises of being Righted (when we came to this City) in all things. But now when we have been here three weeks we
"Cannot get our Wages or Settled with on any Terms untill part is gon to Camp and part gon to See their Friends, without money to Defray their Expenses, in a Raged Dirty Condition, enough to Affright an Indian from Inlisting, many of whom Left home in Creadit and part in Town Living on the Publick Expence: And if we were paid and after seeing our Friends would freely Joyn Instantly in Defence of the Country Again".
The Third Pennsylvania Battalion, Continental Line, recruited in December, 1776, and January and February, 1777, was formed on the basis of the old Second Battalion commanded by Colonel Wood, and he was re-commissioned as its commander, but his health was so impaired by his wounds and the extra- ordinary hardships of the northern campaign, a glimpse of which we get from the above petition, that he was not able to again take the field and he resigned in July, 1777, and returned to his home in Jonestown, Lebanon county, Penn- sylvania, where he died December 18, 1788, at the age of sixty-five years. A son, Dr. William Wood, born 1766, practiced medicine at Jonestown for a long time, and died there October 11, 1834.
WILLIAM POTTER, fourth child and third son of Thomas and Adaline Cole- man (Bower) Potter, was born in Philadelphia, April 17, 1852. He received his preliminary education and prepared for college at private schools, and en- tered the University of Pennsylvania, class of 1874. He at once associated him- self with the business established by his father and was vice-president of the incorporated company of Thomas Potter, Sons & Company until 1894, when he resigned, was admitted to the Philadelphia bar and become solicitor of said corporation. An indefatigable student and deeply interested in the science of political economy he has had a notable public career. In 1890 he was appointed a special commissioner to visit Paris, London and Berlin, on behalf of the state and post office departments of the United States, and successfully negotiated the present system of sea post-offices. Again in December, 1890, he was appointed, in conjunction with the superintendent of Foreign Mails, a delegate to the Fourth Congress of the Universal Postal Union, held at Vienna in 1891. They
1034
POTTER
were given plenipotentiary powers and signed, for the United States govern- ment, a new treaty, which was immediately approved by Postmaster-General Wanamaker and President Harrison, and went into effect, October 1, 1892, be- ing among the most important achievements of President Harrison's term.
In 1892 President Harrison appointed Mr. Potter Minister to Italy, and he remained at his post until April, 1894, when he was succeeded by his fellow- townsmen, Hon. Wayne MacVeagh. He was vice-president of the British and American Archaeological Society of Rome during his stay at that capitol, and is at present one of the committee of the American School at Rome, for the study of archaeology. Mr. Potter's tenure of office as Minister to Italy included the critical period of the settlement of the complications arising from the mas- sacre of Italians at New Orleans. In 1897, as a private citizen, Mr. Potter re- ceived from Humbert, King of Italy, the decoration of the Order of SS. Maurizic e Lassaro, a special mark of appreciation from the Italian government, and further, in January, 1908, received from King Victor Emanuel III., the decoration of the Order of the Crown of Italy, as a renewed mark of the affec- tion and esteem in which he is held by the House of Savoy and the Italian Gov- ernment.
On his return from Italy in 1894, Mr. Potter, having been for years a stu- dent of the science of law, was admitted to the Philadelphia bar. In January, 1907, he was nominated by the uniform primaries of both the city and Demo- cratic parties, for the office of mayor of Philadelphia, and at the general election in February received nearly 100,000 votes against his successful opponent, John E. Reyburn. Mr. Potter is president of the Jefferson Medical College, of Phil- adelphia, a member of the Board of City Trusts, a manager of the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, a member of the Citizen's Permanent Relief Committee of Philadelphia, a member of the board of councillors of the His- torical Society of Pennsylvania, a member of the Cincinnati Society of New Jersey, of the Pennsylvania Society, Sons of the Revolution, and of the Society of the War of 1812.
Mr. Potter was married (first) at Chestnut Hill First Presbyterian Church, by the Rev. Roger Owen, D. D., April 25, 1878, to Jane Kennedy Vanuxem, daughter of the late Frederick W. and Elizabeth (Kennedy) Vanuxem. She was born at Knoxville, Tennessee, May 21, 1855, and died at Chestnut Hill, Phila- delphia, February 17, 1897. He was married (second) at Chestnut Hill by Rev. J. Andrews Harris, D. D., of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, on May 16, 1899, to Hetty Vanuxem, a sister to his first wife, born at Philadelphia, Sep- tember 4, 1864, died at Kennebunkport, Maine, August 12, 1901. They were descendants of James Vanuxem, second president of the American Fire Insur- ance Company of Philadelphia, 1815, and of Samuel Richardson, of Philadel- phia, Provincial Councillor, 1689-96, justice of Common Pleas Court, etc., of John Bevan, member of Pennsylvania Assembly, 1687-1700; and of Colonel Eli- jah Clark, a member of Provincial Congress and officer during the Revolution in New Jersey.
William and Jane Kennedy (Vanuxem) Potter had four children :
Frederick Vanuxem, b. at Chestnut Hill, Phila., Feb. 24, 1879, d. there, April 3, 1885; Adaline Coleman, b. at Chestnut Hill, Oct. 6, 1880, m. at St. Paul's Church, Chestnut
1035
POTTER
Hill by Rev. J. Andrews Harris, D. D., April 14, 1903, to Joseph Walker Wear, of St. Louis, Mo .; had issue :
William Potter Wear, b. at St. Louis, Mo., April 6, 1904;
Elizabeth Vanuxem, b. at Chestnut Hill, Jan. 8, 1883, m. at St. Paul's Church, Chestnut Hill, by Rev. J. Andrews Harris, D. D., Oct. 10, 1904, to William Ernest Goodman, Jr., son of William Ernest and Sara Iowa (Abercrombie) Goodman, of Phila. had issue :
Jane Vannxem Goodman, b. at Chestnut Hill, Phila., Aug. 29, 1906;
Alice Vanuxem, b. at Chestnut Hill, Phila., April 1I, 1886, d. at Haddonfield, N. J., April 14, 1906.
HON. HAMPTON L. CARSON
HAMPTON LAWRENCE CARSON, ex-attorney-general of Pennsylvania, is a de- scendant, on both paternal and maternal lines, from Patriots of the Revolution, who were residents of the city of Philadelphia.
The Carson family, originally Scotch, migrated to county Antrim, Ireland, in the seventeenth century. About the year 1759 there came to Philadelphia from county Antrim four children of Andrew Carson : Three sons, William, Jo- seph and Andrew, and one daugliter Mary. William, the eldest, born in Ire- land, March 25, 1728, was ten years older than his next younger brother, and was accompanied to America by his wife Mary. He was for some years pro- prietor of the noted hostelry, the sign of the Harp and Crown, at Third Street and Elbow Lane, Philadelphia. At the outbreak of the Revolution he was an ardent Patriot, and filled various commissions under the Council of Safety, and with his son, William Carson Jr., was a member of Captain Robert Smith's company, in Colonel William Bradford's Associated Battalion of Philadelphia.
Andrew Carson, the youngest son of the three brothers, married Jane Hall, March 1, 1769, and soon after that date settled in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania. The Carson family was early associated with the Second Presby- terian Church of Philadelphia, of which William was one of the trustees named in the charter from Lieutenant Governor Richard Penn, August 4, 1772.
JOSEPH CARSON, the ancestor of Hon. Hampton L. Carson, was born in county Antrim, Ireland, in 1738, and accompanied his brothers and sister to Philadelphia where he engaged in the mercantile business, and became one of the prominent merchants of that city prior to the Revolution. He was among the earliest sign- ers of the Non-importation Agreement, October 25, 1765. His place of business at that time and until 1770 was on Second Street, but at his death in 1791, he was located on North Water Street.
Joseph Carson was active in the Patriotic cause from the inception of the struggle, first for redress of the grievances of the Colonies under the oppressive and unjust impositions of the British ministry, and later for national indepen- dence. He was appointed paymaster of the Second Battalion of Associators of Philadelphia by the Supreme Executive Council, December 2, 1776; was a member and one of the originators of an organization formed for bringing to justice all Tories, whose acts were inimical to the cause of liberty; and was fre- quently appointed one of committees to carry into execution various orders of the Supreme Executive Council, and the Committee and Council of Safety; his name appearing in these capacities very frequently on the minutes of the Su- preme Executive Council. He was one of the committee to regulate the price of provisions, and to prevent the secretion or importation of supplies. He was one of the Philadelphia merchants who on September 2, 1779, presented a memorial to the Continental Congress, in reference to the stringency of money circulation, and the depreciation of Continental currency. He died in 1791, was buried at the Second Presbyterian churchyard, May 6th of that year. His
1037
CARSON
will dated May I, was proved May 6th, and mentions his children: Mary, Jo- seph, Susan, Catharine, Elizabeth and Ann.
He married, April 2, 1765, Mary, daughter of George Correy, of New Lon- don township, Chester county, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. She was born in 1743, died May, 1785.
JOSEPH CARSON, only son of Joseph and Mary (Correy) Carson, born in Philadelphia, was, like his father, a merchant in Philadelphia and carried on an extensive business. He married Elizabeth Lawrence, born 1778, buried Sep- tember 27, 1827, and they had four sons: Joseph, of whom presently; Hampton Lawrence ; George Correy, a successful merchant of Philadelphia; and Henry, also a merchant. The latter died unmarried, and Hampton Lawrence had two children, a son and daughter, both of whom died unmarried. George C. Car- son married Harriet Rosalie Morgan and left issue: G. Assheton, Elizabeth Lawrence, Henry and George C. Carson.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.