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Children of Joseph and [2] Elizabeth (Potts) Walker.

10. Lewis (39), m. Catherine, dau. of Dr. Walker of Baltimore, Md.

11. Thomas (40), m. Anna (1) dau. of James and Ruth (Savage) Hockley. Both are buried in the family graveyard at Coventry, but without tombstones.

11 1/2. Joseph, d. unm.

12. Anna (45), m. George Leonard.

Children of Derrick and [31 Mary (Potts) Clever.

13. Jonathan, m. Elizabeth Boyer.

14. Peter, m. Elizabeth Whanger, d. s. p.

15. Isaac, m. Sarah

16. John, m. a sister of his brother Peter's wife.

Of the descendants of these three brothers I have been unable to obtain any information,

(1) She was a descendant of the first Thomas Rutter, whose daughter Esther, born 13 Of 4 mo. 1703-4, married Henry Hockley. Thomas Hockley, believed to have been the son ofHenry and father of James, was a member of the Provincial Convention of Commissioners from Chester County, which appointed delegates to the Congress that voted in favor of the Declaration of Independence. He was also a colonel in the Revolutionary war.

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Children of [4] John and Ruth (Savage) Potts.

17. Thomas (So), b. at Colebrookdale, May 29, 1735 ; m. Anna Nutt at Coventry, 1757; d. in Philadelphia, 22 March, 1785. His w. survived until 2 April, 1796.

18. Samuel (60), b. November 13, 1736; m. Joannah Holland; d. at Pottsgrove, 3 July, 1793. His w. survived until 16 March, 1818.

19. John (66), b. 15 October, 1738; m. Margaret Carmick.

23. Martha (69), b. at Popodickon, 31 March, 1739-40; m. Thomas Rutter at Pottsgrove, 20 February, 1759. He d. there 17 May, 1795 ; his w. survived until 11 October, 1804 .

21. David (75), b. 4 April, 1741 ; m. Mary Aris; d. at Valley Forge, 1798.

22. Joseph (80), b. at Popodickon, 12 March, 1742; m., first, Mary Morris, 16 August, 1764, who d. 18 December, 1765 ; second, Sarah Powell, 21 January, 1768, who d. 7 January, 1773 third, Ann Mitchell, 13 October, 1774, who d. 14 September, 1778 fourth, Mary Kirkbride, 5 May, 1780. He died near Frankfort, Pa., 4 February, 1804.

23. Jonathan (91), b. at Popodickon, 1 April, 1745 ; m. 5 May, 1767, Grace Richardson; d. at Reading, October, 1781.

24. Anna (99), b. at Popodickon, 7 July, 1747; m. at Pottsgrove, 22 December, 1768, [32] David Potts. Both d. 1782.

25. Isaac (101), b. at Popodickon, 20 May, 1750; In., first, Martha Bolton, 6 December, 1770; she d. at Cheltenham, 20 April, 1798; second, Sarah Evans, 1803. He died at Cheltenham, 15 June, 1803.

26. James (113), b. at Pottsgrove, 1752 ; m. Anna Stocker, 1778 ; d.. in Philadelphia, 10 November, 1788. His widow survived him until 24 May, 1821.

27. Rebeccah (117), 17), b. at Pottsgrove, 1755 ', m. Dr. Benjamin Duffield, of Philadelphia, and d. there 4 February, 1797. lie d. December, 1799.

28. Jesse (122), b. about 1757; m. Sarah Lewis.

29. Ruth, b. about 1759 m. Peter Lohra, of Philadelphia, 9 July, 1803; d. s. p. 29 May, 1811. He d. 13 July, 1827.

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Eleven of these thirteen children founded families, and their posterity is traced in this volume. The fact that all the male descendants of the first Thomas were in the third and fourth generation merged by intermarriages into these eleven branches, makes all now bearing the name, who are descended from him, also the descendants of John.

The strong feeling of relationship still existing between those whose great-great-grandparents formed one household twenty years previous to the Revolution cannot, I think, be paralleled by any other family in this country.

This clannish feeling may be both the cause and effect of the frequent intermarriages between -the various branches ; and the large landed estate divided among them, which though much impaired by the war and the depression of business subsequent to it, prevented that emigration to the West which has widely scattered many families; for though some individuals, sought a new home in the South and West, yet a great proportion of John's posterity remain in his native State.

17. Thomas (50) was born at Colebrookdale, May 29, about (1) half an hour after one in the afternoon, A. D. 1735. He early became interested in the iron business, and established himself in Philadelphia for the sale of that material, in connection with his uncle, Thomas Yorke.. In 1757 he married Anna, the only child of his mother's sister, Rebecca Savage, and Samuel Nutt, Jr. (2) By the death of her father in 1739, (3) before she was two years old, she had become at

(1) The dates of the birth of the elder children of John Potts are copied from a document in his handwriting in the possession of the Hobart family. After his removal to Pottsgrove in 1752, where the four younger children wire born, it is probable that their names were recorded in some Bible or book that has been lost by his descendants. I am therefore unable to give the exact dates of their birth.

(2) For a further account of the. families of Nutt-and Grace, see the chapter. preceding the Appendix.

(3) Letters of administration upon his estate were issued to his widow, Rebeccah, 6 June, 1739.

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a tender age the heiress to a large improved landed estate. By this union a share of the forges and furnaces established by the two Samuel Nutts on French Creek came into the hands of Thomas Potts, and he finally bought from his wife's mother, and her second husband, Robert Grace, all their rights in Coventry. The indenture, dated March 1, 1765, was between "Robert Grace Gentleman & Rebecca his wife, formerly Rebecca Nutt, on the one part, & Thomas Potts of the city of Phil. Merchant on the other, & conveys the Messuages, Plantations, Lands, Mines, Minerals, Forges, Furnaces, Rents, Tenement, Hereditaments & Real-Estate of sd. Robert

Grace & wife or either of them, situate in- any part of sd. Province of Penn a (excepting his estate in Phil. leased to Benjamin Franklin, & his accounts against the said Benjamin Franklin, & his accounts against John Potts jr. Samuel Potts & Thomas Potts) also all & singular the Negroes, Goods, Effects, Chattels, Movables, &c. &c."Thomas Potts and his heirs agreeing to pay to Robert Grace and his wife or the survivor quarterly an annuity of one hundred and thirty pounds, lawful money of Pennsylvania.

To this deed is appended a Ion- inventory of personal property,. which passed with the estate. The negroes are thus enumerated: "One negro man named Caesar, one mulatto man named Bill Bonnet; one mulatto boy named Jim, one mulatto boy named Dick, one negro boy named Ben, one negro girl named Sall, one mulatto woman named Betty, and her youngest child named Stephen."

From the time of his marriage to Anna Nutt, Thomas Potts appears to have carried on the iron-works at Coventry in the interest of his wife; and Robert Grace, advancing in years and with failing health, was glad to relinquish his rights in the estate to a young and active man. Thomas had an establishment in Philadelphia, where his iron was sold; and in the winter his residence was in Front Street, then a fashionable quarter of the city. He was interested in the philosophic and scientific topics of the day,. as is proved by 'the fact that he was one of the original members

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of the American Philosophical Society, established in 1758, of which Franklin was the. first president. This association, the first of the kind organized in this country, has always held the highest position among kindred societies.

It is not out of place here, to make the following extract from a letter of Thomas Potts to Franklin, in 1774, proving that the contemporaries of the great philosopher did not consider him the compound of selfishness and worldly wisdom that later generations have endeavored to prove him:

"Good Mr. Philip Syng has retired into the country about ten miles from the city, where I frequently see him ; during our twenty years' acquaintance, of later years very intimate, he has told me much concerning his acquaintance with you in your younger years when you were in Philadelphia. He was saying the other day that we came upon this stage to do all the good we can. I asked him whether in the decline of life nothing, was due to self. He smiled and said, 'I wish Dr. Franklin had more of what I term self-love.'"

In 1768, according to a wish expressed in his father's will, Thomas took- the house at Pottsgrove, and the plantation on which it stood, at L6,ooo, where he probably established himself soon after that date. He was living there with his family in 1774, and, during the years of the Revolution, Washington was often his guest. The house has sometimes been called his head-quarters, and some official letters of the General-in-Chief are dated from this residence. Not many years ago, persons were still living in Pottstown who remembered to have seen, in the stately rooms of this old mansion, Washington, surrounded by his staff, in earnest Consultation over maps of the Province, with Baron Steuben, General Knox, Lord Sterling,, General Greene, General McIntosh, and Lafayette. It was here, doubtless, that Washington formed the plan to winter his army at Valley Forge on the property of Thomas's broth

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ers and cousins, who seem 'to -have' willingly relinquished their houses to accommodate the officers. Valley Forge is situated on the Schuylkill, sixteen miles below Potts-rove, and during the dark and gloomy winter of 1777 Washington and his wife were often the guests of the different members of this family. Indeed, the companionship of the wives and daughters of the Messrs. Potts seems to have been the only society of her own sex that Mrs. Washington had during that terrible winter; and many pleasant reminiscences of this friendship are still preserved by the greatgrandchildren of the recipients, who treasure with reverential care personal mementos received by their ancestors from the hands of the General and his wife. And here I wish to express an opinion, which I have had some opportunity of forming from facts, that no opportunity ever lived who was placed during his lifetime and by his own contemporaries on such a pinnacle of fame as General Washington; a lock of his hair was sought as a great gift by his intimate friends, carefully treasured, and handed down to posterity; his words and actions were stored up in the hearts of all who came into his presence, even when he was the unsuccessful leader of a' poor forlorn hope; his life before it was glorified by death impressed his own generation very differently from any other person whose name is written on the scroll of fame; the very universality of this reverential feeling raised up some jealous and envious spirits, who assailed him with false accusations, but they were so utterly disbelieved by the mass of his countrymen that Washington's friends prevailed upon him to strike out all allusion to these calumnies in his Farewell Address.

At the commencement of the troubles with the mother-country, Thomas Potts espoused the patriotic side, and was elected a member of the Assembly from Philadelphia County in 1775; during that critical period he was active in the cause of liberty, and a

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member of many important committee s. He was chairman of the committee appointed to inquire into the conduct of the Council of Safety (1) respecting the engagement of the armed galleys and the king's ships in the river Delaware. He was also chairman of another important committee, in the spring Of 1776, to examine the works erected for the defence of the Colony, and to report what other fortifications were necessary; they were to "request the Commander-in-Chief of the forces, and other general officers and engineers in the city, to afford them advice and assistance in this important matter." One of the first subjects that came before this Assembly, in 1775, was a letter from John Hancock, President of, Congress, asking the members to use their utmost endeavor to raise several new battalions, and promising that Congress would issue commissions to the persons they determined on for officers. In February, 1776, Thomas Potts was appointed by Congress one of the three captains of a regiment of riflemen, which appears to have been a Continental, and not a State corps. In the great need of soldiers at this period, he showed his zeal for the public good, by raising a battalion, of which 'he was commissioned colonel by Congress, expending liberally his large means, and using his personal influence in Chester and Berks County to fill up his companies, and even, it is said, arming and equipping them at his own expense; family tradition to this effect seems to be borne out by public documents,

(1) The Committee or Council of Safety, often alluded to in this volume, was appointed by the Provincial Assembly in 1775; the early commissions to the officers of the Associators of the counties were issued-by them, and their seal during the first year was printed on the official paper; it was an inch and a half in diameter, having the word "seal " in large letters within a horizontal border, and a bundle of lictors' faces behind it, and around the edge the words 11 Liberty, Safety, and Peace." In 1776 they had obtained a very elegant seal for a wax impression two inches in diameter; the device was a liberty-cap on a staff, each half an inch long, encircled by the legend, " This is my right, and I will defend it," and upon the outer edge, " Pennsylvania Council of Safety, 1776."

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and is corroborated by the following minute in Colonial records: "Mr. Redman was directed to pay Peter Lowre L 73 11 s. for arms," taken from non-associators to be charged to Colonel Thomas Potts and Captain Shifler."

In the journal of the Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, under date August 23, 1776, is the following: "This morning at eight o'clock two companies of Colonel Potts's (1) battalion halted at the Providence (2) church. I was requested to say a word of exhortation to them in English and German, as they were departing to camp in Jersey, and were members of the Episcopal and Protestant churches. English on 1st Sam. 17. German on the Twenty-seventh Psalm." No more appropriate chapters could have been selected from sacred writ. Our little force, without skill and poorly equipped, going out to meet the disciplined regiments of the British army, might well be compared to the shepherd David, with sling and stone, going forth to try his arms with the champion of the Philistines. To those Germans from the mines and iron-works of the Manatawny region who could not understand the English of the good old German pastor, the soul-stirring words in their native tongue, "Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear," strengthened many a fainting spirit. After the arrival of the battalion in Philadelphia, the provincial government provided food for them, as appears by the following record:

"Council of Safety, Aug 27, 1776. Col. Thomas Potts battalion L2. 18.6, to be charged to Congress.' ' Sept. 6, 1776, Mr. Nesbitt was directed to pay diet for five companies of Col. Potts' battalion, viz.: Capt. Pretzman,

(1) Congress had ordered that a battalion should consist of eight companies, of sixty-eight privates each, and a company of light infantry.

(2) This was a Lutheran church on' the way between Pottsgrove and Philadelphia; it is often called the Trappe, from a Swedish word, signifying steps or stairs. It was in the charge of Dr. Muhlenberg, a clergyman from the University of Halle, whose son became distinguished as a general in the Revolution. Both lie buried in this churchyard.

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Capt Derringer, Capt Bishop, Capt. Potts, (1) Capt. Richards, to be charged to Congress."

Colonel Potts was a member of the Convention assembled at the State House in Philadelphia, 9 July, 1776, for the purpose of forming a new government, or as the Provincial conference which met in May to arrange rules for the election of this body expressed it, "For suppressing all authority in this Province derived from the Crown of Great Britain, and for establishing a government upon the authority of the people only."

This Convention was ordered to consist of eight members from each county and eight from the city. Colonel Potts was elected from Philadelphia County. His devotion to the cause of Colonial independence greatly impaired his fortune, and he did not live to enjoy any substantial benefit from the change of government. His children lost greatly by the depreciation in money and real estate, as well as from other causes; and none of his descendants, as far as I can learn, have ever based any claim upon government for office, emolument, or education upon the patriotism of their ancestor. The letters addressed to Colonel Potts by Franklin and Washington I have been unable to find, but have heard of one from the latter in an autograph collection.

The following account of the discovery of Schuylkill coal I began to prepare several years ago, for the purpose of putting it on record in the books of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. In conversing with the members of that society upon the subject, I have not found one able to give me any information about the lottery to render the Schuylkill navigable, or who even remember to have heard of it. Two eminent Philadelphia antiquarians, who took the trouble to look for an account of it in Colonial records, stated to

(1) Nathaniel, a nephew of Colonel Thomas Potts.

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me afterwards, both verbally and in writing, that it had nothing to do with coal. I shall prove in these pages that it had, and give the credit of the discovery of this important mineral, where it rightfully belongs, to Colonel Thomas Potts. The principal facts here recorded I received more than twenty years ago from his grandchildren, my husband's mother being his last surviving child. The papers which I shall cite were hers, and are now in my possession. To corroborate family tradition, I sought with success in the printed volumes of the Proceedings and Reports of the Legislature, and the acts and laws of that body. I not only found there coal mentioned as the first important product to be brought to market on the river, to which no allusion had been made in any previous acts, but the extreme point for which commissioners were appointed is printed in full at the " Coal mines on Schuylkill at Basler Saw-mill." I found there greater proofs than I had expected of the details of the scheme of which so many reminiscences still linger in the minds of the grandchildren of its projector.

Anthracite coal is limited in extent, and almost confined to the State of Pennsylvania. It is estimated to embrace an area of four hundred and thirty-seven square miles, and is divided into three fields, the largest of which is the Southern, or Schuylkill, containing an area of one hundred and sixty-four square miles of workable -coal. The discovery of the great coal basin of Schuylkill County has been attributed to various individuals, but no printed account has plated it as far back as the year 1783. 1 purpose in this chapter to put on record for future historians facts that are well known. to many members of the Potts family through records and tradition; the latter I shall verify by reference to legal documents and acts of Assembly. But first I will make extracts from what has been printed and received as the early history of this discovery:

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"Norwegian township(1) is bounded on the north by Broad Mountain, northeast by Schuylkill township, south by Manheim, southwest by Branch and Barry, and west by Mahantango township.

"This township, though covered with mountains and hills, and containing little arable land of good quality, is one of the most important ones in Schuylkill County, if not in the State, and has been the scene of wondrous improvements . . . . . Before 1790 there were, comparatively speaking, few settlers north of the Blue or Kittatinny Mountains, within the limits of Schuylkill County. About the years 1795 or 96, two individuals, Lewis Reese and Isaac Thomas, settled on the north side of the well-known Schneid Berg, i.e. Sharp (2) Mountain in Schuylkill Gap, having purchased a tract of land-and erected a small furnace, carrying it on for some time. They sold it to John Pott of District township, Berks County."

The author in a note adds that this John Pott's father, Wilhelm Potts, (3) came to America in 1734, with eighty-nine Palatines from Rotterdam; and goes on to say that, according to the statement of Abraham Pott, the son of John, the first coal was discovered here in 1807, when digging the foundation of a furnace. In an account of the " early history and development of coal in Schuylkill County," (4) the authors of which were residents of Pottsville, is the following: " The first traditional account we have of the discovery of coal in the Schuylkill -region is about 1790, when Nicho Allen, a noted hunter and somewhat notorious character, who lived on the Broad Mountain at the 'Black Cabin,' or Big Spring, discovered stone coal at the foot of Broad Mountain. No written account of his discovery has ever come to our notice, though we have often heard the traditional account." The next mention of the early history of coal in Schuylkill is in the Trans-

(1) History of Schuylkill County, p. 271.

(2) Another name was Gobble Barrack.

(3) This name, it is said, was at first spelt Putt, and some of the children of John spell it so still.

(4) By Daddow and Brannon, p. 150.

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actions of the Coal-mining Association" of that county, where it is stated that a blacksmith by the name of Whetstone used it in his smithy about 1795; and his success induced several to dig for coal, and, when found, to attempt to bum it, but the difficulty was so great they gave up in disgust. In the same article mention is made of "a Mr. William Morris, who owned a large tract of land near Port Carbon, who took a wagon-load of coal to Philadelphia, but was unable to bring it into notice, or induce the honest Quakers to buy his rocks. He returned, sold his lands, abandoned his plans, and retired from the business in disgust. In 1812, Colonel George Shoemaker of Pottsville loaded nine wagons of coal from his mines at Centreville, and with these proceeded to Philadelphia, hoping to find a market; but the experience of Philadelphians with anthracite or stone coal was very unfavorable, and the persistent attempt to impose rocks on them roused their indignation, and Colonel Shoemaker was denounced as a knave and a scoundrel; he sold two loads, and gave the rest away, and some of the purchasers obtained a writ from the authorities of the city for his arrest as an impostor and a swindler."

The report of S. J. Packer to the State Senate, in 18,34, -on the coal regions, does not place the knowledge of the existence of coal earlier than 1790, and gives substantially the same account as the preceding ones. Watson's "Annals of Philadelphia" says: "Messrs.* Potts explored various places along the old Sunbury Road for coal, but without success. A Mr. William Morris afterwards became the proprietor of most of the coal lands at the head of our canal. He found coal, and took some quantity to Philadelphia about the year 1800 ; but all his efforts to bring it into use failed, and he abandoned the project, and sold his lands to their late proprietor, Mr. Potts."

(1) This indefinite record may refer to the explorations of Thomas and Samuel Potts.

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It is often said that the discoveries most beneficial to mankind are made by ignorant men, while scientists are the last to render such service to the world. In the case of the discovery of Schuylkill anthracite the facts are decidedly in favor of science.

Colonel Thomas Potts, of Pottstown and Coventry, had from his earliest years been instructed in metallurgy; his father and both his grandfathers and his great-grandfather had been engaged in developing the iron interests of the Province from the discovery of ore in its bosom, and there was not in the Thirteen Colonies any one more skilled in the knowledge of metals and mining than he. Like most country gentlemen, the pleasure of the chase was a recreation often indulged in; and tradition reports him "a mighty hunter." That he was a good marksman is confirmed by the fact of his commission as captain in a rifle regiment. At the close of the Revolutionary war, in which we have seen that Colonel Potts had taken an active part, he went, as was his occasional custom, with his servants and Indian guides, to hunt in the wilderness of the Tuscarora Mountains. This region was full of the wild animals of the country, -deer, bears, panthers, and smaller game not having yet retreated before the step of advancing civilization; and near the present site of Pottsville was a favorite- Indian camping-ground.

Here Colonel Potts established himself to pursue his sylvan sport; one day as he stooped to drink at the west branch of the Norwegian Creek, he noticed in the stream some black stones, which with the instinct of a geologist he at once picked up and examined; his knowledge of ores assured him that this was coal, though unlike the English coal then in use; when he returned home he carried with him a package of the new mineral, and tried its combustible qualities in one of his own forges. By experiments he was satisfied that he had found what was of great value in his business, for no doubt even then fears were entertained that the

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forests (1) in the neighborhood of the iron mines would soon fail. Well assured of the value of his new mineral, Colonel Potts at once began to secure its possession. He took up to the Tuscaroras men from his iron mine skilled in boring for ores, who made, under his direction, such discoveries of the situation of the coal-beds, that he' entered into negotiations with the owners of the land for its purchase.

This consisted of ten tracts, comprising twenty-eight hundred acres, and had been surveyed to various persons, the first warrant in 1765; in 1775 and 1776 they had come into the possession of Thomas, Simon, and Henry Basler and two other Germans. It would appear that the Baslers erected a saw-mill, and in 1782 had conveyed it and the land whereon it stood to Baltzer Gehr and Charles Shoemaker. Colonel Potts associated with him in the purchase his brother Samuel and nephew Nathaniel Potts, and his cousin Samuel Baird; Colonel Francis Nichols, (2) and his son William, General Arthur St. Clair, (3) and Sharp Delany; (4) the latter were

(1) The immense amount of wood consumed at Warwick, five or six thousand cords annually, was well known to, him from his own interest there. The estimate given to Colonel Byrd in his "Progress to the Iron Mines" of Virginia, of two square miles of forest for a large furnace, is greatly underrated, as any one can calculate, allowing twenty-five cords to the acre, and the same number of years to elapse before chestnut wood, the favorite tree for this work, would grow up again.

(2) Colonel Francis Nichols was an officer in the army of the Revolution, and was appointed by Washington the first marshal of the district of Pennsylvania. He was also a member of Congress.

(3) General Arthur St. Clair's military career is too well known to require a note. He lived several years in Pottstown, and has been described to me by an aged resident, who remembers his appearance, as looking more like a beggar than a military chieftain, his wornout habiliments, and his sorry beast with ragged bridle and saddle, made him an object of interest to all the children of the neighborhood whenever he rode abroad, and no doubt im-: pressed on their youthful minds the copy-book lesson that republics are ungrateful. He was a member of Congress from 1785 to 1787

(4) Sharp Delany was a native of Ireland. He was a druggist in Philadelphia before the

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intimate friends of long standing, who could be trusted with the secret, and all had done good service to their country. On the 25th of March, 1784, a deed was issued to these eight gentlemen by Baltzer Gehr and Charles Shoemaker, both of the county of Berks for the "Norwegian tract," "in consideration of the sum of two thousand pounds gold and silver money of Pennsylvania to them in hand paid."

This land was, the deed recites, in ten tracts or parcels of land over the Blue Mountain," one on the east branch of Schuylkill, containing two hundred and nineteen acres and ninety-two perches; the second situate between the Tuscarora Rid es on the forks of the west branch of Schuylkill, containing three hundred and thirteen acres and three quarters; the third adjoining the first abovementioned tract, containing three hundred and twenty-eight acres and one hundred and twenty-three perches; the fourth situate on Mill Creek, containing two hundred and ten acres; the fifth situate between the Tuscarora Ridges, containing two hundred and eightythree acres; the sixth situate on Schuylkill in Berks County, containing two hundred and twenty acres; the seventh situate on a branch entering the west side of Schuylkill between the Tuscarora Mountain, containing two hundred acres; the seventh on Norwegian Creek over the Blue Mountains, containing three hundred and thirty-seven acres and one hundred and thirty-one perches; the eighth situate on Mill Creek, adjoining two of the above-mentioned tracts, containing three hundred and twenty-one acres and eight perches; the ninth situate on the east and west side of Schuylkill main branch, containing two hundred acres; the tenth a tract ad

(1) Revolution, and an active member of the committee of merchants, prior to the establishment of the Federal Constitution, in preparing the measures for the regulation of commerce. He subscribed L500 to supply the army in 1780, and enjoyed the friendship and confidence of all the public men of the day Washington appointed Sharp Delany collector of the port of Philadelphia, which office he held until his death.

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joining the saw-mill land, of two hundred and twenty acres, of which a resurvey gave fifty more: all of them described more particularly in the deed; and with the usual allowance for roads and highways, the only improvement on these ten tracts was a certain messuage or tenement, and water saw-mill."To show how very secret had been the proceedings of the discovery of the coal, no. mention is made in the deed of any minerals, but the conveyance reads, "together with all and singular the houses, buildings, and improvements, mills, milldams, tackle and furniture, Woods, ways, waters, water-courses, rights, liberties, privileges, immunities, hereditaments, and appurtenances whatsoever to the same belonging."

Although the ten tracts had been surveyed by Ellis Hughes and William Scull, and sold to various parties, and the sum of L2,000 in gold and silver paid in 1784 to the owners of it, according to the before-named deed, yet a patent wa's issued by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the 14th of February, 1788; for each of these ten tracts. One of them, in possession of the writer of this volume, is as follows:

"The Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

To all to whom these presents shall Come. Greeting.

"Know ye that in Consideration of the Sum of Sixty-four pounds lawful

money paid by Arthur St. Clair Esq. William Morris Luke Morris & Samuel Potts into the Receiver General's office of this Commonwealth there is granted by the said Commonwealth to the said Arthur St. Clair William Morris Luke Morris & Samuel Potts a certain tract of land called " Norway " situate on the back side of the Tuscarora Mountain in Brunswick township Berks Co. beginning at a corner Hickorey in the line of Ellis Hughes' land thence by the same land of William Scull & vacant land

(1) This deed is recorded in Book A, Vol. I I. page 229, etc., at Reading, in Berks County.

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North twenty degrees West one hundred & thirty-nine perches to a Pine -tree thence by vacant land north seventy degrees east three hundred & thirty-seven perches to a Spruce tree thence by the same land of William Scull & other vacant land south twenty degrees East one hundred & ninety one perches to a Do-wood thence by land of Ellis Hughes south seventy degrees west two hundred & one perches to a post in the line of Michael Brights land thence by the same north twenty degrees west fifty-two perches to a Pine tree & south seventy degrees West one hundred & thirty-six Perches to the place of Beginning containing three hundred. & thirty-seven acres & one hundred & thirty-one perches, & allowance of six per cent for Roads &c. with the Appurtenances. Which said Tract was surveyed in pursuance of an application No. 1516 entered the 21St of May 1766 by Ellis Hughes whose right by virtue of diverse Conveyances became vested in Arthur St. Clair William Morris Luke Morris & Samuel Potts Thomas Potts & Nathaniel Potts in the proportions hereinafter mentioned & the said Thomas Potts & Nathaniel Potts are since deceased & the said Samuel Potts is appointed their Administrator. To have & to hold five full equal & undivided eighth parts the whole into eight equal parts to be divided of & in the said Tract or parcel of land with the appurtenances unto the said Arthur St. Clair William Morris & Luke Morris & their heirs to & for the uses following. As for & concerning one of the said eighth. parts to the' uses of the said Arthur St. Clair his Heirs & Assigns & as for & concerning four of the said eighth parts to the use of the said William Morris & Luke Morris their Heirs & assigns forever as Tenants in Common & not as joint Tenants & to have & to hold & other three full equal & undivided eighth part of & in the same land & premises with the Appurtenances unto the said Samuel Potts & his heirs to & for the uses following as for & concerning one of the said eighth part to the use of the said Samuel Potts his heirs & assigns forever as for & concerning one other eighth part thereof in Trust to & for the use of the heirs of the said-Thomas Potts deceased & as for & concerning, the other eighth part thereof in Trust to & for the use of the heirs of' the said Nathaniel Potts deceased & for no other uses whatever free & clear of all Restrictions & Reservations as to Mines Royalties Quit Rents or otherwise excepting, & reserving only the fifth part of all Gold & Silver ore for the use of this Commonwealth to be delivered at the Pit's mouth clear of

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all Charges in witness whereof the Hon'ble Peter Muhlenberg Esq. Vice President of the Supreme Executive Council hath hereto set his hand & caused the State seal to be hereto affixed in council the 14th day of February in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & eighty-eight & of the Commonwealth the Twelfth.

"Attest CHARLES BIDDLE Jun. Enrolled in the Rolls office of the State of Penna in Patent book No. 12 page 216. Witness my band & seal of office the 22d March 1788.

NATH IRWIN, M. R.

This patent is handsomely engrossed on parchment, and is sealed with three seals. The largest appears to be the present arms of. Pennsylvania, but on the reverse is the figure of Liberty, with sword and cap, trampling upon a prostrate lion, with the legend, "Both can't thrive."

The nine remaining patents are in the keeping of the Secretary of the Land Office, and the record of the ten surveys can be found in the Surveyor-General's office.

The exceeding care taken to secure the right to the land, first by purchase with gold and silver money, then bearing a high advance, and afterwards by patent from government, the association of active men of Philadelphia of high social position and political interest, evidently bound to-ether for some special object, all point, even without corroborating circumstances, to an undertaking more extensive than the mere acquisition of a tract of wild land in the then remote part of Pennsylvania. The land having been paid for in March, 1784, would lead to the supposition that Colonel Potts's discovery was made early the previous winter. Hostilities with the mother-country ceased in April, 1783 ; and doubtless he went in December of that year to his favorite hunting-grounds. During the war such an excursion would have been hazardous, on account of hostile Indians.

The next step, after the purchase of the land where the coal lay

Third Generation. - 139

embedded, was to provide some way of bringing it to market, and to the forges and furnaces near the Schuylkill.

The subject of the navigation of this river had several times been brought before the Assembly during the Colonial period. The Act Of 176 1 describes it as a shallow mountain stream, obstructed " by rocks and bars of sand and. gravel in diverse parts of the same," and " navigable for rafts, boats, and other small craft in time of high freshes only," and states that if it were made navigable, it would be " advantageous to the poor, conducive to the promotion of industry, and beneficial to the inhabitants residing near said river to bring the produce of the country to the market of the city of Philadelphia, and thereby increase the trade and commerce of the Province and as diverse of the inhabitants had subscribed large sums of money for the purpose, and for preserving the fish," the Assembly proceeded to name commissioners to carry out the act, and John Potts was one thus appointed. To show that he accepted the trust and was active in the work, I copy the following from the accounts of the Treasurer of Pennsylvania in 1769, under the head of " Accounts of the Commissioners for clearing and making navigable the Schuylkill": -

Expenses of the Commissioners and others at their different meetings paid

by John Potts, Esq. deceased, as per his account,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L42. 1. 0

Rum for the workmen pd. by ditto,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18. 13. 10 1/2

Powder for blowing up the rocks pd. by ditto, . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 162. 13 6

Also the following receipt found among his papers, indorsed "A subscription for clearing the Schuylkill

Peter Reeves, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 0 0

Reese Meredith, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 0 0

David Deshler,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 0 0

William Henry,. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . 2 14 0

Aquilla ]ones, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 2 19 0

John Biddle,, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 0 0

140 - Third Generation.

John Ruley Estate,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 10 0

Recd of John Ord

Joseph Saunders,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 10 0

Daniel Williams,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 0 0

L30 4 0

DAVID DAVIS.

L30 4 0

In 1773 the subject was again brought before the Assembly, and it was stated that several of the Commissioners had died in the twelve years since the passage of the previous (among whom act was John Potts), and new ones were appointed to take their places. At this date John's eldest son, Thomas, was made a commissioner, and in 1781, when another act was passed, be was still continued in office.

The subject of the navigation of the Schuylkill forms a singular episode in Colonial history, which the limits of this volume only allow me to allude to. About 1769 it seems to have been a perfect battle-cry, and the files of newspapers at that date are full of notices and descriptions of contending interests.

Column after column of the small sheets of that period are filled with communications from- "Candidus," "Justus," and other Latin noms de plume, while one constant correspondent writes over the satirical signature of Schuylkillus Ironicus." One of the particular points. in question appears ears to have been, whether Charles Norris's dam should be removed or allowed to stand, and in the proceedings of the Legislature of that date is a petition from his widow about it. Parties ran high upon. this local project, and more prominence is 'given to it in the newspapers than to the oppressive acts of Parliament which were soon to sever the Colonies from the mother-country.

Third Generation. - 141

All the above acts, and the interest occasioned by them, were for the preservation of the fish and removing obstructions in the' river, and none had contemplated clearing it above Reading, for beyond that point lay the primeval forest and the mountains forty miles above; but the act passed in March, 1784,(1) was made for a different purpose, as the preamble states, " improving the navigation of the, Schuylkill . . . . will furnish the country adjoining the same and the city of Philadelphia with coal, masts, spars, boards, etc. etc., and that diverse of the inhabitants ask that some effectual steps may be taken, the laws previously enacted being inadequate for want of funds."

To meet this want, the act authorized a lottery Of $42,000, (2) half of which was to be appropriated to improving the public roads leading from Philadelphia, and half to the navigation of the Schuylkill. Another act was passed the same month, appointing commissioners consisting of twenty-two persons, of which David Rittenhouse, the philosopher, was chairman, and Samuel Potts treasurer. The river was parcelled out to two or three of these gentlemen for each fifteen miles or so. The extreme end towards the mountains reads: " From the mouth of Tamaquay Creek to the Coal Mines on Schuylkill, at Basler Saw-mills." One of these last three was Samuel Baird, a cousin of Thomas Potts, and probably a person appointed by him to superintend the coal mines, or to attend to laying out the lines, as he was by profession a surveyor. It will be observed that in the preceding pages I have stated that, from the certified copy of the deed in my possession, a large part of the ten tracts and the saw-mill belonged to Thomas, Simon, andHenry Basler, and that Gehr and Shoemaker had only owned the tract for two years.

(1) Laws of Pennsylvania, republished by A. J. Dallas, 1793, Vol II. pp. 178-182.

(2) Recorded in Law Book III, p. 70. Obsolete.

142 Third Generation.

The commission appointed by the act Of 1784 was ordered to meet at the inn (1) of Jacob Witz, in Pottstown, Philadelphia County, (2) at ten o'clock on the first Tuesday of May, June, July, August, September, and October next, and " those commissioners who neglect to attend shall pay a fine of five pounds."Samuel Potts was to give bonds to the President and Council for L5,000 for the faithful performance of his trust, and was empowered to draw out of the Bank of North America a all such sums of money as were deposited in the same, for improving the navigation of said river, by the managers of the public lottery of the State. For paying the 'drafts of money expended by the commissioners, he was to be allowed ten shillings on every hundred pounds. " And that each of the commissioners, whilst on the business aforesaid, receive for his services seven shillings and sixpence per diem."

November 30, 1784, (3) another act was passed to provide means for accelerating the sale of tickets, and to make further regulations for drawing the lottery; and another in February, 1786.

I have thus proved from printed State documents that coal mines were known to exist on the Schuylkill early in 1784, and that Colonel Potts and his associates had actually, previous to that time, bought and paid for them.

It is well remembered in his family, that, when these deeds were executed, he remarked that this would be a fortune for his children, if he did not live to see it.

If he had not died during the next year, there is little doubt that anthracite coal would have been brought into use thirty or forty years earlier than it was, for he had interested the two great phi-

(1) This was situated at the comer of High and Yorke Streets, and I find it is now called toyer's old tavern.

(2) The following year this part of Philadelphia County was set off into a new county, called Montgomery.

(3) Dallas's Laws, p. 231.

Third Generation. - 143

losophers hers of the day, Franklin and Rittenhouse, in the project, who would soon have popularized a method for burning it. Though the death of Thomas was a great blow to the company, yet Samuel never lost his faith in the ultimate value of the coal. The Nicholses, Delany, and Samuel Baird appear to have been discouraged, and before the patents were issued, in 1788, had sold out their rights to William and Luke Morris.

For four years the affair must have been prosecuted with vigor, for the lottery was drawn in 1788, and by act of Assembly in March of that year. the proceeds were appropriated, one moiety to improve the Lancaster Road, the other to the navigation of the Schuylkill.

The following extract from Franklin's will, made in 1788, proves that he had been interested in the scheme: "Out of the salary that remains due to me as President of the State, I give the sum of L2,000 to my executors, to be by them paid to such persons as the Legislature of the State shall appoint by an act of Assembly to receive the same, in trust, to be employed in making the Schuylkill navigable'' But in a codicil added in 1789 he revokes the bequest in these words: " In July last I bequeathed L2,000 to the State for making the Schuylkill navigable; but understanding since that such a sum will do but little towards the accomplishing such a work, and that the project is not likely to be undertaken for many years to come, and having entertained another idea which I hope may be found more extensively useful, I do hereby revoke," etc., etc. The above shows, I think, that the coal project was abandoned in 1788, and principally on account of the death of its projector, Thomas Potts. In 1792, at the suit of Samuel, (1) the

(1) This sale and purchase by Samuel led to an estrangement between the families of the two brothers during many years ; for the widow and children of Thomas, knowing the value be had attached to this property, believed they were deprived of what would eventually prove a great fortune.

A similar case occurred between the two brothers Luke and William Morris, the latter having obtained all the benefit of the ownership of the Morris share of the coal lands.

Third Generation. - 144

share of the Norwegian tract held by the heirs of his brother Thomas, for whom he was trustee, was seized for debt and taxes, and offered at public sale, when he became the purchaser for the sum of one. hundred and thirty-five pounds in gold and silver, less than half its original cost, for in 1784 "hard money" bore an extravagant premium. By this means, he and the two brothers Morris became owners of the whole tract. Samuel never lost his belief in the value of the mines, and in 1792, when Isaac Thomas and Lewis Reese bought of him the land and the wood upon it for the purpose of converting the forest into lumber in the saw-mill on the premises, be reserved in the deeds the right to all minerals and coal, which the purchasers, considering worthless, were perfectly willing to allow. It appears from a legal paper in my possession, that Rees and Thomas reconveyed to Samuel Potts all the coal, with the privilege of digging making roads, etc.

It was this right which in 1826 was known in the courts as the "Potts reserve claim." At that date, Thomas, the discoverer, had been dead over forty years, and Samuel more than a quarter of a century; the right (1) reserved by the latter had descended to his children, and Nathaniel-Potts Hobart a son of his only daughter Sarah,. bought out the other heirs and prosecuted the claim.

John Potts, a grandson of Samuel, wrote to me a year ago as follows: "I recollect perfectly well when my brother David was called upon to sign the deed conveying my father's interest in the coal mines to N. P. Hobart for the small sum of one thousand or eleven hundred dollars" (this was a fifth of one half of the original purchase). "He said he did it with extreme reluctance, and looked. upon the sale as giving the property away just as it was about to become valuable."

The claim was tried in the courts, the judge deciding that no

(1) It is not mentioned in his will, of which I have a copy.

Third Generation. - 145

lapse of time could bar the right. Mr. Hobart then received from persons working the mines what was at the time considered a large sum. I have heard it variously estimated at one and two hundred thousand dollars; as it was paid by different individuals and companies- at various times, it is impossible to name the amount with any accuracy, but it may be set down, according to those best acquainted with the affair, as over one hundred thousand dollars, which is small when compared with the hundreds of millions received for the coal by those who have since worked the Norwegian tract.

It is a little sin ular that this case, so well known to the inhabitants of Pottsville and the neighborhood, has not led 'Some inquirer into the early history of the coal in Schuylkill County to investigate the subject, and print a true statement of at least the purchase of the land in 1783 - 84 for the purpose of mining the coal it contained.

A very general impression prevails in the family that Colonel Potts was elected a member of Congress soon after the close of the war. I have some reason to think that his nomination may have been intended by the Assembly, and that General St. Clair, an active associate in this coal business, was elected instead, and served from 1785-1787. The fact that Colonel Potts represented Chester County in the Legislature of Pennsylvania at the time of his death, in 1785, does not seem sufficient basis for the above tradition, because he had held that office as early as 1775, and from 1720 some member of the family had represented Philadelphia, Berks, or Chester Counties. As the tradition comes down, the fact is stated that death prevented him from taking his seat I have no means of knowing the truth of this, and merely mention it in connection with General St. Clair's election and his interest in the coal mines.

146 - Third Generation.

About the year 1800 John Put, son of the before-named Wilhelm, from Rotterdam, purchased a portion of the Norwegian tract, and established a forge; and in 1816, when the coal began to attract attention, he laid out the town of Pottsville, which is said to have been named for him. It is a singular coincidence that the name should thus commemorate the first discoverer of the coal. Two neighboring villages are called St. Clair and Morrisville, in memory of persons who were associated with Thomas and Samuel Potts in the purchase of the land.

No relationship is known to exist between the family of Put and the subjects of this memorial. One of the grandsons of Wilhelm was living a few years ago in the neighborhood of Pottstown, who still spelt his name Put. A survival of Norway and the Norwegian tract appears in Norwegian Street, Pottsville. In 1812, when Shoemaker took several loads of coal to Philadelphia, a son of Colonel Potts, then living there, who knew his father's belief in its value, had some of it carried to a smith named Goodman, at the corner of Crown and Callowhill Streets, who was engaged in casting cannon for government, and after much persuasion induced him to try it; but from want of proper knowledge and means for burning it, Goodman declared it worthless, saying he could heat it as he could a stone, but that it would not burn.

One of the slaves of Colonel Potts who assisted the French Creek miners to bore for coal, and carried the chain for the surveyor who laid off the land, lived to an advanced age, and is still remembered by several of the grandchildren of his former owner. His name was Peter Sebastian. His master -gave him the trade of a shoemaker, and freed him. His talk about the coal mines on Schuylkill, a knowledge of which he must have gained as an eye-witness (for the subject was one then unknown to most of his white countrymen), is still recollected by the older descendants of Colonel Potts.

Third Generation.. - 147

Colonel Potts's career was suddenly terminated at Philadelphia, March 22, 1785, while attending the session of the Legislature, of which he was a member. In the journal of that body his vote is recorded on Saturday, March 19. He went home to Coventry to spend Sunday with his family, and riding down on horseback the following day through the muddy roads of that inclement season, his riding-boots became very much splashed, and he dismounted at a pump in High Street to have them washed before entering the House. The effect of the sudden shock to his feet threw the gout to his head, and he expired before morning. The following obituary appeared in Bradford's Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser," March 30, 1785:

On Tuesday, the 22d instant, departed this life in this city Thomas Potts, Esq., a Representative for Chester County in the present General Assembly, in the fifty-first year of his age. His remains were removed to Coventry, the place of his family residence, and there interred on Friday last. His funeral was attended by a numerous concourse of relatives, friends, and neighbors, sincerely lamenting the loss of a person held in universal esteem by all who had acquaintance with him. Of this gentleman it may with truth be affirmed, that in the different relationships of husband, father, brother, master, neighbor, or friend he was excelled by few. The true interests of his country engaged his close attention, his assiduity in the duties of the station he filled imperilled the care of his health. Anxious to execute the trust reposed in him by his constituents, he flattered himself that he, might safely venture abroad to take his seat in the Assembly as soon as a severe fit of gout in his feet had abated. In this he was deceived by a sudden return of that disorder to his head, which in about six hours put a period to his existence. His religious sentiment and irreproachable deportment are a firm basis upon which his friends may build a reasonable hope that he has exchanged a life of pain for eternal bliss."

The descendants of Colonel Potts are still known as the Coventry branch of the family, although that estate has long since passed

148 Third Generation.

into other hands. It is a singular coincidence that Thomas, Earl of Coventry, who died in 1711, left a widow, who married Thomas Savage , of Elmley Castle, Worcestershire; and it is not impossible that Samuel Savage was his younger brother, and that the eldest son of the latter was named for him, and this place called in honor of the Countess of Coventry.

The view of the house given in this volume is from a photograph taken October, 1872. The large trees on the right of the picture are the pecan, not a common tree as far north as Pennsylvania, and said to have been planted there by Colonel Potts's son, who brought the nuts or. the young plants from New Orleans.

Mrs. Anna (Nutt) Potts survived her husband until 21st April, 1796. ..She was buried by his side in the family graveyard at Coventry, where three generations of her ancestors and many relatives were already interred, and where some of her descendants in the third and fourth generation now repose. Two white marble slabs, with the following inscriptions mark the spot:

Mrs. Robert Grace bought back part of the Coventry estate, and the children of Colonel Potts were many of them married and buried at this beautiful spot.

A married granddaughter, whose life had been spent there, writing to her aunt in 1821, thus feelingly mentions the projected sale of the property, and expresses the wish that her aunt's husband would buy it: "The place has never belonged to any other than our family since it was settled,(1) and I cannot bear the thought of

(1) Samuel Nutt received a warrant to have the land surveyed in 1718.

Third Generation. - 149

its going into the hands of strangers ; to see some rough, insensible being placed in the room of those that were so dear to me; to leave the dear remains of my ancestors exposed to the mercy of some rough Dutchman. 0, my dear aunt, the reflection is. painful in the. extreme! I wish I were able to but it, but that is impossible; my property is an undivided share in the Joannah lands, and cannot at present be sold."

18. Samuel (60), was born 13 November, about three of the clock in the afternoon, A. D. 1736.

His youth was passed at Colebrookdale, and when he was sixteen. his father removed to Pottstown, where he lived during the remainder of his life.

He married Joanna, daughter of Thomas Holland,(1) a successful merchant in Philadelphia.

Like the rest of his family, -Samuel early engaged in the iron business, and in 1764, in connection with his brother John, he was carrying on Mount joy Forge, and their father had given up to them his own share in Warwick Furnace. (2)

In 1769 he built the house of which an engraving is given in this volume, and until the present year, 1872, it was owned and occupied by his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. The date is cut on a brick in the gable, immediately under the comb of the roof It was the first brick house erected in the town, but the

(1) Thomas Holland's will was proved September, 1755. In it he names six children. His three daughters, Mary, wife of John Bankson Sarah, wife of Thomas May ; and Joanna, wife of Samuel Potts.

(2) The will of Anna Nutt, widow, and relict of Samuel Nutt, proved August 15, 1760: My son-in-law John Potts to be sole Ex. & to have my part of Warwick furnace my part of ye forge & iron mine."

150 - Third Generation.

back extension is of stone. In a previous chapter I have given some account of the extent of the iron business of Samuel while he was yet a young man. During the Revolution he embraced the patriotic side, and was engaged in casting heavy cannon at Warwick for government. The following is extracted from Forces "Archives":

In Committee of Safety, March 30, 1776. Messrs. Samuel Potts and Thomas Rutter having engaged with this board to cast a number of cannons for the use of the Province, and requiring a sum of money as an advance for putting their works in proper order, by order of the board an order was drawn on Michael Hillegas, Esq., in their favor, for one thousand pounds."

Samuel was a member of the Assembly from Philadelphia County in 1767, 1768, and 1769. He afterwards became an Associate Judge, and the following letter to him from the Council shows some of the political movements of the day:

LANCASTER, June 11, 1778.

Sir, -

Your brother, the Doctor, undertaking to forward this, affords me the first opportunity of giving you the doctrine of surety in cases of treason, as it seems at present to be understood. justices of the peace cannot take bail, but must commit to the common jail of the county. Whilst the Supreme Court is sitting judges may take bail ; at other times any one of them has that power. Where the evidence is full, it is to be used with great caution; but where the charge is doubtful, it is held to be his duty to take bail. Should the enemy leave the city, it is probable that one of the judges will immediately go into it. From these circumstances, you will 'see what measures are most proper in the case you have under consideration. Although there is little reason to doubt of the Doctor's care in sending you this, I wish you to give me notice by a line of your having received this.

From your friend and humble serv't.

To SAMUEL POTTS, ESQ., Pottsgrove.

Third, Generation. - 151

The case under consideration was doubtless that of his own brother John, whose pecuniary affairs were very much mixed up with his own, and who had been discovered not long before this date on a visit to Pottsgrove, and sought for there as a Tory.

Samuel was a member of the Convention that framed the Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania. His name is not appended among the printed signatures to that document; he was probably absent at the time it was adopted, but in the journal of the Convention his vote is frequently recorded.

The General Assembly (1) of Pennsylvania passed an act on the 13th of June, 1777, requiring every male white inhabitant of the State to give assurance of allegiance to the same; and those. above the age of sixteen, who should travel out of the county or city in which he usually resides, without a certificate of having taken the oath or affirmation of allegiance aforesaid, may be suspected of being a spy, or holding principles inimical to the United States, and shall be apprehended, and if he refuse to subscribe to it when taken before a justice, he shall be committed to the common jail.

The following is copied from one of the original certificates, and imitates it as accurately as new type can copy the old. It is printed on fine parchment, so as to stand the wear of constant use. The part in italics are those filled up in writing. The line of New Hanover township was run through Pottsgrove, and Samuel's residence was then at the lower end of the town, near that line.

(1) Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. V. p. 479. This act was so little regarded that another was passed December 5, 1778. 1 have in my possession three of these original 11 tests of allegiance" (as one is indorsed), taken by different members of the family. Though all are printed by John Dunlap, yet each is of a different issue ; two are on paper. The oath taken under the second act is printed without the word " affirmation," and is marked in pencil " 75c.," probably the amount of the fee paid to the justice.

152 - Third Generation.

I DO hereby CERTIFY, That

Samuel Pott's of New Hanover Townfhip Philadelphia County Gentleman, hath voluntarily taken and fubfcribed the Oath or Affirmation of Allegiance and Fidelity, as directed by an A& of General Affembly of Pennsylvania, paffed the 13th day of June, A. D. 1777.

Witnefs my hand and feal, the First day of June A. D. 1778.

(L. S.) Jno. Richards No 849.

PRINTED BY JOHN DUNLAP.

In a previous section I have given an account of Samuel's connections with the coal lands, and his unfaltering prevision of their importance and value.

His executorship of the large estate of his father, his extensive iron business, and the various public trusts which he filled, made his life an active, busy, and useful one. As the shad fisheries of the Schuylkill are a thing of the past, it is interesting to learn how -many were taken at Pottstown, on the family right, as late as 17 84. From a paper of Samuel Potts, who owned one eighth of the privilege, it appears that 2,792 were caught that year, the first on April 14. In 1785, 3,701, the first April 13.

Samuel died July 3, 1793, and was buried in the family graveyard at Pottstown.(1) His widow died March 16, 1818, aged eighty-three years.

The following obituary is copied from Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser," Friday, July 5, 1793:

(1) See inscriptions.

Third Generation. - 153

"On Wednesday morning died, at his seat at Potts-rove, Samuel Potts, Esq. It is enough to say of him that a numerous and respectable family lose their friend and guide ; that the large circle of his acquaintance has lost a citizen whose heart was warm for their interest, and whose manners were without guile ; that his servants have lost a master, his wife a husband, and his children a companion, a friend, and a father. Not a tear win be shed on his grave but what will be from the bottom of the heart."

His will was executed 5th March, 1793; in it he mentions his four sons and one daughter. He gave to his wife his undivided fourth part of Warwick Furnace, supposed to contain in all about nine thousand acres, only reserving to his son Thomas the right of taking so much ore from the mines there as would supply one fifth part of a furnace now erected by him in company with Thomas Rutter, the heirs of Thomas May and Thomas Bull, called Joanna Furnace, for which right "he is to account to my estate L 300." He also gives, for a certain consideration, the same right to the other three partners. He mentions that he had also allowed a right to supply ore from Jones's mines, for a furnace called Rebecca, to Jacob Vinance, Thomas Rutter, and Sarah May; and he leaves his one eighth part of this furnace in Chester County to his daughter, Sarah Hobart. He reserved to his children the copper ore in Jones's mine, and the right to erect a furnace there for working it.

19. John (66), born 15 October, about half an hour after three of the clock in the afternoon, A. D.1738. This son, though engaged like the rest of his family, in the iron business, had received a superior education in Philadelphia, and was then sent to England to perfect his studies in the

154 Third Generation

law, at the Temple, London. How long he remained there I have no means of ascertaining, but in 1764 he was practising law in Philadelphia, and a partner with his brother Samuel in the Mount joy Forge. He married Margaret,(1) daughter of Stephen and Anna Carmick, (2) and resided in the city, though he occupied Stowe as a country residence, and built a substantial stone house on the principal street in Pottstown. John became a judge in the Court of Common Pleas, and on the breaking out of hostilities it is known that he inclined to the side of the king. His residence in England and a knowledge of her power led him to view the American cause as hopeless ; but it is stated in a Loyalist (3) tract, published in 1784, that "he was loyal until the evacuation of Philadelphia, when he offered half his property to the Whigs if they would restore the other moiety, which they refused to do."

This confused account is certainly erroneous, for during the occupation of Philadelphia by the British army he obtained a pass to leave the city, and went to Pottstown to look after his affairs, and was for a short time in his own house there, which was afterwards confiscated. That he was known then to be a Tory by the Continental Congress is proved by the fact that a detachment of soldiers was sent up from Valley Forge to capture him , but just before they reached the house, which is a large building of dressed stone, still standing, at the corner of High and Hanover Streets, he escaped by a back window, and was probably secreted by some of his friends

(1) She was aunt to Mrs. Joseph Reed, Mrs. Watmough, and Mrs. John Sergeant.

(2) They are buried in Christ Churchyard, Philadelphia, under a stone bearing the following inscription : -

"Here lies the body of

Stephen Cammack

who died

June 26th 1774

aged 55 years.

And of

Anna his wife,

who departed this life

September 22^nd 1795

Aged 63 years."

(3)See Sabine's History of the Loyalists.

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until he could return in disguise through the American lines to the city. December 21, 1782, the house above mentioned was sold ,to General Arthur St. Clair, as the following, extracted from the Minutes of Council in Colonial Records, shows:

"A deed was examined and signed by his Excellency the President, to Major-General Arthur. Sinclair, conveying a lot of ground, containing in front sixty feet and in depth three hundred feet, situate in Pottstown, in the township of Douglass and county of Philadelphia, seized and sold agreeable to law as the forfeited estate of John Potts,(1) an attainted traitor, for the sum of L6,700 (1) Continental money, which sum Arthur Sinclair hath paid to the agents of forfeited estates in the said county.",

It may be interesting, to prove the different value of property, to state that about thirty years ago this house and lot was sold at sheriff's sale for $2,300, which was thought at the time very low. A person well acquainted with the present (1872) value of real estate there informed me it would now bring from $15,000 to $20,000. No alteration appears to have been made in the exterior of the house, but it is now occupied as a store by Evans & Keim.

When the Continental army entered Philadelphia, the families of those who had espoused the British cause were ordered to leave the city, and Mrs. Potts, with her children, found a home in the house of her husband's brother, Samuel, at Pottstown. She remained there several months, until General Washington, who was in constant intercourse with the patriotic portion of the family, gave her an escort of dragoons to join her husband in New York, whither he had gone in the train of Lord Howe-and his friend Joseph Galloway. That he was very intimate with the latter the following letter proves:

(1) This was at a period of great depreciation in Continental currency ; but as it was paid to government, it was probably taken at a higher value than by private individuals.

156 - Third Generation,

NEW YORK, November 25, 1778.

DEAR SIR:

Mr. Crowder carried with him two letters for you from England, one of which arrived here on the morning you sailed from the Hook; and as I was ignorant of that, I procured a boat to carry the letters to you, but it was too late, and on the return I took the liberty to read them, agreeable to your orders, and enclose them for you. Enclosed is also a letter from Mrs. Galloway, who has almost too deep a sense of popular ingratitude. You may rest assured that if she is desirous to rent her own estate , and if it is practicable, it will be accomplished by my brother Samuel, to whom I have wrote on the subject, and who will advise Mrs. G. on the proper measure. The -unfortunate J. Roberts and A. Carlisle were executed on the 4th instant. A few of what are called men members met and endeavored to make a House, with a declared intention of saving them, but could not, and, from what we hear, it is rather probable that they will not easily be permitted to sit as representatives. S. Garrigues and J. Stevens were on their trials when the last messenger left Philadelphia. The papers, which I cannot procure, are replete with abuse and contemptuous treatment of the commission and the agents under it, and never was shown a greater confidence than appears in the whole conduct of the Congress and their agents. D'Estaing has sailed from Boston, having taken advantage of a severe gale of wind, which had dispersed Byron's fleet and drove one of them on shore on Cape Cod, the Somerset, of sixty-four guns, where she is totally lost, and four hundred of her men made prisoners by the rebels. He sailed the day after the division of the army under Grant left the Hook, but, from what appears, Byron is in pursuit of him. This Arno: is brought lit by a flag of truce from Boston, which brought fifty-seven masters of vessels taken by the rebels and carried into New England in the space of two months. There does not appear to be any great division of parties in any Colony but Pennsylvania. and I am fully persuaded that in the present circumstances no consequences will attend that division favorable to government. It appears to me that the spirit of our countrymen is too much broken to attempt to relieve themselves from a burden grievous and disagreeable to them in the highest degree. I take the liberty to open Mrs. Galloway's letter, with an intention of performing

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anything that might have been desired, if in my power, which I hope you will excuse. It is very evident that unless government can disengage itself from an European war and employ a greater force and more vigor in the prosecution of this, the game is certainly up, and America lost. You may rely on hearing from me if anything favorable or consequential happens. Since Mrs. O.'s letter, I received one from Mrs. Potts, who mentions Mrs. Galloway being in good health and uncommon spirits. Pray give my respectful compliments to, Miss Galloway, who has, I suppose, forgot there is such a creature, from the multiplicity of engagements in the beau monde.

Believe me to be, with the sincerest gratitude,

Your affectionate friend and humble servant,

JOHN POTTS.

To JOSEPH GALLOWAY, ESQ. To the care of Mr. Alex'r Gordan

and Messrs. Drummonds, London.

In another letter to Galloway, Judge Potts again mentions Roberts and Carlisle, and says that " Governor Livingston went to Philadelphia and urged his endeavors to prevail on the banditti in power to save them, not from any principle of honor and conscience, you know him too well, -but from motives, as he thought, of policy."

These two men were Quakers, who had been employed by Galloway and his party as secret agents in detecting foes to the royal government. They acted as guides when Lieutenant-Colonel Abercrombie fell on a party of militia near Frankfort." They were captured and tried, and according to all the rules of war and of state policy their execution was necessary, and the effect was salutary.

Among the papers of Colonel Potts I found a petition, written apparently in the fair hand of Joseph Galloway, for the pardon of Roberts. No doubt, judge Potts, who in the letters above quoted appears to have been peculiarly interested in these traitors, found means to send it to his brother, through whose influence it was to be circulated among Roberts's neighbors and friends in Chester

158 - Third Generation.

County, in hopes of obtaining his pardon. No signatures are attached to the document, and from the clean condition of the paper it appears never to have been circulated. I give a copy of it. as it is to the credit of the Loyalists that they tried every means in their power to save the lives of the tools they had led into this dangerous business.

"To the Honorable the Supreme Executive Council of the State of Pennsylvania.

"The Underwritten Citizens and Subjects of this State beg leave to represent,

"That they have been informed that John Roberts late of Merion in the County of Philadelphia Millar hath been lately tried and Convicted, and is now under Sentence of Death for High Treason.

"That your Memorialists have a just Abhorrence of that Crime, yet when they consider that the Conduct which has involved him in his present Difficulties admits of much palliation, That an Apprehension of Danger to his person had be Continued with his Family; and at the worst, that his mistaken Attachment to former Prejudices, rather than any evil Disposition he had imbibed against the Interest of his Country, or the Persons of its Rulers led him into the dangerous path he pursued. When they reflect too upon the Solemn Renunciation he hath made of these Prejudices, and with all upon the various good Qualities he possesses, they think it a Duty they owe to Society in general, to his sorrowful Family, Relatives and Friends, and indeed to humanity itself to recommend him in all humility to your Honors as one of the most proper Objects of Mercy that ever presented itself to the supreme power of any State.

"And those of your Memorialists, to whom either as near Neighbors, by particular Intimacy, or general report of his Character, and conduct, are more intimately known, beg leave least your Honors, should not be acquainted with his Circumstances, & his Merits to represent more particularly;

That the unfortunate Prisoner is now near Sixty years of Age, hath a distress'd Wife, nine children & other Connections numerous & respectable,

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that be hath from his youth up lived not only irreproach ably, but spent his whole Life in performing the duties of a tender parent a faithful friend, kind Neighbor & useful Citizen.

To the poor, the Stranger & the Orphan, his hospitable house was ever open, his liberal hand most cheerfully extended. These not less than his own Family would feel and mourn his Loss. From these Considerations & others they might state to your Honors they have not a Doubt but that showing Mercy unto him would be affording Consolation to an Afflicted and reputable Train of Relatives & Friends, & a beneficial Act to Society, in general by giving back to Life & Freedom, one whom your Memorialists are persuaded, & have every Reason to assure your Honors, would be a humane Virtuous and useful Subject of this State.

Impressed with these Sentiments, they cannot forbear intreating your Honors would suspend the Execution of the Sentence pronounced against him, untill the Meeting of the Legislative Body of this State, and that your Honors would then be pleased to lay this Memorial before that honorable Body-And will your Honors permit them to hope it will be accompanied with your Recommendation of *the unhappy one as a proper Object for their Clemency.

"And the Underwritten do also sincerely and humbly, but fervently hope and pray that the Honorable the Representatives of the Freemen of this State will thereupon, taking the Premises into their wise and serious Consideration, extend unto the said John Roberts the Benefit of a full, free & general Pardon for that Offence for which be is now under the Awful & Solemn Sentence of Death.

"And Your Petitioners."

The estate of John Potts was confiscated in 1779, (1) and by this act he lost a large and valuable property, which appears never to have been made up to him by the British government.

The fine house and plantation called Stowe, two miles from Pottstown, "were seized and sold agreeably to law, as the estate late of John Potts, an attainted traitor, to the said Jonathan Potts,

(1) Under act of Attainder, 1st Rawle, p. 540.

160 - Third Generation.

Esq., for L20,000 Continental money." Another of his houses, in Pottstown, has been already mentioned as bought by General St. Clair. Sabine, in the "History of the Loyalists,'' mentions him as one of the "fifty-five petitioners, in July, 1783, from the city of New York, who asked that the same number of acres might be granted them in Nova Scotia as were given to field officers in the army. They represented that their position in society had been very respectable, and that previous to the Revolution they had possessed much influence." This petition, addressed to Sir Guy Carleton,(1) created much excitement in St. John, N. B., when published there, as its signers asked to have their land exempted from quitrents and taxes.

The "agents for the Loyalists wrote from Annapolis Royal, on the 14th January, 1783, to their friends in New York. They describe the country from Annapolis to St. Mary's Bay as very good soil and favorable to fisheries; praise Annapolis Basin and St. Mary's Bay." (2) In a recent visit to the maritime provinces of the New Dominion, I made every exertion to trace the locality of the grant of land to John Potts, and at length, in the Crown Land Office at Halifax, I found the record of the patent issued to Anthony Stewart (3) and seventeen others, of whom John Potts was one, of 18,000 acres of land in Annapolis County. The following abstract from the patent, showing on what terms Potts held his thousand acres, will be interesting to his descendants:

"April 1st 1785 Nova Scotia George the -III by the Grace of God Great Britain France & Ireland King Defender of the faith & so forth to all to whom these presents shall come greeting, Know ye that We of our Special grace certain knowledge & mere motion have given & granted & by these

(1) Sir Guy Carleton was raised to the peerage, under the title of Lord Dorchester, in 1786.

(2) History of Nova Scotia, by B. Murdock.

(3) He is mentioned in Sabine as one of the fifty-five petitioners.

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presents for us our heirs & successors do give & grant unto Anthony Stewart [here follow the seventeen other names, and the boundaries of the 18,000 acres are defined], together with all woods underwoods timber & timber trees, lakes, ponds, fisheries, water, water-courses, profits, commodities appurtenances & hereditaments, whatsoever thereunto belonging or in anywise appertaining ; together also with the privilege of hunting, hawking & fishing in and upon the same, & mines and minerals saving & reserving nevertheless to our heirs & successors all white pine trees if any shall be found growing thereon, & also saving and reserving unto us our heirs & successors all mines of gold & silver, copper, lead, & coals to have & to hold, &c. yielding & paying therefor unto us our heirs & successors or to our Receiver Gen. for the time being, yearly at the Feast of St. Michael in every year at the rate of two shillings for every hundred acres, & so in proportion according to the quantity of acres hereby granted, the same to commence to be payable from the said Feast of St. Michael which shall first happen after the expiration of ten years from the date hereof provided always & this present grant is upon condition that said several & respective grantees & their several & respective heirs & assigns shall & do within three years after the date hereof for every fifty acres of plantable land hereby granted, clean and work three acres at least in that part thereof as respectively, He or they shall judge most convenient and advantageous or else to clean and drain 3 acres of swampy or sunken ground or drain three acres of marsh if any such contained therein. And shall do within the time aforesaid put & keep upon 50 acres thereof accounted barren 3 neat cattle and continue the same thereon until 3 acres for every 50 acres are fully cleared and improved, and if there shall be no part of the said tract fit for present cultivation without manuring & improving the same respectively, He or they within the time aforesaid shall be obliged to erect on some part & continue the same thereon until 3 acres for every 50 acres be fully cleared & improved & if then within the time aforesaid shall be obliged to erect on some part thereof their respective land one good dwelling house to be at least 20 feet in length and 16 feet in breadth & to put on their said respective land the like number of neat cattle for every 50 acres.

"His Ex. RICHARD BULKLEY,

Governor.''

162 - Third. Generation.

I was informed at the Crown Land Office, by the polite officials, that persons frequently come to look up these old grants, and that twenty-five years' residence out of the province prevented any claim from being legal according to their laws. After many inquiries, I was able to find where this land was located, and visited the town. The 18,000 acres are now included in the -township of Clements. It is most delightfully situated, on Annapolis Basin, and adjoins the town of Annapolis Royal, once the capital of Nova Scotia and the site of the old French fort which has experienced so many vicissitudes since the time of Henry of Navarre, and is now dismantled and used as a cow-pasture.

Haliburton, in his "History of Nova Scotia," mentions that Clements was settled by the Loyalists in 1784, and that near Moose River, which runs through the township, iron ore is found. This iron mine, which was early discovered, may have been the reason for John Potts selecting his one thousand acres in this place. He at first settled in Shelburne, a port on the Atlantic side of Nova Scotia, and I am inclined to think that most of the time he lived in the province was spent there. At that point the refugees laid out a handsome town, after the plan of Philadelphia, and at one time the population numbered over twelve thousand; it is- now a village of less than a quarter of that number. Here the higher class of the Loyalists lived in as much state and elegance as their reduced means would allow, and Obtained the sobriquet of the dancing beggars of Shelburne. From a paper in my possession, dated at this place, November, 1783, and carried on to March 4, 1785, it would appear that Colonel Thomas and John Potts had established a partnership for the sale of stoves there, and that a clerk from Pottstown bad gone down to attend to the business. Five different kinds of stoves are. enumerated. Colonel Beverly Robinson took five to St. John without paying for them, and John Potts, Esq.,

Third Generation.. - 163

took nine to Halifax in the same way, probably for the purpose of introducing' them at those places.

The following extract from a letter of John to his brother Sam. uel, dated Shelburne, 1784, gives some confirmation to the tradition current among his descendants that he was offered the governorship of Nova Scotia.

"Had not my attachment to our country carried me rather too far, I am fully convinced Sir William Howe would have procured me some lucrative office in this Government. It may not yet, perhaps, be too late. It is worth trying. He is a cordial friend, and was really unwilling I should relinquish the object; I am sincerely averse to office, but my children and family must influence me in these matters."

If this position was offered to him he declined it; and after living a few years in Nova Scotia he returned to his native State, but finally went West, where he died. The portrait of him in this volume is from a picture in the possession of his great-grandson, John Potts Rutter.

20. Martha (69) was born at Popodickon, 31 March, about five of the clock in the afternoon, A. D. 1740.. When not yet twenty years old, she married, 20 February, 1759, Thomas Rutter, her mother's first cousin, and the son of Thomas and Mary Katherine Rutter.(1) He was born in 1731, and was only three years old at his father's death, whose will, proved in 1734, gives to son Thomas " all my lands-at Colebrookdale, with the mines, ores, furnace, and appurtenances.'' His sister, the executrix of this will, had, soon after her father's death, married (8) Thomas Potts, and no doubt with her husband managed the share of her minor brother in the establish

(1) Afterwards the wife of William Pyewell.

164 - Third Generation.

ment. Thomas and Martha Rutter resided in Pottstown, where they built a handsome house called Laurel Lodge, which is still standing, though in a dilapidated condition, and now occupied by some of the employees of the Reading Railroad. Mr. Rutter was an active citizen, and held for many years the office of justice of the Peace under the Crown. But he joined the patriotic side in the Revolution, and was engaged in casting cannon for government with his brother-in-law, Samuel Potts.. He had an, interest in several of the iron-works of the family, and was the third of the name in lineal descent who had carried them on.

In his will, dated March 5, 1795, and proved in June of the same year, be leaves to his " beloved wife Martha," besides a certain share. of, property in his copper mine at Colebrookdale, an annuity of five hundred pounds, secured on his part of Warwick Furnace, and six hundred pounds cash, to be paid her within two years of his death. Also, his riding-carriage, horses and harness, sleigh, and three cows; his house, household goods, and plate, "of which I desire an inventory may not be taken." To his half-brother, John Pyewell, he left a small annuity, also one to " my dearly beloved cousin and sister-in-law, Anna Potts, widow of Thomas Potts, late of Coventry."

Thomas Rutter, the third of the name, already mentioned in this volume, died at Pottstown, 7th May, 1795, and was buried in the family graveyard. (See inscriptions.)

His wife survived him until 1st October, 1804, when-she was laid by his side.

The following obituaries appeared in the Philadelphia papers of the day:

From Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser, May 28, 1795.

On Sunday, the 10th of this month, were deposited in the family burialground at Pottstown the remains of Thomas Rutter, Esq., attended by the largest concourse of lamenting- friends and acquaintance ever known there on such an occasion. This gentleman had for some years sustained an afflicting illness with that resigned fortitude which nothing but a firm confi

Third Generation. - 165

dence in the sacred truths of the Christian religion can inspire. In his public life, in the various stations which he filled, dignity and a regard to the laws of his- country were happily blended with the most gentle humanity. In the circle of social life, his friends will long regret his departure, and to those who needed his assistance the loss of his unbounded but secret charity is not to be repaired. As a husband, indulgent, affectionate, and beneficent; as a parent, 'here I must pause, for I can say with feeling justice, that the loss of his eldest son precipitated his shortest step to the bosom of his Creator."

From Relf's Philadelphia Gazette, Saturday, October 13, 1804.

"Died, on the 1st instant, in the sixty-fifth year of her age, Mrs. Martha Rutter, relict of the late Thomas Rutter, Esq., and her remains were interred in the family burying-ground at Potts-rove, attended by a numerous concourse of mourning relatives, friends, and acquaintances. The deceased was for a number of years past afflicted with a severe and painful indisposition, which she sustained with uncommon fortitude and Christian resignation ; it can with great truth and sincerity be said that she possessed and practised in an eminent degree every virtue requisite to adorn the female character."

21. David (75) was born 4th April, about three of he clock in the morning A. D. 1741. of

He became became a successful merchant in Philadelphia, and in 1768 was established in Water Street. He married Mary Aris. In accordance with his father's will, he took the house and lot where he lived, and the wharf and stores thereunto belonging, for the sum of one thousand pounds. In 1769 he took the tract of land on the east side of Manatawny, and the grist-mill, valued at L1,750, after the three elder brothers had declined it. During the Revolution he bought the confiscated estate of Stowe, which had belonged to his brother John; Dr. Potts conveying it " to David Potts, merchant, of Philadelphia," 21st December, 1780. He had also an interest in the Valley Forge

166 - Third Generation.

property) and his family resided there, during the summer, in the large house situated on the Great Road, above Washington's head-quarters. When the army occupied Valley Forge, this stone house was taken for the officers' rendezvous and a bakery. I have never seen any engraving of this building, which is now much disfigured by fanciful iron balconics and railings painted yellow, but an antique wall of dressed stone still surrounds it, enclosing many fine old trees. It was probably the first mansion erected on the estate, as in the will of John Potts, 1767, the property not conveyed to his sons Samuel and John is alluded to as bounded by the gardens, barnyard, an old orchard, the Schuylkill, Valley Creek, and Great Road, which limits would include this place, as well as the house known as the residence of General Washington. During the winter Of 1777, David and his family were in Philadelphia, and he was able to keep on such good terms with both sides that he was frequently allowed to pass and repass between the two places.

John Potts had influence with Sir William Howe to obtain passes that his brother might see after his interests at Valley Forge; while Thomas, Samuel, and Dr. Potts were working so zealously for the patriotic side, that Washington could not well refuse to allow a member of so influential a family, whose land his army was occupying, to visit the camp for the purpose of looking after property in which they, too, had some share.

David was suspected of being a Tory because he chose to remain in the city occupied by the British army. The laws of Pennsylvania, with more justice than those of her sister States, cited, suspected persons to appear and be tried on the charge. Sabine says, "David Potts surrendered, and was discharged" ; by which it would appear that the accusation against him was not proved.

The large ovens for baking the army bread were built in the cellar of the house, and were taken out only a few years ago.

David died at Valley Forge, 1798, and was buried there in the grounds belonging to Friends' Meeting. His widow survived him twenty-five years. During the latter part of her life she resided at Pottstown, where she died in 1823, and was buried in the family graveyard at that place, but without any memorial stone.

Third Generation. - 167

22. Joseph (80) was born at Popodickon, 12^th March, about three of the clock in the morning, A. D. 1742. He was sometimes called in the family Josephus. He established himself in Philadelphia as a merchant, and his father, a week or two before his own death, gave him a deed of the dwelling-house on the east side of Water Street, between High and Mulberry, with wharf and lot attached. Here he carried on his business, which seems to have been an extensive one. He early became an earnest member of the Society of Friends, and a public minister among them.

Joseph was four times married: first, to Mary, daughter of John Morris,(1) at Plymouth meeting, 16th August, 1764. She died 18th December, 1765, in the twenty-eighth year of her acre. Margaretta Morris, in her diary, (2) alludes to this event as follows: " On December 11, 1765, my dear sister-in-law, M. Potts, was delivered of a son, and on the 19th of the same month the Lord in his unsearchable wisdom saw meet to remove her from this to a better life. 0, who shall say to the Lord, What doest thou? or why is it thus that a fond husband and indulgent parents are left to mourn the loss of a beloved wife and child?'' He contributed -largely to, the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1768, giving one hundred pounds.

In 1769 he bought the Mount joy Forge and saw-mill of his brother John ; and the same year John Morris, his father-in-law, conveyed to him the Spring Mills, and three tracts of land in Whitemarsh, near Frankford, at which last-named place he resided part of the year. He married for his second wife Sarah, daughter of Samuel and Mary Powell, January 20, 1768. Of this marriage

(1) He was the son of Anthony Morris (the second of that name), mentioned in a previous chapter as interested in the Colebrookdale iron-works.

(2) History of the Hill Family, P. 352.

168 - Third Generation.

Mrs. Franklin,(1) writing to her husband, January 21,1768, says: "Yesterday our Mr. Potts's son Joseph was married to Sammy Powell's sister. His first wife was John Morris's daughter. She died in childbed. He and the lady were own cousins. They could not pass meeting, so they signified their intentions at the State House door, and were married by a magistrate."

The Quakers did not allow the marriage of first cousins, but at this period their rules must have been very stringent to refuse to sanction a marriage with a deceased wife's cousin. Mrs. Franklin's statement is an error; for though Joseph Potts and Mary Morris were distantly related, she and his, second wife were own cousins.

A public Friend marrying without the approval of the meeting created quite a stir at that time, as it would now, but I do not find that this breach of discipline altered Joseph's position ; his irregular union with a youthful heiress seems to have been quickly forgiven.

Sarah died 7 January, 1773, leaving like her predecessor, one young child. The following obituary is copied from a Philadelphia paper of January 16,1773.

"On the 7th instant departed this life, much regretted, in the twenty-sixth year of her age, Mrs. Sarah Potts, wife of Mr. Joseph Potts of this city; a lady in whom the virtues of an affectionate wife, a tender mother, and sincere friend were characteristically distinguished. Her foibles were unknown, her benevolence unconfined, her chanty universal ; in fine, her character was such from which even malevolence could not detract.

'Why should sad mortals drop the tear and sigh

When angels joy to welcome her on high ?

Shall virtue leave in grief the earth below

When yon bright heaven rejoices at the blow

On Sunday last her remains were interred in Friends' burying-ground, attended by a great number of the most respectable inhabitants of this place."

(1) Letters to Benjamin Franklin from his family and friends, privately printed.

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After a little less than two years of mourning, Joseph was mar. ried to Ann, daughter of Abraham and Sarah Mitchel, of Philadelphia. As if to make amends for his former delinquency, this event was celebrated" at a public meeting of the people called Quakers, on High Street, 10th of 10 mo., 1774." The marriage certificate is signed by a large' number of the most influential Friends of the period, by Joseph's mother, and ten of his brothers and sisters, also their respective wives and the husband of the only married sister.

Ann (Mitchel) Potts died 14th September, 1778, in the forty-first year of her age, having had two children, both of whom died young. Joseph was again a widower while still a man in the prime, of life, and we must not be surprised that he sought a fourth wife in Mary, daughter of Stacey Kirkbride, (1) of the Falls, Bucks County, who survived him. She had six children, and all save one died without issue, so that, notwithstanding Joseph's numerous wives, his branch is perpetuated in the descendants of only one son.

Joseph died at his residence near Frankford, 4th February, 1804. His will was proved in Philadelphia County March 7 of the same year. His brother-in-law, Joseph Kirkbride, (2) was one of the executors. He left a considerable estate, and mentions in his will both my salt-works." His widow survived until 17 9 mo., 1817.

From Poulson's American Daily Advertiser, Tuesday, February 7, 1804

"On Saturday evening last (February 4), suddenly, Mr. Joseph Potts, of tile vicinity of Frankford.

"This gentleman, through the whole' course of life, evinced a firmness and amiableness of disposition equalled by few. In early life lie embraced the principles of the Society of Friends, among whom he lived and died an es

(1) He was a son of Joseph and Sarah (Stacey) Kirkbride. The latter was the daughter of Mahlon Stacey, who came to Burlington in the Shield in 1678, and settled in Bucks County, Pa., where he established the first mills on the Delaware in Pennsylvania.

(2) His daughter married the eminent Quaker, John Joseph Guerney.

170 - Third Generation.

teemed member and approved minister. His peculiar soft and endearing manners gained him the affection of all who knew him. Blessed within the circle of a numerous family, his principal care was for their happiness. In the death of Mr. Potts the public has lost a valuable citizen, and numbers a worthy friend who will long deplore him."

From the "Memoirs of Da David Rittenhouse" I copy the following account of a curious clock that was made for Joseph Potts:

"Our artist had previously made- some extremely curious and beautiful timepieces, to each of which was attached the mechanism of a musical clock, in addition to a limited planetarium in miniature. These were in the hands of gentlemen of respectability an and taste., One of these valuable clocks, which' is of a large size, with an accurate little planetarium attached to its face, and placed above the dial-plate, was made for the late Mr. Joseph Potts, of Philadelpbia County, who paid for it, the writer is informed, $ 640. In the spring of the year 1774 it was purchased by the late Mr. Thomas Prior, of Philadelphia, to whom it is said General Sir William Howe made an offer of 120 guineas for it shortly before the evacuation of that city in 1778. It is also said that Don Joseph de Jourdenes, late minister of Spain to the United States, offered Mr. Prior $ 800 for this clock, with a view of presenting it to his sovereign. Mr. Prior, however, retained it until his death, in 1801."

23. Jonathan (91) was born at Popodickon, Berks County, April 11, about five o'clock in the afternoon, A. D. 1745. When he was about seven years old, his father removed to the elegant stone mansion he had erected at the confluence of the Manatawny and Schuylkill. Here Jonathan's earliest years were passed. Having obtained as good an education as the Colonies then afforded at Ephrata and Philadelphia, he determined to fit himself for the profession of medicine by studying at Edinburg, then considered the seat

Third Generation. - 171

of that science. In company with his friend and relative, Benjamin Rush, subsequently distinguished as one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, he sailed from Philadelphia, August 31, 1766, and after a very stormy passage of fifty days arrived at last safely at Liverpool, having been several times rescued from the very jaws of death.

The events of this voyage appear to have made a strong impression upon Jonathan's mind, and the tenets of Quakerism, which some of his family had embraced, were then adopted by him.

It is not out of place to remark here, that although Jonathan's father, John Potts, had a birthright in the Society of Friends, he had not been strictly educated in that faith, for his step-mother, Magdalen Robeson, belonging, like all that family, to the Swedish Church, had influenced her children towards the Episcopal forms, and John, by his marriage with Ruth Savage, who was not a Friend, must have then forfeited his birthright, if he had not done so long before.

Letter from Jonathan Potts to Dr. Benjamin Franklin, copied from the Franklin Manuscripts in the Collection of the American Philosophical Society.

WORTHY SIR:

You will receive by this post several letters in my favour, from gentlemen of your acquaintance in Phil., & by the first vessel from Penn'a you will receive letters in favour of my good friend & relation Mr. Rush from your son the Governor of the Jerseys, who has honored me with a letter to Dr. Alex. Dick of Edinburg, & also from my father.(1)

Should you think proper to write to any gentlemen in Edinburg in favour of both Mr. Rush & myself it shall be acknowledged as a particular favour conferred upon

Sir your most obedient & very humble servant

JONATHAN POTTS.

P. S. Please enclose any letters in our favor, to me in Edinburg. Liverpool, Oct. 22nd, 1766. To BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Esq., Craven St., London.

(1) The letter here mentioned from John Potts is not in the manuscript collection, perhaps it never reached Franklin.

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EDINBURG, Dec. 10, 1766.

wrote to you upon my arrival in Liverpool as did my friend and relation Benjamin Rush ; we also sent you some letters from our friends in Philadelphia in our favour, the design of which letters was that you would be so kind as to write to any of your friends in this place in our behalf; as I am somewhat a apprehensive you have not received these letters, I have taken the liberty to repeat my request, as I find since my arrival here that letters from you in our favour would be of infinite service to us.

I am with the utmost respect

Your most obedient and very humble servant

JONATHAN POTTS.

P. S. (1) Just after sealing this, news-of the packet arrived this morning, I got yours of Nov. 11th I shall answer it by packet which I suppose will sail in a few days.

J. P.

LONDON, Nov. 11th, 1766.

GENTLEMEN:

With this I send you letters for several of my friends at Edinburg.

It will be a pleasure to me if they prove of use to you.

But you will be your best friend if you apply diligently to your studies, refraining from all idle, useless amusements, that are apt to lessen or withdraw the attention from your main business.

This, from the character you bear in the letters you brought me, I am persuaded you will do. Letters of recommendation may- serve a stranger for a day or two, but where he is to reside for years, he. must depend on his own conduct, which will increase or totally destroy the effect of such letters.

I take the freedom, therefore, of counseling you to be circumspect in your behavior at Edinburg (where people are very shrewd & observing), that you may bring from thence as good a character as you carry thither, & in that respect not be inferior to any American that has been there before you. You have great advantages in going there to study at this time, where there happens to be collected a set of as truly great men, professors of the several branches of knowledge, as have ever appeared in any age or country.

I recommend one thing particularly to you, that, besides the study of medi

(1) This was written on a separate slip of 'paper and enclosed.

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cine, you endeavor to attain a thorough knowledge of natural philosophy in general. You will from thence draw great aids in judging well both of diseases & remedies, & avoid many errors. I mention this because I have cases observed that a number of physicians here, as well as in America, are miserably deficient in it.

I wish you all happiness & success in your undertaking & remain your friend & humble servant,

B. FRANKLIN.

The following are copied from the original draughts of the letters of introduction sent by Benjamin Franklin to Jonathan Potts. The paper is headed, Mr. Potts and Mr. Rush. The first one is not addressed to the person to whom it is written, but probably it was to the Provost or Dean of the University.

Rev. & DEAR SIR:

The young gentlemen who will have the honor of presenting you this letter, are drawn to Edinburg by the fame of ye medical school has justly acquired, intending there to accomplish themselves in the study of physic. They are recommended to me in the fullest & strongest manner by a number of my acquaintances in Philadelphia, and are, besides, sons of my particular friends. I beg leave, therefore, to recommend them to your countenance & protection, & I request that you would be so kind as to favor them with your good advice & wise Counsels, which must be a great service to them & will highly oblige

Dear sir, your most.

SIR ALEX. DICK.(1)

DEAR SIR, - I am heartily glad that the information provided from my son affords any satisfaction to your friend Mr. Swinton. I beg leave to recom

(1) Sir Alexander Dick is principally known to the present generation by his introduction of the rhubarb-root into Great Britain. But in his day he was one of the most important inhabitants of Edinburg. He attained eminence as a physician under the name of Cunningham, having as a younger son taken that name; but on the death of his two elder brothers he succeeded to the baronetcy and the family estate of Prestonfield, which was situated about a mile out of Edinburg. At this. date, .1746, he relinquished his practice, but maintained a friendly and intimate correspondence with the physicians of that city ; and when the Royal College, which he was instrumental in founding, was established, he became its first president. He was a zealous member of the Philosophical Society, and promoted every work of importance in Scotland.

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mend to your countenance & protection the bearers of this letter, Mr. Rush & Mr. Potts, sons of my friends in Philadelphia, who have come to study in your Medical school. They are strongly recommended to me by many of my acquaintances as young gentlemen of ingenuity & application & excellent morals, & I trust will do honor to their instructors.

Your advice as to the manner of prosecuting their studies & sage councils as to their conduct in other respects must be of great service to them if you favor them therewith, & will highly oblige

Dear Sir, Your most obedient & most humble servant,

B. F.

Please to make my respectful compliments a acceptable to Lady Dick & the rest of your amiable family.

DR. CULLEN.(1)

SIR, I beg leave to recommend to your favorable notice two young gentlemen the bearers of this letter, Messrs. Rush & Potts, sons of my friends in Philadelphia. They are drawn to Edinburg to improve themselves in the study of Physic, & from the character they bear of ingenuity, industry, & good morals, I am persuaded they will improve greatly under your learned lectures & do honor to your Medical school.

I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant,

B. FRANKLIN.

MR. SWINTON. (2)

SIR, I am extremely glad that the intelligence procured by my Son relating to your lands in New Jersey affords you any degree of satisfaction.

(1) Dr. William Cullen was one of the most distinguished physicians in Scotland. He filled first the chair of chemistry at the University of Edinburgh, and afterwards that of medicine.

(2) Several old Scotch families were interested in New Jersey ; for James, Earl of Perth, John Drummond, Robert Barclay, and Robert Gordon were among the twelve proprietors of East Jersey, under a grant from the Duke of York in 1682. Perth Amboy received its name from the title of the Drummond family.

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You may rely on his doing you any farther service in his power.

The bearers, Messrs. Potts & Rush, are sons of two of my friends in Pennsylvania. They are at Edinburg to improve themselves in the study of Physic, & bring with them to me excellent characters with respect both to their ingenuity & morals. May I take the liberty of recommending them to your friendly offices, as they must for some time be strangers in your city. Every civility you are so good as to shew them, I shall esteem & acknowledge as shewn to me.

Sir, your most obedient humble servant,

B. F.

The following letter, addressed to Joseph Potts, a Public Friend, and an esteemed preacher in the Society, gives some insight into Jonathan's life at the Scottish capital. As he had left home an agreeable, lively young man, visiting in the gayest circles of Philadelphia society, the change here mentioned must have been read with great interest by this elder brother.

John and Ruth Potts were neither of them Quakers, and of course their children had no birthright in the Society. Those of their family who embraced the tenets of Friends did so from "convincement." Before leaving home, Jonathan had become engaged to Grace Richardson.(1) Though born of Quaker parents, she. and her sister were belles in Philadelphia, and her brother Frank (2) became afterwards a colonel in the King's Life-Guards.

(1) A granddaughter of George Fitzwater, an eminent preacher among Friends in William Penn's time. His death is mentioned in Proud's History of Pennsylvania.

(2) Frank Richardson, from associating with the English officers quartered in Philadelphia, became so enamored with the profession of arms that he obtained a commission, and for saving as it was supposed, the life of George III, was promoted to a colonelcy in the Guards. He is thus referred to in a letter from Washington to General Reed, dated January, 1776: "Mr. L Sayre has been committed to the Tower upon the information of a certain Lieutenant or Adjutant Richardson (formerly of your city), for treasonable practices, -an intention of seizing his Majesty & possessing himself of the Tower, it is said, in this crisis." In an account of the King's Guards given by Sargent in "Braddock's Expedition," it is stated that in 1766 a lieutenant-colonelcy in that elite corps cost about L9,000 sterling, and a commission in their ranks could not be esteemed a light favor.

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EDINBURG, January 20, 1767.

My DEAR BROTHER:

This is the third or fourth time I have wrote you & most of my relations since my arrival in this place & I have not yet received one line except. from Davy dated about three weeks after I left Philad'a. I hope this neglect of writing does not proceed from want of Love & esteem for me now absent from you, as I always experienced while with you the strongest marks of regard & Brotherly Love, let me therefore entreat you & all my Friends often to write me, for depend upon it I never will neglect one opportunity of letting you know how I am'& what I am about. Since I last wrote you, via London, I have been constantly employed in attending the College, where I daily receive new improvement in Medical knowledge, & hope to return to my native Land answering the expectations of all my Friends, with the character of a good Physician, & what I prefer to everything, the character of a good Man.

Perhaps my dear Brother may be surprised when I tell him that I once more know what it is to experience the answer of a good Conscience, in which to have true peace is preferable to all the knowledge & riches of this world. How can I look back upon the wonderful Deliverances I experienced during my long & dangerous voyage without blessing that Omnipotent hand that so signally delivered me? may my heart never forget them, & I hope my future conduct will manifest that I have a just sense of the goodness of Him who is able & willing to deliver His people & Children in every needful time of trouble. It is to Him alone I look for succour to enable me to resist every appearance of Evil, & bless'd be His great Name, He has hitherto preserved me.

Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to find in this City a few valuable Friends, with whom I spend my leisure, & from whose good example & Council I hope to profit. Perhaps it will not be disagreeable to my Dr. Brother if I acquaint him with the state of the Meeting of Friends here. The Meeting is composed of eight or ten Men besides myself, & as many Women. The principal of the Men is William Miller, to whom I had a letter from Thomas Fisher, he treats me like his son, & I dine with him every First day, & drink tea with him as often as I can spare time, he is an acquaintance of Hugh Forbes & remembers his love to him. The other chief Friend of the Men is James McPherson brother to Capt. McPherson of Philad'a he is a very

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worthy & good man & sometimes comes & spends an Evening with me at my Rooms. The other men Friends are some of the Tradesmen of the City.

The chief of the Women is Mollison Strettle, Mother in law to Wm. Miller & cousin to Amos Strettle of Philad'a as also to David Barclay(1) of London, she is just such a person as Aunt Morris your Mamma, constantly going about among the poor, to find poor sick objects to whom she can stretch forth her liberal hand, she employs me to visit & prescribe for them & she pays me for the medicines. I call her Mamma & she treats me as her son.

The next chief Woman Friend is a Grand Daughter of King Charles the Second, who is as Pious as she is Noble; the evening meeting is held at her house. The other Women are wives of the Tradesmen before mentioned.

The meetings for discipline are held every 5 or 6 weeks. I was at the last, to which I was sent for by Wm. Miller, & altho' I brought no certificate (2) from Phil. yet they esteem me as one of their number.

Now altho these Friends are very diligent in attending Meetings both on Week Days & First Days yet they never have any preaching except when some traveling Friend happens to pass thro' this place as there is no Publick Friend lives here ; & I have constantly attended Meetings for these 2 months without ever hearing a word externally, but it has been quite otherwise inwardly, where the never failing Teacher is ready & willing to teach all those who diligently & faithfully attend to his word, & I now know from experience the truth of that saying of our Blessed Saviour, Where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them, & I really believe that there is more Life & heartfelt Religion in the silent Meetings at Edinburg than in the Meetings of the highly-favored people of Phil. who have line upon line, & precept upon precept, & who perhaps overlook that indwelling. Word which is not only able to direct Men to the path of Life, but will enable them to walk in it, & this I hope is the happy lot of my D'r Brother & will be my most happy lot also, still continue to persevere in the knowledge

(1) David Barclay of Ury, an officer in the army of Gustavus Adolphus, was the father of Robert Barclay, who wrote the " Apology." The latter married, in 1670, Christiana Mollison, the daughter of an Aberdeen merchant.

(2) After this it appears that his brother sent a certificate to him. it was probably granted by the Meeting on the strength of this letter.

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& wisdom of God, & may you be an example of piety & virtue to all around you. I shall make no apology for thus opening my mind to my Dear Brother, for my Heart overflows with love to Him who has preserved me in six troubles, & if I walk in his fear & council will preserve me in the seventh.

Altho' I am convinced it is unnecessary, yet I cannot help once more desiring my D'r Brother will not forget often to visit my dear Gracey ; no one knows but myself the many painful & anxious hours I spend on her acc'nt & which nothing will contribute more to alleviate than to hear that my friends do everything in their power to oblige & serve her, she will be to me what my dear sister Polly was to you, the partner of all my pleasures as well as sorrows ; please to deliver the enclosed to her as soon as received with my kindest love & to her father & mother, brothers & sisters, tell her my love & affection for her is stronger than ever, & that I never knew the value of her good company until I was deprived of it. I have received several letters of recommendation from Dr. Franklin to some of the principal Gentlemen of this place, & also a letter full of good advice, a copy of which I have sent to Papa; these gentlemen to oblige me have sent me frequently tickets to the Plays, Concerts, & Publick Dances, but I constantly refused & will always refuse to attend such places, altho' my refusal has offended one or two gentlemen, & lest I should affront them all I was not ashamed to own I was a Quaker, & that I was principled against such entertainments, & that my dress might correspond with my actions, I have taken off my ruffles & untied my hair, & am not ashamed to use the plain language to the greatest Man in Edinburg, not but that it is a great cross to me.

But I shall here conclude after once more intreating my Dr. Brother often to write to me, & begging my dear Gracey to write to me also agreeable to her promise. I have wrote to Papa & Davy twice since Messrs. Neave & Co. protested my bills from John Baynton; I beg I may have both sent me by first opportunity, in the mean time I shall borrow what Money I want from my esteemed friend Benny Rush. Please give my duty to Papa & Mamma & love to all Brothers & Sisters & also to Uncle & Aunt Morris, Aunt Debby, Sally Morris, Sally Powel, Polley Jones, Emlen's family, Uriah Woolman, David Stanton, in particular B. Dorsey & wife, Sarah Zanes, Isaac Zanes if at home, John Pemberton & wife, the three Parishes, Anth. Morris,

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Brewer, Owen Jones Sen'r, Sam'l Pleasants & wife, Thos. Yorke & wife & to every acquaintance & friend whose names I may have omitted.

With prayers for your prosperity & welfare I subscribe myself

Your much obliged & affectionate Brother,

JONATHAN POTTS.

The studies of our young Friend were interrupted towards the close of the winter by news from home that his "dearest Grace" was ill and longed to see him. He left for London immediately, and arrived in Philadelphia during the month of April, and they were married in May, 1767. After this he pursued his studies in the College of Philadelphia, and was one of the ten graduates of' the Medical School at its first Commencement in 1768.

In the minutes of the Board of Trustees relating the events of that day (June 21) is the following entry: "6. An elegant valedictory oration was spoken by Mr. Potts on the advantage derived in the study of physic from a previous liberal education in the other sciences." It was the early custom of this college for a physician to take two degrees; but as those made Bachelor of Physic very frequently thought that answered every purpose, the plan was abandoned.

In June, 1771, Dr. Potts, who had received his primary degree of Bachelor of Medicine three years before,* had now the second degree of Doctor of Medicine conferred upon him; on this occasion his thesis, written in the Latin language, was entitled De Febribus Intermittentibus potentissimum Tertianis."

I have in my possession a very finely printed copy of this thesis on tinted paper, containing forty pages; of which. the title-page is copied here:

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DISSERTATIO MEDICA

I N A U G U R A L I S.,

D E

F E B R I B U S

INTERMITTENTIBUS,

POTENTISSIMUM TERTIANIS;

Q U A M,

SUB MODERAMINE VIRI ADMODUM REVERENDI,

GULIELMI SMITH, S. S. T. P.

COLLEGII ET ACADEMIA PENNSYLVANIENSIS PRAEFECTI;

Ex CURATORUM PERILLUSTRIUM auctoritate,

N E C N 0 N

Ampliffimae COLLEGII ET ACADEMIAE FACULTATIS decreto;

DEO MAXIMO ANNUENTE,

PRO GRADU DOCTORATUS,

SUMMISQUE IN MEDICINE HONORIBUS ET PRIVILEGIIS

RITE ET LEGITIME CONSEQUENDIS;

ERUDITORUM EXAMINI SUBJECTAM SUSTINUIT

JONATHAN POTTS, M.B.

PENNSYLVANIENSIS.

AD DIEM 28 Junii, HORA LOCOQUE SOLITIS,

Hi motus-atque haec certamina tanta, Pulveris exigui jactu compreffa quiefcunt

VIRG. GEORG.

P H I L A D E L, P H I AE -

Typis JOHANNIS DUNLAP.

M. DCC. LXXI.

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I have copied the diploma of Dr. Jonathan Potts, as it was one 'of the four first medical diplomas conferred in America, and is therefore interesting.

"Omnibus ad quos praesentes Literae perveniuni Salutem.

Nos, Praefectus, Vice Praefectus, & Professores Collegii et Academiae Philadelphiensis testamur virum. ornaturn ac ingenuum Jonathan Potts apud nos praelectionibus in Medicina omniurn Professorum assiduo interfuisse, operamque sedulo navasse ut scientia Medica imbutus atque eruditus, discederet; at postquam Curriculi sui Spatio peracto, in aula nostra, coram. curatoribus multisque a1iis Civibus dignissimis ad tamen revocatus, se in omnibus hisce Studiis satis versatum comprobasset ex Curatorum Mandatis in publicis Comitiis vigesimo primo die Junii anno 1768 celebratus Baccalaureatus in Medicina Gradum omniaque Privilegia et Honores ad hunc Gradum pertinentia consecutum fuisse. In cujus rei Testimonium his Literis majori Collegii et Academae Sigillis munitis Die Annoque praedictis Nomina Subscripsimus.

JOHANNES MORGAN M. D. Prae. Med. Professor.

ADAM KUHN Mat. Med. & Bot. Prof.

GUL. SMITH S. T. P. Collegius & Acad.. Prefectus.

GUL. SHIPPEN M. D. Anat. Prof.

FRA. ALISON S. T. P. Coll. Vice Praefectus et Acad. Rector.

PAUL Fooks Prof. Forg'n Lang's.

EBEN. KINNERSLY Ling. Anglic. & Orat. Prof

T. B. DAVIDSON Ling. Graec. & Lat. Prof.

Fidum facio virum ornatum Jonathan Potts praelectionibua Clinicis et Praxin in Nosocomio Philadelphiensi interfuisse et fructum, diligentia sua uberrimum consecutum fuisse.

"TH. BOND, Collegii et Acad. Curat. & Proel. Clin."

Dr. Morgan, in delivering these diplomas, made an address to the

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four graduates, of which the following abstract was printed in the Pennsylvania Gazette," (1) July 11, 1771

"He entered into a particular Account of those Branches of Study which the medical Gentlemen ought still to prosecute with unremitted Diligence, if they wished to be eminent in their Profession; laying down some useful Rules for an honorable Practice in the Discharge of it. He observed that I the Oath which was presented by Hippocrates to his Disciples, had been generally administered in Universities and Schools of Physic on the like Occasions; but that, laying aside the Form of Oaths, this College, which is of a free spirit, wished only to bind its sons and Graduates by the Ties of Honor and Gratitude, and that therefore he begged Leave to impress it upon those who had received the distinguished Degree of Doctors; that as they were among the foremost Sons of the Institution, and the Birth-Day of Medical Honors in this new World had arose upon them with auspicious Lustre, they would in all their Practice consult the safety of their Patients, the Good of the Community, and the Dignity of their Profession; so as that the Seminary from which they derived their Titles in Physic, might never have cause to be ashamed of them.' "

Dr. Potts began the practice of medicine in Reading, Pa., which is only eighteen miles from Pottsgrove. Here he became quite noted as a practitioner. The only medical treatise which I have been able to find among his papers is the translation or first draught in English of an article upon the small-pox, printed in a German paper. The subject is an interesting one at this time, proving the difficulties which those who introduced inoculation had to contend with at that day. I have little doubt that it was written about. 1771:

(1) From the same newspaper: "Messieurs Jonathan Elmer, of New Jersey, Jonathan Potts, of Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania, James Tilton, of Dover, and Nicholas Way, of Wilmington, then presented themselves, agreeable to the Rules of the College, to defend in Latin the Dissertations printed for their Degree of Doctor in Physic."

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[Without date, but evidently written from Reading.]

"MR. MILLER: (1)

"Be pleased to insert the few following lines in your useful paper & oblige a constant customer.

"To the Germans in general & particularly of Berks Co. Friends & Countrymen

"I am a German by birth & education & inhabitant of this town, I am greatly surprised to hear your complaints against the useful practice of Inoculation for the Small Pox which is about to take place among us. This excellent method of communicating that loathsome disease has been followed for many hundred years among the Eastern nations, a people celebrated for their wisdom & good policy, & from them it was brought into England about (2) years ago by a lady acknowledged by every one to be a person of solid good sense, & has constantly since been practised in Great Britain with the most desirable success,

"It is a well known fact that of one hundred persons born in this part of the world there are at least ninety who have the small pox in some part of their lives, of these twenty are known to die in the most favorable times & twenty more wear very disagreeable marks of this cruel disorder the remainder of their Days, one loses an eye, another perhaps both eyes, & others are so reduced & weakened that the never after enjoy a good state of health.

Now among the vast numbers inoculated in Great Britain & this country scarce one in a hundred die, no one is horribly disfigured & no one is ever infected a second time, if the inoculation is perfect, & there is not one tenth part of the trouble in attending the patient through the disorder.

I have no occasion to seek far for an instance of the usefulness of this practice, you all well remember that the last time this town (3) was visited with the Small pox there died, in this town only, 106 children, an amazing number indeed, more than one in three of those who had the disease, now of those who were inoculated there only died one child, & that Child was in an unsound state at the time of its being inoculated.

(1) Henry Miller printed a German paper in Philadelphia from 1762 to 1779, called the Pennsylvania Slaatsbote.

(2) Referring to Lady, Monitague, who introduced inoculation into England in 1721. Dr. Potts probably had not the date at hand, and intended to fill it up afterwards.

(3) Reading.

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Why then my countrymen should we be the last in adopting this most happy method? have not we the same regard & tenderness for our children that other people have? or do we set a less value on our lives, or are our German Women less anxious about the preservation of their beauty?

"I have heard some say it is -not right, it is presumption to inflict a disease upon our children before it please God to do it. I would ask such is it not equally presumptuous to send for a Doctor in any Disease? why not rely upon Providence wholly, without making use of any natural means whatever?

"Let us rather adore His Goodness for discovering to his creatures this method by which we are enabled to escape so dreadful a calamity.

"But I fear the true reason is kept back (for I will not affront you so much as to think you are not convinced of the benefits of inoculation) I mean the Doctor's charge, for shame my Countrymen! which of you is there so far deprived of Fatherly love as not to give with cheerfulness.27 shillings to have your child brought safely over this dangerous & troublesome disease, in my opinion the charge is very reasonable, in Philadelphia they seldom charge less than three pounds, & I will venture to say if you employ a Doctor to attend a Child who has the disease in the natural way his charge will exceed the price of Inoculation among us.

"Suppose there is an Island into which by far the greater part of Mankind are unavoidably forced to enter some time of their life & in their passage to this Island they must pass through a deep & dangerous river in getting over which one in five perish or are drowned.

"But of late there is a convenient Ferry boat built which is always ready & at call, by which they can at any time be rapidly ferried over to the Island & not one in a hundred fall overboard or are drowned, & even should ally meet with this accident it is owing to their own mismanagement or carelessness & not to any fault in the boat. Now is there any one whom prejudice has not totally deprived of thinking who would not prefer the passage by the Boat to that of plunging for many days thro' the River struggling for their lives, & into which they are forced without their consent or the least warning, & should they be fortunate enough to get over they come out horribly scarred & disfigured, & perhaps lose one if not both of their eyes."

It is not sufficiently known by the present generation how much

Third Generation. - 185

our country is indebted to Philadelphia for those early measures which Ied eventually to resistance and national independence. The acts of opposition begun in 17 74 at Boston to the Port Bill was altogether dependent for its success to the countenance it might receive from the Middle Colonies, of which Pennsylvania was the chief Philadelphia was so much under Quaker influence, that it was feared she would not warmly espouse the patriotic cause. A few leading men entered into a concerted scheme to produce a great political change; they took the expedient of calling a convention of the committees of self-created county meetings; by-this they could raise a power to overawe and rule the Assembly, which was in effect still too loyal for their purpose.

On the 2d of July, 1774, a meeting was held at Reading, and various resolutions were passed "upon the critical situation of American affairs." The sixth is as follows: "That as the people of Boston are now suffering in the grand and common cause of American liberty, Resolved, That it is the duty of all the inhabitants to contribute to the support of said sufferers, and that the committee hereafter named do open subscriptions for their relief," to purchase flour and other provisions; seven gentlemen were placed on this committee, of which Jonathan Potts was one.

He was a delegate from Berks County to the Provincial meeting of Deputies held in Philadelphia, 15th July, 17 74, and a member of the Provincial Congress held in the same City, 2 23d January , 1775.

He was very active in raising men and organizing the forces in Berks, and in 1776 a petition was presented to the Assembly in behalf of the several battalions in that county, signed by Jonathan Potts, Mark Bird, Daniel Broadhead, and Baltzer Baehr, Esquires, field officers thereof

After thus early showing his zeal in the public cause, we are not surprised to find Dr. Potts petitioning Congress, April 29, 1776, to

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be appointed Director (1) of the hospitals in Canada, which he learns it will soon be needful to establish there." Early in the following June he was appointed physician surgeon in the army for Canada and Lake George, and proceeded at once to New York, and we hear of him on the 25th at head-quarters in that city.

Letter from Joseph Reed to the Hon. John Sullivan, Brigadier- General of the

Army of the United Colonies of Canada.

SIR:

The bearer of this, Dr. Jonathan Potts, has been appointed to the direction of the Hospital in Canada. He is a gentleman of character in every respect & most indisputable zeal in the public cause. As such I beg leave to introduce him to your notice & acquaintance.

Wishing you all honor & success,

I am, Sir, your most obedient & humble servant,

JOS. REED.

NEW YORK, June 25,1776.

The next day, in company with General Gates, he started for the North. On arriving at Crown Point he discovered that the operations in Canada were impeded, and he became subject to the orders of Dr. Stringer, who placed him in charge of the hospital at Fort George.

Dr. Potts to General Gates.

FORT GEORGE, August 24, 1776.

HONOURED SIR:

Your Honour's favor of the 23 inst, by Mr. Watson, I received this morn

(1) The commissions issued by Congress are still in the possession of one of Jonathan's descendants: the first, dated June 6, 1776, appointing him physician surgeon in the army ; the second, dated Baltimore, January 1, 1777, appointing him Director of the General Hospital of the Northern Department; and the third at Philadelphia, April 11, 1777, appointing him Deputy Director- General of the Hospital in the Northern Department. He was afterwards appointed to the Middle Department, when the scene of war changed to Pennsylvania and Jersey. General Washington, writing to the President of Congress from New York, June 9, 1776, says: "When Dr. Potts arrives, I shall order him to Canada or Lake George it is certainly necessary that he or Dr. Stringer should go up to the former."

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ing, I assure your Honour I have spared him from our huckster shop every article in my power. What keeps Mr. Henry with the medicine I am at a loss to know. I sent one of my Mates three days since to Albany to expedite his coming and to purchase, if possible, some articles we are wholly out of I have also wrote to the Committee of Albany and Salisbury to send me as soon as possible all the old linen or rags they can procure, as well as to recommend to the farmers and others to cure a quantity of herbs for the use of the Hospital. It pains me much to think of our destitute condition, for should your Honour be attacked we have not bandages or lint to dress fifty men. I can with confidence assure your Honour that nothing shall be left undone in my power to procure every necessary for the good of the Army in my line of duty. I heartily thank your Honour for your orders respecting the return of the Regimental Surgeons, as well as your approving of my sentiments in regard to Dr. McCrea. I was greatly surprised at having some patients sent here in the small-pox from among the new levies. I have shortly examined them. I cannot as yet find they have been inoculated, should I discover such a thing shall be careful to transmit to you every matter relative to it, as well as effectually secure' the patients. One thing I should recommend to your Honour's notice which I hope you will not think foreign to my duty, as the Army is greatly exposed to intermittant and billious complaints from their situation, I am humbly of opinion it would conduce to their health if every man was allowed half a gill of bitter rum per day.. It can be made, four pounds of Gentian root and two pounds of Orange peel to a Hogshead. If these articles cannot be had, the Regimental Surgeons can readily procure some Snake root certainly, or Dogwood bark, which will answer nearly as well. Enclosed have sent your Honour the returns of the Hospital, on which I here only observe that we have a greater number than appears from the return, owing to the names being struck out of the Hospital book, but I still detain them under the name of Convalescents who will be sent forward in a day or two., .1 have taken the liberty to send your Honour a tolerably good wether and a cask with some beans, squashes, cucumbers and a few small melons. The moment I can procure any good vinegar it shall be forwarded to you. I am your Honour's most obedient and very humble servant,

JON'A POTTS.

188 - Third Generation.

Letter to Dr. John Morgan Director-General of the Medical Department of the United States.

FORT GEORGE, August 10,1776.,

DEAR SIR:

I expected long ere this to have had Dr. McHenry at the fort with the medicines (which) I mentioned to you were to come from Philadelphia, but I am greatly disappointed at his not arriving & what has prevented him I know not In a letter this day received from him he informs me that he was then to set out for Philadelphia in order to procure those medicines & some Mates, & mentions Your kind intention of assisting him both with advice & a supply of the cortex. The distressed situation of the sick here is not to be described. Without clothing, without bedding, or a shelter sufficient to screen them from the weather, I am sure your known humanity will be affected when I tell you we have at present upwards of one thousand sick & wounded in the sheds, & laboring under the various disorders of dysenteries, bilious, putrid fevers, & the effects of confluent small-pox. To attend this large number, we have four Seniors & four Mates, exclusive of myself, & our little shop doth not afford a grain of jalap, ipecac, bark, salts, opium, & sundry other capital articles, & nothing of the kind to be bad in this quarter.

In this dilemma our inventions are exhausted for succedaneums, but we shall go on doing the best we can in the hopes of a speedy supply.

Dr. Stringer left this some few days since, in order to lay the situation of the hospital before his excellency General Washington, & endeavor to procure redress. You may remember, Sir, when I left New York I mentioned to you, though the resolve of Congress did not expressly say I was to be - Director General of this department, yet I apprehend it was the intention of that honorable body, agreeably to my petition previous to my appointment, that I should act as such in Canada, but on this side that province I was not to supersede Dr. Stringer. As I have since had the pleasure of Dr. Stringer s acquaintance, & have been made acquainted with the Resolves of Congress in his favor, I find he has power to act as Director General of the Northern Department, which I knew not before ; yet I shall continue to act as director under him until the matter is otherwise settled. I can assure you Dr. Stringer's conduct here, & the regard I have conceived for him from my short acquaintance, influences me to wish he maybe continued as at present,

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& more especially as I hope our arms will be blessed with success, & we shall once more regain Canada, when it will most undoubtedly be necessary to have two hospitals in this wide extended country. I hope ere this reaches you the line by which the different departments are to act will be fixed.

Dr. Stringer & myself bad some conversation respecting the expediency of acting under a Director General of the whole continent. This the Doctor was averse (to), & I mentioned some reasons which had weight with me. As you will see the Doctor I need not take up your time by mentioning them for my own part I am resolved to be governed by such regulations as our wise Congress shall think proper, wishing nothing more than to contribute my mite towards the relief of our once distressed country, but now the glorious, independent States of America. Pray present my respectful compliments to his excellency General Washington, & General Mifflin, & believe me. to be, dear sir,

Your affectionate & most humble servant,

JONA. POTTS.

General Gates wrote to Congress:

Tye, July 16,1776.,

"I went with Gen. Schuyler & Arnold to Crown Point where we found the wretched remains of what was once a very respectable body of troops -that pestilential disease the small-pox has taken such deep root that the Camp has more the appearance of a General Hospital than an army."

In this terrible condition of the hospitals and of the army, the humane reader will be glad to learn that Congress, urged by the application of the Commander-in-Chief, issued the orders necessary to establish a different state of things, which Dr. Potts carried out with zeal and efficiency.

After Gates joined Washington in Philadelphia, Dr. Potts was for a time on duty there, as the following from the general orders of Putnam, dated December 12, 1776, shows

"Officers who have the charge of any sick soldiers in or near the city, & who are included in the foregoing order, are directed to make returns to Dr. Jonathan Potts at Mr. John Biddle's in Market St. of the numbers & places of residence of their sick, that proper care may be taken of them."

190 Third Generation.

An Order of Congress in Dr. Potts's Handwriting.

"That the Med. Com. provide a suitable assortment of medicines & send them to the Hospital in the Northern Dept. with all possible dispatch, together with other necessaries for the sick, & that the list mentioned by Dr. Stringer in a paper not enclosed in Gen. Schuyler's letter be committed to them. That Dr. Potts be directed to repair to Ticonderoga without delay.

"Resolved that Dr. Stringer (1) be directed to deliver to Dr. Potts such medicine & other medical stores belonging to the Continental army."

To GEN. GATES

HONORED SIR, The return of the sick remaining in the General Hospital which you were pleased to be ordered to be made weekly on every Friday will be delivered you by Capt. Craig. I hope you will not attribute its late appearance at this time to any neglect on my part, as I can with confidence assure your Honor nothing is I left undone in my power to reduce every matter relative to the Hospital into order.

The number of the sick being great & their complaints so urgent that they employ the whole time of us all, & having but one clerk who is to enter the Name of every person admitted, discharged, died or deserted, as well as to superintend the issuing of provisions, makes it almost impossible to comply with your order at present so particularly as I could wish. I flatter myself hereafter we shall be able to make the return agreeable to your desire.

I am your most obed't & very humble servant,

J. P.

Soon after this Dr. Potts reports the following officers of the General. Hospital, Northern Department, as his staff of subordinates:

General Officers. -Dr. Thomas Tillotson, Asst. Dept. Director. Dr. Malichi Treat,

Physician-General. Dr. James Brown, Surgeon- General. Dr. Bartlett; Physician and Surgeon-General of Army. Andrew Craigie, Apothecary-General

(1) By this order Dr. Potts superseded Dr. Stringer, who had had some disagreement with the Continental Congress, and left the service in 1777, retiring to Albany, where he died in 1817, aged eighty-three.

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Senior Surgeons. Dr. Robert Johnson, Dr. Stephen McCrea, Dr. David Townsend, Dr. Sam. McKenzie, Dr. Fran. Hagan, Dr. James Young.

Second Surgeons. Dr. Alex. Steward, Dr. Bedf. Williams, Dr. T. Vickers, Dr. Mich. ch. Scull, Dr. Matt. Mans, Dr. Nich. Schuyler.

Surgeons Mates.-Mr. Dav. Stoddard, Mr. James Thatcher, Mr. Samuel Woodruff, Mr. Wm. P. Smith, Mr. James Prescott, Mr. Willis Brown.

Commissary, Mr. Dow; Assistant Commissary, Mr. Henry Marselis; John Wittman, Clerk; Jno. Steward, Assistant Clerk; Steward, John Brown.

Several of the above-named became eminent in the war.

Dr. Bartlett, as Surgeon-General of the Northern Department. He died in Charlestown, Mass., in 1820.

Dr. Tillotson became Secretary of State in New York, and married a daughter of Chancellor Livingstone, and sister of Mrs. General Montgomery.

Mr. James Thatcher was the author of a " military journal."

Andrew Craigie made a fortune by buying and selling medicines to the army, and afterwards purchased and enlarged Washington's head-quarters at Cambridge, where he lived in a good deal of style. The house is now occupied by the poet Longfellow.

Letter indorsed "Copy of a letter to the Medical Committee."

March 9th, 1777.

GENTLEMEN:

Upon the first notice of my appointment to the Directorship of the Military Hospital in the Northern District I applied myself Diligently to procure such Articles as were to be had & I Thought necessary for the use of the General Hospital. I am well aware that a few well chosen Medicines & Stores are only Necessary for a Military Hospital & shall be careful to conduct myself accordingly. I should have been happy to have had your Instructions before I left Philad'a & Intreat you to forward (them) to me whenever your other more Important Business will give Leisure. The Surgeons whom

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I have engaged beg me to solicit your interest to have their pay Increased, the Dearness of Every Necessary of life & the Difficulty of procuring Gentlemen of Ability to Engage in the Service Induce me to beg your attention to this matter. As soon as possible after my arrival in the Department. I shall make a return of every Article belonging to the General Hospital with an account of what may be farther Necessary. I am Clearly of opinion It will Enduce much to the good of the Service to have a Sub-Director appointed. Should your Hon'ble House approve- of this Measure, Give me leave to recommend Doctor Warren, (1) whose good Sense, long Services & Zeal in the Cause entitle him to the Notice of his Country. I have the highest Sense of the Honor conferred on me by the very Hon'l Congress & shall Exert Every nerve to merit their notice

I have the Honour to be, Gentlemen,

Your most Obedient Humble Serv't,

JON'N POTTS.

P. S. I have sent on most of the Articles I could Procure, & follow Myself with the Remainder Tomorrow.

READING, March 9th, 1777.

Hon'le Medical Committee in Congress.

Letter indorsed "Copy of my letter to Gen. Gates, Albany, April 3d, 1777."

My DEAR GENERAL:

I arrived in this City this day ; before General Schuyler left it, on his way to Philadelphia, he has ordered me to Establish the General Hospital at Fort George Instead of Mount Independence. As the army are to be inoculated, I am of opinion it will Contribute to the Public Service to keep the Disease out of the Camp, which we may do by receiving at a time only such a number as the Hospital will Conveniently accommodate, by which means the Garrison will not be greatly weakened & the Soldiers still have an Oppor

(1) Dr. John Warren was the brother of Dr. Joseph Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill. He was also the founder of the medical department of Harvard University, and the father and grandfather of the* late Drs. John C. Warren, Senior and junior. From letters in the Potts' correspondence, it appears that Dr. Warren was very much disappointed at not receiving this appointment, and complains of being passed over by Congress. He and Dr. Potts were warm friends.

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tunity of going thro' the Disease. But I intend to have a Hospital on Mount Independence for the reception of the Sick of the Garrison, so that between both places I shall be fully employed, but I am determined to do my duty at Every Risk. I am well pleased that I brought Medicine with me from Philadel'a, tho' I have found more here than I at first expected. It is somewhat Strange to me that I have never had a Line from the Medical Committee, as the Surgeons & other officers of the Hospitals were in expectation of having their pay encreased. I am happy to inform you however that the Gentlemen have all agreed to stay except one, in full Confidence of being under your Commands, who they are well convinced will do them ample justice.

I shall go on with pleasure in Daily expectation of paying you my respects in this Department.

My Compliments to your Lady & Son.

I have the Honour to be your most Obedient & very humble Servant,

JONN POTTS.

ALBANY, April 3rd, 1777.

HON'BLE MAJOR GENL. GATES.

Indorsed "A Copy of a Letter to the Medical Committee, Albany, A April 3, 1777."

GENTLEMEN:

I have the Honour to enclose you a Return of the Medicines & Stores belonging to the General Hospital in this Department which I have received from Doctor Samuel Stringer, these with what I brought with me from Phila. & some few I expect from Boston will be quite sufficient for this Campaign. I am directed by Gen. Schuyler to establish the General Hospital at Lake George in order to receive such of the army as choose to be Inoculated. I also intend to erect a Hospital at Mount Independence for the reception of the sick of the Garrison purposing to keep the Small Pox out of the Garnson.

To accomplish I this I have engaged a Number of Gentlemen who Served in this Quarter last Campaign, a return of whose Names I will make to you by the earliest Conveyance from Lake George. I promised myself the pleasure of a line from you, but I have as yet received none. I entreat you excuse me for again mentioning the Wages of the officers belonging to the

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Hospital, it will be difficult to retain Gentlemen of their Ability at their present pay.

I brought up with me some Garden seeds, but not a Sufficiency for the large Garden I propose to have, & there are none to be had here. If you think proper. I should be glad to have a further supply. I can with confidence assure you that no steps shall be left untaken by me to procure the Health of the Troops & do my duty to the Sick, of the number of whom I shall from time to time make you a proper return.

I have the Honour to be, Gentlemen,

Your most obedient & very Humb. Servant,

JON'N POTTS.

ALBANY, April 3rd, 1777.

Shall remove to Lake George in a few days, the Roads being at present impassable.

onbl Medical Committee in Congress.

Letter endorsed "Med. Com., Ap. 12, 1777."

Sir:-

Your letter directed to the Med. Com. in Congress with the enclosed returns of Medicines, stores & such in the Hospitals at Albany & Tyeconderoga came safe to hand this day.

We are highly pleased with your having the prospect of a sufficient supply of medicines in your department for the ensuing Campaign, & approve of the returns you have made us.

Your proposal of keeping the Small pox out of the Garrison at Tyeconderoga we think extremely proper, & hope you will carefully attend to its execution.

Congress have just finished a new plan & arrangement of the medical department in the Army. It is ordered to be published immediately. As you will soon be possessed of the whole plan, we shall only inform you at present that your appointment of Director of the northern department is renewed, the pay 5 dols. & 6 rations per diem.

Senior Surgeons 4 dols. & 5 rations a day, Regimental surgeons 2 dols. & 4 rations a day, & the pay of every other rank in proportion.

As handsome salaries are now allowed we expect none but persons of the

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best abilities will be employed or suffered to remain in your service as Hospital or Regimental surgeon, & that you will strictly superintend every branch of the Med. Dept. under your charge.

We greatly approve of your scheme of a Garden for supplying the troops with vegetables, which we judge will contribute much towards preserving their health. Should forward you some seeds, but think you can procure them nearer hand.

We hope to hear from you by every convenient opportunity.

By order of the Med. Com. I have the honour to be, Sir, your very Humble serv't,

M.THORNTON.

Doctor Potts, Director of the Military Hospitals in the North Dept.

PHIL., 12th April, 1777.

Indorsed "Copy of a Letter to Dr. Shippen, April 29, 1777."DEAR SIR:

Your favor of the 18th inst., which had enclosed the Resolution of Congress respecting the arrangement of the Hospitals in the different departments of the United States came to my hands on Wednesday last. I am happy to find that a line of conduct is pointed out to each officer belonging to a General Hospital. The returns you request shall be sent agreeable to your orders, at present it is out of my power. I make no doubt but the Medical Committee have put into your hands the return I made them of the Medicines, Stores &c. I found here. I flatter myself that with them & those I brought up with me from Philadelphia & what I have ordered -from Boston will safely carry me through this Campaign. A return of all which shall be made you as soon-as possible. The General Hospital is to be established at Mount Independence, for the reception of the Sick of the Army at the post. One other Hospital at Fort George for the reception of such as may happen to be taken with. the Small Pox or any other putrid or infectious disease, also a Hospital in this City for such as fall sick on their March to or from the advanced post Tyeconderoga, one prevention is worth two cures, upon this principle I shall excite every nerve to preserve cleanliness, give particular attention to the Diet & method of dressing the provisions delivered to the Troops, & above all have the Gardens well taken care of

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With regard to the small pox I have sent two of my Surgeons into New England to enquire into the state of the Troops coming to Tye', by their report that disease is not on the line of March at all, in consequence of which the Commander in Chief here, Gen. Gates, has ordered me to prevent if possible the disease. coming into Camp. God knows we want men & the present movements of the enemy demand every assistance. The gentlemen appointed by Congress as Physicians, Surgeons & Surgeon General of the Northern Army are by Genl Gates express orders required to attend to their duty without delay. No excuse will be taken.

I long to take Dr. Treat by the hand, the other gentlemen I know not, but am sure must be men of ability from the appointment given them. You request me, dear Doctor, to let you know my wants, & rest assured I shall do it. Tye' is most undoubtedly an unhealthy situation, owing to the stagnant water & fogs, & to avoid the effects of which we should moisten our clay now & then with some cordials or salubrious medicine.

Should opportunity offer, I hope you will not forget me. One other request I pray you not to omit - pray send me the papers, & when your other more important business will admit let me hear something of what is going on amongst you.' As to news we have nothing from Canada that can be relied on, Some boats which came up Lake Champlain to Gillillam Creek have returned. The Copperheads are quiet at present, but I fear they will be troublesome, having moved with their families from these parts.

I am with respect your most obe't & humble servant,

JON'N POTTS.

ALBANY, April 29, 1777.

Letter directed to Honorable Committee of Schenectady. It follows a letter from those gentlemen asking for the appointment of Dirk Van Ingen as Surgeon to the sick and. wounded soldiers of that town, he. having lived there nineteen years.

GENTLEMEN

In consequence of your recommendation I have appointed Dirk Van Ingen to take care of all such Officers & Soldiers in Continental Service as may be taken sick in or near your Town. I make no doubt but you will give him every assistance in your power to procure Necessaries for them.

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I shall send him an assortment of Medicines by the earliest opportunity as it is my determined intention that every care & precaution shall be taken respecting our Sick, I make no doubt but the Dr. will carefully perform his duty.

I am, gentlemen, with respect, your most obedient humble Serv't,

JON'N POTTS.

ALBANY, May 6, 1777.

Committee of Schenectady.

The following Order in the Handwriting of Dr. Potts.

The Hospitals in the Northern Department are established at the following places. At Mount Independence, Fort George & the City of Albany. All Officers, Regimental Surgeons & others are therefore requested to take Notice that such of the Continental Troops under their care, who may happen to fall Sick at or near these places will be received into the Hospitals & proper care taken of them. The Regimental Surgeons appointed to the Regiments ordered to this Department are desired to join their respective Corps immediately, no excuse will be taken, such as neglect this Notice may expect to be superseded without distinction.

JON'N POTTS,

D: Director-General.

ALBANY, May 7, 1777.

A list of fruit-trees ordered by Dr. Potts for his gardens at Albany, 1777. I insert it, as it will interest pomologists to know what fruits were then in good repute, and prove the date when some of them were introduced into Northern New York.

50 Newtown Pippins & Spitzenbergs

4 Green Gage.

4 Yellow egg plumb.

3 Newark.

4 Elfrey's plumb.

50 Vanderveers.

6 Bleeding Hearts.

12 Early apples from George Young.

6 May Dukes.

13 Russet

6 White Hearts.

25. Priestly.

6 Ox Hearts.

25 House apple.

6 Carnations.

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4 Apricots.

6 Early juicy pear.

4 Green Chissel pear.

6 Bergamot.

6 Catherine pear.

12 Different winter pears.

6 Lawrence pear.

MR. WALTERS:

You will deliver the above. at Dr. Bond's tomorrow evening, & be careful to mark each bundle.

JON'N POTTS.

The three following letters were written by Dr. Potts to his brother Samuel, and describe in familiar and graphic terms the situation of the Northern army at a very critical period.

My DEAR BROTHER:

I have sent Bill express to hear from home, you will now have no excuse, do not spare paper.

I returned from Tye' yesterday, that garrison is daily getting strength. I left 3,400 effective men & 1,500 on their march within 16 miles; the works go on well & the troops are in good spirits. By a prisoner taken down the Lake we are informed that the Regulars were not in motion on 14th inst. still cantoned in small parties, provisions very high, a general cry for want of clothing, quarrel between the Canadians & them, only 4 vessels at St. Johns, exclusive of two taken from us & a new gun ship building, a fleet I confess which will fully command the Lake, however I believe in a short time we may esteem ourselves safe. Pray what is Gen. How doing ? he seems to be at a loss, when will he open the campaign?

We have in this City 300 Ind Indians Six nations, & others who promise friendship, & more if wanted.

I attend a Council with them this morning. Gen. Carleton (1) has ex

(1) General Carleton sent out Captain Mckay, with twenty-five Indians from Canada, in February, to learn something of General Howe's movements. This detachment made their way through the forest on the western shores of Lake Champlain, and. surprised and captured, between Fort Carrillon (Tye.) and Fort William Henry (Mount Independence), a party of the enemy, numbering an officer and twenty-three men. They reached Montreal in April ; from these prisoners Carleton first learned. the fate of the Hessians at Trenton the Christmas previous.

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pressly forbid scalping, & refused pay or reward to the Indians, for their marking down on- this account.

We fed & clothed the prisoners taken by us at Sabbath Day point, & treat them humanely.

As to my department I have medicine & stores plenty, you will see by the papers where I have established the Hospitals.

I have but 20 sick at present all together never were troops more healthy. My gardens go on well.

I have 25 acres in different spots, & a set of negroes to attend them.

In short I trust to have a happy campaign of it. My love to all. friends without exception.

Send me the papers, or any late publication.

I am, dear Sammy, your affect. Brother & servant,

JON'N POTTS.

ALBANY, May 26,1777.

Hurry Bill (1) back as early as possible.

Fort EDWARD, June 16th, 1777,

14 miles this side Lake George.

DEAR BROTHER

By two prisoners taken by our scouts, we have the intelligence contained in the enclosed this moment received.

To-morrow I cross the Lake with Gen. Schuyler to Tye'- should it really be earnest it will be a glorious sight, the consequences I fear.

Be cautious, Dr. Sammy, of shewing the enclosed, I know I may safely trust you, especially keep it from Gracey (2) & my dear Mother, you shall hear from me in a day or two by express.

For my part I really believe it only a feint with their fleet to amuse us at any rate it gives us trouble - I have ordered every surgeon to attend me, & trust me I will do my duty.

We have but 5,400 men yet all included, I mean artificers &c. &c. &c. tho' the Col. mentions only 3,000. Gen. Schuyler thinks it serious & . . . .

(1) Probably his slave and body-servant. the journey from Ticonderoga to Pottstown must have been at that date long and wearisome; there was no other way of communication but by sending express, and Dr. Potts therefore sent his servant to obtain news from home

(2)His wife.

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Having many things to do, have only to add that with my kindest love to all friends

I am yr. affect. Brother & Serv't,

JON'N POTTS.

Once more let me entreat you not to repeat this to any one.

DEAR BROTHER:

Tho' I sent an express but a few days since, yet well knowing how anxious you will be to hear our situation I have sent Capt. Wittman with this - since my last we evacuated Fort Edward & retired about 5 miles down the river to a place called Moses' creek: this was most undoubtedly a prudent step at this post we are daily getting supplies, God only knows whether sufficient or not. Fort George, as well as Fort Edward, are entirely demolished; being now in the interior parts of the country, in the woods & on heights far from th~ir shipping, we may be quite an equal match.

The Damn'd Copper heads are troublesome, not a day but a scalp or two taken near our very encampment, we have also now & then skirmishing with the scouting parties,

We are informed by some Deserters that a few days since the. German troops & British had a fight among themselves at Skeensburgh, in which the former lost 18 & the latter 80 men.

I am positive great jealousies reign among them. The enemy have advanced into the Grants (1) a large body of men promising protection & security to the inhabitants, some credulous fools believe them, & taking example from plundered Jersey they are at Castleton, & Col. Warner is in the neighborhood with a body of 3,000 militia, it is said to watch their motions.

My hospital is now here, where I have all the wounded & sick, amounting in the whole only to 15 3 - Let me again beg you not to condemn rashly our. late retreat from Fort Tye' many reasons may be given - Why don't you write by my expresses -Nothing from the Westward-upon the whole I think we shall have warm work in this quarter, but if properly supported I make no doubt shall yet come off more than Conquerors - Gracious God in whom I put my trust, suffer not our Righteous cause to perish because Sinners-defend it.

(1) Part of New Hampshire and Vermont.

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This moment a letter from Ward's quarters informs me that the enemy advanced with 1,000 men (1) to Fort Edward, attacked our Picquet & killed 5. men & a young lady (2) sister of one of my Surgeons, all of whom they scalped & most barbarously butchered, now for Lex Talionis, by heavens! no officer or soldier shall have mercy from my hands. God bless & preserve you all -my love to our Mother & every relation. I go to camp immediately with my Surgeons.

I am as usual your affect Brother & Serv't,

JON'N POTTS.

ALBANY, July 28th, 1777.

At the battle of Bennington a considerable number of wounded fell into the hands of the Americans. They were the Brunswick troops under Von Baum, and General Riedesel says he sent for their relief by Dr. Wood (who took with him instruments and medicines one hundred guineas.

This surgeon of Burgoyne's staff visited General Gates with a letter from his general, who complained that the wounded then taken prisoners were badly treated.

No doubt this report was untrue, and Dr. Potts writes to Dr. Wood the following polite letter of dismissal:

SIR:

I have it in command from the Honorable Major Gates that you attend Dr. Thos. Tillotson, Phy. & Surg. Gen. of the Northern army, to Stillwater,

(1) Burgoyne writes to Riedesel, Skeensborough, July 23d, 1777

"The enemy are in considerable force at Fort Edward & appear to await us there. I very much doubt it, still it will be necessary to advance against this position with sufficient force."

It was this news which induced Burgoyne to send out the detachment mentioned in Dr. Potts's letter of July 28, which resulted in the massacre of Miss McCrea, July 26.

(2) The incident mentioned in the latter part of this letter refers to jenny McCrea, who was murdered by the Indians, and whose tragical death has found a place in every history. Her brother, Dr. Stephen McCrea, was one of the senior surgeons of Dr. Potts's staff.

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from whence His Honour intends you shall have a safe guard to join his Excellency General Burgoyne.

I am your most obed't & very humble Serv't,

JON'N POTTS,

Director Gen'l of the Hospitals Northern Dept.

September 16, 1777.

After this engagement, Wilkinson writes to the chairman of the Committee. at Albany, by order of General Gates:

STILLWATER, September 20, 1777.

The General is sensible that the Committee will afford the Director General Dr. Potts every assistance in their power, whose care & attention to those unfortunate brave men deserves the highest credit.

After the engagement of October 7, Burgoyne,(1) in his retreat, had to leave his hospitals to the mercy of the Americans. Riedesel says in hi's Memoirs: (2)

"It was impossible, with the lack of transportation, to take along the hospital numbering over 800 sick and wounded ; and it being equally difficult to defend so long a line of march, these unfortunates bad to be left to the magnanimity of the enemy. Dr. Hess (3) remained with them, and a letter of recommendation was given him to General Gates."

Wilkinson, in his Memoirs, thus describes his meeting with Dr. Hayes:

"I observed an individual approaching me on horseback at full gallop, with a white flag raised in his hand, and 'as he advanced he held out a letter. The bearer appeared in much trepidation, and announced to me the facetious, amiable Hibernian, John Macnamara Hayes, informing me at the same time that he had been left in charge of many sick and wounded officers and men,

(1) Burgoyne's hospital was the barrack near Schuyler's -house, north side of the road to Saratoga Springs, where now stand the red barns of Mr. Welsh of Schuylerville.

(2) Vol. I. pp. 166, 167.

(3) Dr. afterwards Sir John Macnamara Haves, an eminent practitioner in London.

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whom he entreated me to visit as they were in great alarm for their personal safety against -our Indians and riflemen."

The following letter was among Dr. Potts's correspondence, in the writing of one of General Gates's aids, and it is fair to conclude it to be an exact copy of the one sent by Gates to Burgoyne. In the Memoirs of General Riedesel, by W. L. Stone, the letter is printed in a note with this remark: "It redounds so much to the honor, spirit, and highmindedness of the writer, that it is here given entire. The letter itself is not, we believe, generally known." After speaking of it as printed entire, the last line consists of stars, and one can see by comparing it with the following that all about the exchange of prisoners is omitted, while many verbal alterations have been made

SARATOGA, Oct. 11th, 1777

SIR

I had the honor to receive your Excellency's letter by Lady Ackland, the respect due to her Ladyship's rank, the tenderness due to her person & sex, were alone sufficient recommendations to entitle her to my protection. Considering my preceding Conduct with Respect to those of your army whom the fortune of war has placed in my hands I am surprised that your Excellency should think that I could consider the greatest attention to Lad Ackland in the light of an obligation.

The cruelties which mark the retreat of your Army in burning the Gentlemen's & Farmers' houses as they pass along, is almost among civilized Nations without a Precedent, they should not endeavor to ruin those they have not the prowess to conquer, this conduct betrays more of the vindictive malice of a Monk than the generosity of a Soldier.

Your friend Sir Francis Clarke by the information of Dr Potts M. D. G. of my Hospitals languishes under a very dangerous wound ; every sort of tenderness & attention is paid to him, as well as to all the wounded who have fallen into my hands, & the Hospital which you were necessitated to leave to my Mercy.

204 - Third Generation.

At the solicitation of Major Williams (1) I am prevailed upon to offer him & Major Maiborn (2) in exchange for Col. Ethan Allen. Your Excellency's objections to my last proposal for the exchange of Col. E. Allen, I must consider as trifling, as I cannot but suppose that the Generals of the Royal armies act in equal concert with those of the Generals of the armies of the United States. The bearer delivers a number of letters from the officers of your army taken prisoner in the. action of the 7th.

To GEN. BURGOYNE.

This exchange of prisoners was not effected, because Colonel Ethan Allen had been sent to England.

Extract from a Letter of Horatio Gates to his Excellency John Hancock.

I cannot close my letter without requesting your Excellency to inform Congress of the good care & attention with which Dr. Potts & ye gentlemen of the General Hospital have conducted the business of their department.

I must beg that some honorary mark of the favor of Congress may be shown to Dr. Potts & his subordinate associates.

I am, sir, your Excellency's most obedient servant,

HORATIO GATES.

His Excellency JOHN HANCOCK.

October 20, 1777.

Extract from the Minutes.

IN CONGRESS, Nov. 6, 1777.

Resolved, That the unremitted attention shown by Dr. Potts and the officers of the General Hospital in the Northern Department as represented in General Gates's letter to Congress of the 20th of October, to the sick and wounded

(1) Major Williams was in command of Burgoyne's artillery, which in the action of the 7th had all the horses and most of the men killed, and was therefore left to the enemy. Steadman's History of the North .4 American War.

(2) Major just. Chnstoph. Von Maiborn belonged to Baum's regiment of dragoons, and was captured near Bennington, August 16. He was the first German officer exchanged, September 24, 1778, more than a year after this attempt. While serving under Riedesel at Brooklyn, in April, 1781, he was taken out of his bed and carried off by the Americans; his general applied to Washington to have him released, and he was sent to New York on parole. He died February 17, 1804, as a pensioned major, at Wolfenbuthel.

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under their charge, is a proof, not only of their humanity, but of their zeal for. the service of the United States, so deeply interested in the preservation of the lives and health of the gallant assertors of their country's cause ; and that Congress therefore cannot but entertain a high sense of the services which they have rendered during this campaign by a diligent discharge of their respective functions.

CHARLES THOMPSON, Sec'y.

Dr. Jonathan Potts, Director-General of the Hospitals of the Northern Department, having with the greatest care and attention performed the duties of his station and put the hospitals in such a condition as renders his immediate attention unnecessary, has my permission to visit his family in Berks County, State of Pennsylvania, and is to remain there so long as the duties of his office will admit.

Given at Albany this 16th day of November, 1777.

HORATIO GATES.

He took with him on this furlough Corn& Graefe, who had been captured with the Hessians, and who appears to have spent the winter with him in Reading. Whether they had traced some relationship, or that Dr. Potts was particularly interested in this prisoner, we cannot tell; but I have in 'my possession, in the handsome autograph of General Gates, the following:

The Bearer Cornet Graeff of The German Troop in the service of the King of Great Britain, being a prisoner of war upon his parole, has my permission to go with Dr. Potts, Director of the General Hospital, to Reading in ye pensilvania. to remain there under the care of Doctor potts or until he is regularly exchanged.

Given this at Head Quarters in Albany this 17th November, 1777.

HORATIO GATES.

Of this officer, (1) Graydon, in his Memoirs, makes the following mention:

(1) Augustus Ludwig Lucas Graefe returned to Germany in 1783. He-was afterwards appointed Governor of Mecklenburg Strelitz, which office he held at the time of his death.

206 - Third Generation.

" But of all the prisoners one Graff, a Brunswick officer, was admitted to the greatest privileges. Under the patronage of Dr. Potts, who had been principal surgeon in the Northern Department, he had been introduced to our dancing parties, and being always afterwards invited, he never failed to attend. He was a young man of mild and pleasing manners, with urbanity enough to witness the little triumphs of party without being incited to ill-humor by them. Overhearing a dance called for one evening which we bad named Burgoyne's Surrender, he observed to his partner that it was a very pretty dance, notwithstanding the name, and that General Burgoyne himself would be happy to dance it in such good company."

While Dr. Potts was at home, he was appointed by Congress Director-General of the Hospitals in the Middle Department; and the army being then in winter quarters at Valley Forge, and a large hospital of those wounded at the battle of Brandywine established at Ephrata, he found much to do in his own neighborhood.

Through the long winter when the Continental army was encamped at Valley Forge his. labor must have been-great, as at one time no less than eleven hospitals were established there for the sick and suffering soldiers, their insufficient food and clothing, rendering them the prey of every disease.

Addressed to the Honorable the Board of Treasury.

GENTLEMEN -

Agreeable to your Resolve I now lay before you a general account of the expenditure of the Monies received by me for the use of the Gen. Hospt. from March 1st to the 1st inst. You will observe by the return of Stores, lately made by me, that all the Medicines & a great part of the Stores ordered to be procured by the Med. Com. of Congress are already purchased & much of them used, still the quantity on hand is sufficient for the supply of the Hospitals for some time, this of course will lessen the amazing expense, we have hitherto been at, especially as the number of sick is daily decreasing here.

Third Generation. - 207

As I am under the necessity of purchasing the greatest part of the provisions & at the present enormous prices I require large supplies for that purpose, otherwise the sick & Convalescent particularly would suffer.

I can boldly affirm no pains are spared to save every unnecessary delay by collecting the Hospitals together & discharging the supernumerary officers immediately under me.

The pay for milk, light diet, & nursing, only at several of the Hospitals of late have amounted to L500 per month each.

You will please to reflect this account of expenditure falls far short of the estimate laid before you some time since.

The expeditions to the Westward & Northward are also supplied with necessaries & cash for their Sick. The Surgeons & Officers of our Dept. drew but one Ration, I consequently pay the rationed ones in Cash as no subsistence money is yet allotted for us, this I thought proper to mention now to prevent it in future if improper. I also herewith give you, as correct, a list of the Officers of the Dept. by which you see their pay & Rations amount to 433 dollars per diem I owe yet some cash for stores, if possible I will pay every officer in full to the 1st of Oct. &.therefore think a grant of 200,000 Dollars made in such Payments as the Treasury can afford will carry me on to the 1st of December next, this if granted will give me great satisfaction, as it will certainly contribute to the advantage of our poor Sick as I am conscious our Hospitals at this time are in the neatest order & as comfortably supplied as any Hospt. can be, yet it is necessary to make some further provisions against the Winter season by fitting up some places for the reception of the Chronic & other Patients, & laying in a stock of wood. I cannot forbear mentioning His Excellency Gen. Washington having visited some of our largest Hospitals before he left this State & was highly satisfied with them. I further learn that Baron Steuben & several other gentlemen of humanity & distinction have visited our Hospitals in Jersey & speak very favorably of them. From motives of Humanity I am induced to execute my Business with Fidelity & Industry & therefore after giving you this State of my affairs I must intreat you to support me in such a manner as will tend to my Credit & be conducive to the publick good. I have the honor to be gentlemen

Your ob't humble Serv't,

JON'N POTTS.

208 - Third Generation.

PHILAD'A, August 28th, 1778.

Before I left Albany I gave all the account of the expenditures of Monies received by me from the Hospital into the hands of Mr. Wells, one of the Commissioners, since which large sums have been laid out by Dr. Johnson the Ass. D. Director, who has just wrote to me to procure 30,000 dollars to enable him to close all the Accounts, as you have ordered them to be laid before the board of Claims I trust you will Order that sum for him as the, person he sent down is waiting. I have, &c.,

Indorsed as follows, but without residence (probably Reading, Pa.):

HON. MR. THORNTON, Chairman of the Med. Com. Philad'a. By Dr. Johnson. April 11th 1780.

SIR,- The bearer, Dr. Robert Johnson, the assistant Purveyor in the Northern department, now on his return to Albany, will have the honor to present you this. The situation of the sick in that quarter he will inform you of fully. As his accounts are settled up till the 1st of Jan. last past since which a large Debt is made, he cannot return so as to do his Duty without a supply of Money & requests an order from the Hon'ble Congress on the Treasury in Albany for one hundred thousand dollars at least, which he says will answer at- present. I trust Dr. Wilson has delivered you my letters with the return of stores & Medicines on hand in Phila. & also the estimate of articles necessary for the use of the Gen. Hospt. for the ensuing campaign, agreeably to your orders. The necessity of laying in these Magazines you are the best judges of, as well as how, when & where they are to be procured, but most assuredly without these supplies your sick & wounded must suffer. As, to myself, Sir, I ever have & always shall be happy to execute your orders, as far as lays in my power, but at present my indisposition of Body contracted in your Service prevents me from giving that assistance in the execution of my office I could wish. I have therefore agreeably to your permission returned to this place, to restore my much impaired health, at the same time I beg leave to assure your Hon'ble Com. that I shall at all times be ready (if I can but crawl) to contribute my mite towards the full & final Establishment of our Glorious Independence.

I have the honor to be your most obedient humble servant,

JON'N POTTS.

Third Generation. - 209

Dr. Potts's zeal in the public service had been so unremitting during four -years, that he was at length prostrated by illness, from which he never recovered, and in October, 1781, he died, at the early age. of thirty-six, at his home in Reading, before the independence of his country, which he so ardently longed for, was achieved.

He was buried in the family graveyard at Pottstown, but without a stone to mark the grave, the Society of Friends disapproving of any monumental marbles. About twenty-five years ago his grandson, William B. Potts, placed over his remains a small oblong slab, upon which the date of Dr. Potts's birth is incorrectly stated, and only the year of his death given. An aged man named Drinkhouse, who had been present at the funeral, pointed out the spot where he was interred. After the death of Dr. Potts, his widow removed to Wilmington, Delaware, and survived him many years. His papers were left in the house of his brother and executor, Samuel, where they remained for more than half a century securely hidden away, until claimed by his grandson, who selected that portion relating particularly to public affairs and presented the manuscripts to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, where they are bound in two large folio volumes, forming a collection of interesting letters from eminent persons in the last century, and a mass of returns, etc., relating to the Continental hospitals. About ten years since, Dr. John Neill, finding that this ill-arranged body of papers contained historical matter of which there was no other record extant, proposed to edit them if government would appropriate a sum for copying; but as this was not granted, the plan was abandoned. In 1863, his brother, the Rev. Edward D. Neill, made some extracts from these unpublished letters and printed them in the New England Historical. and Genealogical Register under the title of A Biographical Sketch of. Dr. Jonathan Potts; but as only three of the twenty

210 - Third Generation.

three letters there given were written by Dr., Potts, the Sketch affords little insight into his character, while the genealogy which precedes the letters is radically wrong, as the grandfather and great-grandfather provided for Dr. Potts were not father and son or the ancestors of the doctor, nor, as far as we now know, even near collateral relatives.

A portrait of Dr. Potts, which was in the possession of his grandson, who died in 185 5, cannot now be found, and I have been unable to obtain access to the private papers selected by him and stored away by his widow. Some of the letters in the preceding pages were loaned to me by Robert E. Hobart, and a few papers which I have made use of here were given to me by the same person. To the extreme reluctance of the family to furnish any data for publication must be attributed the fact that the services of Dr. Potts and the high position he held in the Continental army are so little known, while persons who did much less towards achieving the independence of their country have had their names blazoned on the roll of fame.

Dr. Potts was elected surgeon of the Philadelphia City Troop, May 17, 1779, and his place was not filled until 1786. He was present at the house of his friend, James Wilson (signer of the Declaration), corner of Third and Walnut Streets, when that building was attacked by the mob in 1779, and assisted in defending it. John Potts, Jr., and Nathaniel Potts, who were also there, were the sons of his brother Samuel..

While many who entered the army from interested motives retired with fortunes, Dr. Potts died a poorer man than he was at the. opening of the Revolution. At that period he was living at Reading, having inherited a good estate from his father, while his agreeable manners and fine medical education made him deservedly popular as a physician but he conscientiously sacrificed all the ease

Third Generation. - 211

and comfort of private life to relieve the sufferings of those fighting for' their country. His will, made October 11, 1780, mentions his five children, and orders that his three sons shall receive the best education they are capable of. He gives all his household goods, plate, furniture, phaeton, harness and the horses belonging to it, to his wife Grace, and orders that ,C3 000 in specie be put at interest, and- the money arising therefrom paid her quarterly. "My negroes, Pompey and Hester, I give to my wife for the term of five years, provided they serve her dutifully and obediently during that time; otherwise she may keep them years longer, and then to be free and receive L10 each . . To my beloved friend Thomas Dundas, 100 guineas and my sword and pistols as a small testimony of my great regard and esteem, and in consideration of his many acts of kindness and friendship." Mr. Dundas renounced the legacy, and appeared at the time the will was proved as one of the witnesses with James Biddle. Thomas Mifflin and Samuel Potts were executors. Dr. Potts's wife was a daughter of Francis and Mary (Fitzwater) Richardson, and with her cousin George Clymer, signer of the Declaration, were devisees under the will of their grandfather, George Fitzwater, 1748.

24. Anna (99) was born July 1, about nine of the clock at night, A. D. 1747. She was married to her cousin (32) David, son of (8) Thomas and Rebecca (Rutter) Potts, at Pottsgrove, 22d December 1768, by the Rev. William Currie,(1) "according to the canons and constitution of the

Church of England."

(1) Reverend William Currie was a clergyman sent out to this country about 1740 by the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, to take charge of St. David's, Radnor, and St. James's, Perkiomen. The latter place is variously spelt in old records, as Perquihoma, Perquayomen, and Perquihanna. In 1765 he wrote to the society that he intended repairing the glebe house there, which had fallen into ruins, and living in it instead of at Radnor, as his congregation at the former place was the largest. See " Perry's History of the Church."

The original marriage certificate, written by Rev. William Currie, from which the above is quoted, is now in my possession. The parish register of this church is lost, which I regret very much, as it is evident that some of the Potts family worshipped there, and considered themselves members of that parish.

212 - Third Generation.

The miniature from which the portrait in this volume is engraved was probably taken previous to her marriage, and represents her with clear, delicate complexion. rosy cheeks, and fair hair. The signature is copied from her marriage settlements.

The home of David and Anna Potts was at Pine, from which he received the sobriguel of "Little Pine Davey," to distinguish him from his cousin and brother-in-law of the same name. This house had been the residence of their mutual grandfather, Thomas Potts, and probably of their great-grandfather, Thomas Rutter.

They lived there fourteen years, and both died. in the prime of life; David, November 9, 1782, and Anna only a short time before.

She made a Will 2 27th of March, 17 7 5, bequeathing to her "wellbeloved husband, David Potts, the sum of 750 pounds lawful money of Pennsylvania, it being the whole of my jointure which was settled on me shortly before my marriage."

This will was proved at Reading, October 4, 1782, a little more than a month before her husband's death.

The following memorandum - for the will of David Potts appears to have been admitted to probate November 14, 1782

"Will of David Potts jun'r. Douglass Township Berks Co. iron-Master, directs his Estate both real & personal to be sold, except the Forge & Plantation on which the Forge stands ; & that also to be sold as soon as an agreement with Thomas Walker shall expire; the money arising from sales

Third Generation. - 213

to be put at interest for the use of his two daughters Ruth & Martha Potts to be equally divided between them when they attain the age of 18. He gives to Rebecca Baird wife of Sam'- Baird one ton bar iron, & makes some other provision for her, also for Rebecca Dewees the daughter of Thomas Dewees: he appoints Samuel Potts executor; will dated Oct 5 1782.

"He added to his will shortly before his death 50 6 to Jesse Dewees son of Thos. Dewees, & 50 L to Martha Hughes above her wages for her care & attention, & to his brother William Potts his horse Saddle & Bridle & watch.

"And if his children should die under age & without issue his Estate to be divided between his sister Beckey Baird, & his niece Beckey Dewees, & his brother William Potts equally.

"The above memorandum was made on the second day of Nov. & the Testator died on the 9th of the same month 1782 between the said spaces of time his situation made him incapable of any business.

Signed ( T. Rutter & Sam'l Potts)

"witness:

THOMAS WALKER

Wm. TAYLOR

SAM'L ROBESON

The above, it seems, was not carried out as he wished.

25. Isaac (101) was born May 20th, about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, A. D. 1750. Before he had reached the age of eighteen his father died, and it is probable that soon after that event he took some portion of the Valley Forge property. A large part of this estate had been transferred to his elder brothers Samuel and John ; but the very portion which Isaac's house occupied, with the Valley Mills and the large mansion-house, is all within the reserved tract, the limits and boundaries of which are given in the will of John (3). Before Isaac was twenty-one he married at Plymouth meeting, 6th December, 1770, Martha,(1) daughter of Samuel and Mary (Livezey) Bolton, who was born 5th mo. 28, 1750.

(1) Martha was the grand-daughter of Robert and Susannah Heath, who came to this country in 1701 with five daughters and one son. Her sister Mary married Jacob Paul.

Isaac was a man of "infinite jest and humor," and his social qualities well fitted him for the gay society which he enjoyed, until by a sudden conversion he became a Quaker preacher. The following account of this event was given me by an elderly Friend, a descendant of the Moores of Moore Hall, near Valley Forge.

One of Isaac's slaves having died, he was to be buried in the graveyard of the race on the opposite side of the Schuylkill, and his master joined the funeral procession in his own boat intending to return when the other skiffs reached the shore; but as the sable cortege disembarked, he was inwardly constrained to go on with the mourners; and when he approached the grave, the Spirit moved him to speak words of exhortation and warning to the no small surprise of his hearers. One of the colored girls present, a slave of Mrs. Dewees, told her mistress, when she reached home, that Massa Isaac had preached a most splendid sermon at the funeral "; but the statement was so incredible that Mrs. Dewees reprimanded her severely for telling such a falsehood, especially about one of the family; and when she continued to reiterate it, saying it was nothing but truth, her mistress threatened her with punishment, but wisely concluded, before inflicting it , to ascertain the facts from her cousin himself The next day, when she saw him approaching the house, she went to the door to question him, expecting to hear from him 'an indignant denial of the slave S statement; but, to her surprise, he advanced with a subdued air, and, seating himself upon the door-step, said that only the humblest and lowest place was suitable for a sinner like himself. From this time forth he became an acceptable Quaker preacher or Public Friend.

In Day's Historical Collections of Pennsylvania" is the following:

"On the west side of the Schuylkill, about twenty-two miles from Phila

Third Generation - 215

delphia, and six miles above Norristown, is a deep, rugged hollow at the mouth of Valley Creek. An ancient forge established by one of the Potts family, of Potts-rove, had given the place the name of Valley Forge. Upon the mountainous flanks of this valley, which overlook all the adjacent country, Washington finally concluded to establish his army forthe winter of 1777-78. The army reached the valley about the 18th of December. They might have been tracked by the blood of their feet in marching barefooted over the hard frozen ground between White Marsh and Valley Forge. They remained at this place until the following summer, when the British evacuated Philadelphia. Mrs. Washington also came to Valley Forge to share with her husband the trials of the winter. The General's head-quarters were at the stone house belonging to Isaac Potts, the proprietor of the forge."

As Valley Forge has become historic ground, I have endeavored to glean from family documents all the facts concerning it, and am able to give from original papers the following account: March 12, 1757, "John Potts of the manor of Douglass esq." purchased from the executors of Stephen Evans., deceased, a forge, saw-mill, and three tracts of land situate in the county of Philadelphia, part of the manor of Mount joy. This name, tradition asserts, Was bestowed on the bluff near the Schuylkill by William Penn, who, while exploring the place, lost his way on a hill south of Valley Creek, which he named Mount Misery; but found out where he was when he reached the top of the opposite eminence (from whence he saw the river), and named it Mount joy, to commemorate the incident. This manor he granted to his daughter Letitia, and until the Revolution some part of it was held by the Penns. The hills still bear the name thus bestowed upon them; and it was upon Mount joy (most inappropriate name!) that the American army was encamped in '1777. It rises back of Isaac Potts's house, after two fields are crossed, and terminates abruptly in a river bluff, which was the extreme point where intrenchments were thrown up.

216 - -Third Generation.

It is probable that John Potts improved and enlarged the ironworks he bought in 1757, which from that time appear to have been called Valley Forge, though retaining in most legal documents the name of Mount Joy.

In 1765 he granted them to his sons Samuel and John, and this fact is mentioned in his will, where the property is called Valley Forge. In an inventory made by them, when it came into their possession, the personal property, not including the real estate, was valued at L1,214 6s. 9d. In 1768 John sold it to his brother Joseph, who the following year executed, in conjunction with Sarah his wife, a mortgage on it, describing the same lands and forge. From 1767-when, no doubt, John made the agreement with his brother for the sale -it appears to have been carried on by Joseph and his brother David and cousin Thomas Hockley, under the name of Potts, Hockley, and Potts. The following inventory,taken by them, is copied from the original. It will show to those who' have supposed Valley Forge to be only a blacksmith's shop something of the extent of the works, though it does not include the landed estate, or the numerous buildings and houses upon it.

Amount of the Inventory taken at Mountjoy Forge June 12^th 1767 by Potts Hockley & Potts.

Thos Potts.

Steel Furance Comy.

David Potts.

Thos Potts & Comy,

Jonn Humphreys.

Saml & Jno Potts's Inventory

in the Year 1765 . . . . . 1214 . 16 . 9 3/4

Min of Accots to be settled in Potts Hockley & Potts Books.

Jno Potts Senr.

The site of this old forge, which was burned by the British more than two months before the American army encamped there, is now covered by water, and is at the foot of Mount Joy, and more than half a mile above the Valley Mill. The. new dam, which was built lower down the creek after the Revolution, and which, it will be seen, had been long contemplated, raised the water-level, and covered the foundation. The new works, erected soon after the close of the war, were built near where the present factory stands. The iron used at Valley Forge was made at Warwick Furnace, and "haulled" there by teams. I have a paper, written in the copperplate hand of Robert Grace, giving the "Amount of Pigg Iron haull'd to Mt. Joy Forge by Robert Grace's team " from 1762 to1765, and the name of the driver of each load, -in 1762, eighteen tons; 1763, twenty-six tons;1764, fifty-one tons;1765, six tons.

The prevailing idea that Isaac Potts owmed and carried on Valley Forge before the Revolution has no foundation in fact. I cannot find that he had any connection with the iron-works until after the close of the war. Probably on that event he began with his brother David to build a new dam, partly for the benefit of his flour-mills, and erected another forge, which bore the old name. In 1786 it was carried on under the name of Isaac Potts& Co. The company was David Potts and his son James, who had an establishment in Philadelphia where the bar-iron made here was sold. In one account, in 1786, eighty-five tons of pig-iron are put down as received from Warwick, and it appears to have been made en

218 - Third Generation.

tirely into bar-iron, which was sold at prices ranging from L 24 to L30 per ton. This iron was formed into "anconies," which are a kind of half wrought iron in the shape of bars in the middle, but rude and unwrought at the ends.

At all the iron-works owned by John Potts he thought it important to have a good grist-mill for grinding the large quantity of grain consumed by -both man and beast. On the Mount joy property, as soon as it came into his possession, we find him erecting a mill on the Valley Creek, a short distance below the forge, as the following proves. The original (1) is neatly written on a folio sheet of wire-wove paper with the water-mark of a crown and the initials G. R:

Samuel Bond in account with John Potts

Jany 2., 1759

From the above it would appear that the work alone at the Val

(1) On the back is written, "May 22 Halled for Jno Potts with two teams 1150 bricks."

(2) The mills here mentioned were at Pine Forge.

ley Mill amounted to nearly L100, and probably occupied the greater part of a year. I am inclined to think that the building of the house, afterwards Washington's head-quarters, is included in this account, and that both were erected at, the same time. The distance between them wa's only a few rods.

When I visited Valley Forge in 1868, Mrs. Ogden, the present owner and occupant of the premises, was much interested in obtaining information concerning the Potts family, and some time afterwards I transcribed the above and sent it to her, and in-return received a letter, from which I make the following extract:

"The old mill, which belonged to my father at the time, was burned down by a spark from a locomotive in the spring of 1843. It stood near the railroad, and was much larger than the mill my father built higher up the -ace the next year, and which is now used as a paper-mill. The old mill had very massive timbers used in its building, which were unharmed by time, and I heard say the burrs were the best in the country; they were all destroyed by the fire. The miller who rented it at the time was Abraham Bond, and doubtless a descendant of Samuel Bond, who helped build it; they are an old family in the neighborhood.

"An old Jonathan James; a Revolutionary pensioner, died in Valley Forge about 1830 or 1831, near ninety years of age, who told me he had *seen the General and wife at this house, and turned wooden bowls for her which she took to Mount Vernon. He bad a son Philip, who died, quite aged, a few years ago. I presume this Jonathan was a son of the Philip mentioned in the building account. There is no posterity of the name now.

"If the house is as old as the mill, it has stood the storms of over a century well. There are the same doors and window-shutters (as well as sash) as when the house was built, and it may last another generation if some progressive owner don't get it and despise-its antiquity."

It was these grist or flour mills that Isaac owned and carried on from the time of his father's death until nearly the close of the century.

Third Generation. - 220

The following agreement, copied from the original in my possession, shows that in 1773 Joseph owned the forge and Isaac the mills:

"Articles of an agreement made & concluded in the twentyseventh Day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred & seventythree Between Joseph Potts of the City of Philadelphia Gentleman of the one Part & Isaac Potts of Tredyffen Township in the County of. Chester Yeoman of the other Part. Witnesseth that whereas the said Isaac Potts is Possessed of Certain Mills on the Valley Creek near Mount Joy Forge which for a Considerable Time after the Forge Stops working hath not a Sufficient Supply of Water Therefore the said Joseph Potts for diverse Considerations doth hereby grant & Covenant that the said Isaac Potts shall have the Priviledge of Drawing the Water out of the Forge Race after the Forge Stops working on seventh Day until 12 oClock at Night Provided he Shuts or Causeth the Gates to be Shut at that Time, which if he should omit or neglect to do that this Priviledge is fully to cease or otherwise if there is not water enough in the Creek to fill the Forge Dam against 12 oclock First Day Night, or if the Owner or Owners of said Forge should Build a Dam at the Head of the Present Forge Dam in that Case also this Privilege to cease which is hereby granted only to the said Isaac Potts while he holds or Possesses said Mills

"Witness my, Hand & Seal the Day & Year abovesaid

-JOSEPH POTTS.

"Witness present

"DAVID POTTS JUR JNO ELLIS."

In a recent history of Phoenixville, by Dr. Pennypacker, it is stated that, after the Revolution, Isaac Potts and William Dewees carried on a nail-factory in an old armory built by government for the manufacture of muskets. This is an error as members of both families have assured me that the factory at Valley Forge for making gun-barrels for the United States government was established about the year 1821, by Brooke Evans, of Sheffield, England,

Third Generation. - 221

when both Potts and Dewees had been many years in their graves. It is not improbable that they took some building erected by government in-part payment for their losses, and converted it into a forge. I have had in my possession many of the business books and papers of Isaac Potts, and in none of them is there any mention of nails manufactured by him, though there are constant records of bar-iron and anconies. That, after the peace, Isaac Potts was largely engaged in the iron business, there is abundant evidence. Soon after 179o he built a furnace in Burlington County, New Jersey, which he named Martha, in honor of his wife. In the first page of a book in my possession, containing records of Martha Furnace, the entry is as follows: "9 mo. 29. 10 o'clock A. M. Martha Furnace went in Blast made the first Casting 30" at 3 o'clock in the morning 1793." Then follow the different blasts until May, 1797. At the same year and date commences the record of the sale of pigs and castings. The latter consisted of hollow ware, stoves, "cambooses," kitchen-hearths, fire-backs, and jambs. Isaac Potts removed to Philadelphia,- and lived -in Arch, between Sixth and Seventh Streets, while engaged in carrying on Martha Furnace. Part of the time he resided in the neighborhood of the city.

The accounts of Isaac Potts discovering Washington at prayer always represent him as an old man, and I have seen one, at least, where he is called a blacksmith. How incorrect such statements are, the readers of this volume will readily see. In 1777 he was only twenty-six years of age, and, like most of the Quakers, was decidedly opposed to the war; but he remained at Valley Forge during its occupation by the American forces, and no doubt superintended the grinding of the grain which Washington ordered the neighboring farmers to bring in to his suffering army. These mills were large, and in good repute for the quality as well as the quan

222 - Third Generation.

tity of flour manufactured there; and it was not in human nature, or Quaker nature either, for Isaac to be very much pleased to run his mills according to military requisitions, to see his peaceful valley invaded by men at arms, or to give up his own quiet home to the commander-in-chief of a defeated army, who, in his opinion, was waging a wicked and hopeless war. That he changed his mind when he overheard Washington's devotions is evident. The following account of the incident I copied from a paper in the possession of one of his grand-daughters. It is in the handwriting of and signed by his daughter Ruth Anna, who died in 1811. There is no note to show from what it was taken; but as she copied and thus preserved it, we may infer it to be a tolerably correct version of facts. The story differs in some particulars from that in Weems's "Life of Washington," and also from the account given by Watson and Lossing.

"In 1777, while the American army lay at Valley Forge,(1) a good old Quaker by the name of Potts had occasion to pass through a thick wood near head-quarters. As he traversed the dark brown forest, be heard, at a distance before him, a voice which as he advanced became more fervid and interested. Approaching with slowness and circumspection, whom should he behold in a dark bower apparently -formed for the purpose, but the Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the United Colonies on his knees in the act of .devotion to the Ruler of the universe! At the moment when Friend Potts, concealed by the trees, came up, Washington was interceding for his beloved country. With tones of gratitude that labored for adequate expression, he adored that exuberant goodness which, from the depth of obscurity, had exalted him to the headof a great nation, and that nation fighting at fearful odds or all the world holds dear.

"He utterly disclaimed all ability of his own for this arduous conflict; he wept at the thought of that irretrievable ruin which his mistakes might

(1) Some further account of Valley Forge appears under. the name of (33) Sarah (Potts) Dewees.

Third Generation. - 223

bring on his country, and with the patriot's pathos spreading the interests of unborn millions before the eye of Eternal Mercy, he implored the aid of that arm which guides the starry host. Soon as the General had finished his devotions and had retired, Friend Potts returned to his house and threw himself into a chair by the side of his wife.

"' Hegh ! Isaac,' said she with tenderness, 'thee seems agitated; what 's the matter?' ' Indeed, my dear, quoth he, 'if I appear agitated 't is no more than what I am, I have seen this day what I shall never forget. Till now I have thought that a Christian and a soldier were characters incompatible; but if George Washington be not a man of God, I am mistaken, and still more shall I be disappointed if God do not through him perform some -great thing for this country."'

The following is extracted from a -letter received by the author from. a grandson and namesake of Isaac Potts: " I have been endeavoring to obtain a copy of a Funeral Sermon delivered at Friends' Meeting-house, corner of Second and Market Streets (Philadelphia) by my grandfather upon the death of General Washington, but thus far have been unsuccessful. I was informed by my wife's uncle (now deceased), who heard it, that a certain Friend had taken it down, but upon inquiry among the present generation have been unable to find any traces of it. It was said he only received the sad tidings upon reaching the meeting that day, and that as he passed up the aisle to his accustomed seat he repeated these words as a text, 'That great occidental star has set forever,' and then proceeded to pronounce a splendid eulogy upon Washington. Soon after a member of Congress who was present, when asked by another to go to hear General Lee of Virginia give a funeral oration upon the same subject, said, I heard a much better one than he will deliver from an old Quaker."'

Martha, the wife of. Isaac Potts, died at Cheltenham Farm, Montgomery County (the property of Colonel Samuel Miles), 4th

224 - Third Generation.

mo. 30th, 1798. Isaac married, 2d, Sarah, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Mather) Evans, at Abington meeting, 3d mo. 10th, 1803

Many anecdotes are related that show Isaac to have been a person of great originality of mind, as well as independence of character, which often led him beyond the acknowledged rules of drab coat and broad brim.

He resided at Twickenham Farm, Cheltenham, towards the latter part of his life, and married a second wife only a few months before his death. His liberal tendency of thought is expressed in the last clause of his will:

"Life is uncertain, I am in a poor state of health & am to set out on a journey tomorrow, which consideration must apologize to my friends & the Public for this unmethodical will: but I feel easiest to leave it as it is, with a mind cloathed (I think) with the spring & glow of universal love to my fellow creatures not doubting but the true members the world over of the one true Church Militant will meet again in the Church Triumphant. Amen. Farewell."

Three weeks after this was written, Isaac, while attending meeting at Germantown, was taken ill and carried from the meetinghouse to Dr. Bensill's, where he died 6th mo. 15th, 1803, aged fifty-two years.

From a Philadelphia Newspaper of June, 1803.

"Died, at Germantown, on 4th day evening, 15th instant, Isaac Potts, of Cheltenham, Montgomery County, aged fifty-two years. An irreparable loss to his family, a loss to society in general ; but those persons who were- more nearly allied to him by affinity and friendship have abundant reason, indeed, to lament their misfortune in parting with so valuable a friend and benefactor. He was a man who possessed in an eminent degree those virtues which adorn the human character.

"For more than twenty-five years be was a minister of the gospel among the people called Quakers, and his labors were highly beneficial in quicken-

ing and establishing many serious Christians, and in promoting many others to a serious attention to the things which belong to their eternal peace. He was eminent in point of natural and intellectual abilities. He was eminent in point of knowledge both human and divine.

"And with all these endowments he was eminently qualified for the sacred office which he sustained, and the several departments in which he had been called to serve. He was a servant whom our common Master and Lord had been pleased to intrust with many talents, and to the useful occupation of these talents he was divinely called in very early life. His unreserved candor rendered him obnoxious to many unjust censures, which have been too frequently pronounced against him with undeserved acrimony.

"Yet being fully sensible of his integrity when improperly aspersed, he was enabled to bear the keenest shafts of active and malicious envy with great calmness and magnanimity. When reviled he reviled not again, when cursed he blessed, when persecuted he suffered it 'EVEN UNTO DEATH.' He was an Israelite, indeed, in whom there was no guile. He was often, prompted by sensible and sympathetic affection, in the houses of mourning and in the chamber of sickness and approaching mortality. And here with equal pleasure we may add, that his sedulity and zeal was not 'as the cloud, as the dew of the morning which soon passeth away.' Instead of diminishing, it apparently increased with the progress of time and circumstances.

"With him it was a constant maxim, frequently expressed and uniformly acted upon, that there was but one Christian Church in the world, and that the true Christians of every denomination should unite and harmonize in the great principle of religion whenever they came. together. And such was the liberality of his principles and the goodness of his heart, that he was always opposed to that blind zeal and uncharitable rigidity which would proscribe indiscriminately all people who thought differently (either in things indifferent or in themselves innocent) from those tenets embraced by the society of Friends.

"Who, indeed, that has heard *of the death of Isaac Potts' knoweth not that 'a great man hath fallen in Israel'; and who, indeed, that hath possessed his friendship will not with deep regret say they have lost a truly great and valuable friend ? Such wag the man whom we have lately seen active, vigorous, and promoting by his constant efforts the good of mankind.

"Isaac Potts is now no more! yet reason bids us hope that be will yet live. And revelation enables us to say with confidence that he shall again live. He lived for our benefit. It remains only that we improve the event of his death in such a manner that he may die for our benefit likewise."

As the present generation is probably little aware of the expense of a beaver hat, I copy the following bill, dated 1786:

Bought by Isaac Potts of Isaac Parrish, Phil.

One beaver Hat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L3 7 8

" Boys " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L1 10 0

" Castor ". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L2 5 0

The following receipt in printed form,. for carriage taxes, found among Isaac's papers, shows the amount assessed in Pennsylvania for different vehicles in 1799 and the three following years. The words printed in italics are those filled up in writing:

Received the 28th day of November 1801 of Isaac Potts twenty seven dollars duly on 4 wheel Carriages, called a Coachee refting on Steel Springs, to be drawn by two horfes for the Conveyance of more than one perfon for the years to end on the 30th day of September, 1800, 1801 and 1802.

D. ST. CLAIR

Collector 3d Division 1ft Survey Pennfylvania.

RECEIVED the 28th day of Novr. 1801 of Isaac Potts three dollars, duly on 2 wheel Carriages called a Chair resting on wooden Springs with Top, to be drawn by one horse, for the Conveyance of more than one perfon for one year, to end on the 30th day of September, 1802..

D. Sr. CLAIR

Collector 3d Division 1ft Survey Pennfylvania.

Third Generation. - 227

26. James. (113), born 1752. He studied law in Philadelphia, and bad been admitted to practice in that city before the commencement of the Revolution. At the beginning of hostilities be embraced with great zeal and ardor the patriotic side. The following letter from him to his brother, Dr. Potts, eight days after the fight at Lexington, gives a graphic account of affairs in Philadelphia at that date.

"DEAR DOCTOR:

"I am extremely concerned at our friend's indisposition. Doctor, take care of him & prevent exertions above his strength. We may want his services erelong.

"The papers sent herewith will give you most of the account relative to the rout at Lexington,(1) which we have received. A gentleman told me last night he had seen a letter from New York which positively mentioned the regulars to have lost 800 men, & that only 12 officers of the first brigade had returned to Boston. Tomorrow we expect an exact account from Boston. Most certainly [they] have had a bitter pill.

"Batt writes to his wife, 'The regulars & provincials have had a brush. The king's troops were hellishly peppered but returned the compliment.'

"I received last night by express a letter from Mr. Wm Livingston one of the Congress for New Jersey. He informs me that the people of Connecticut broke open the last mail from Boston & intercepted several letters from Gen. Gage by which the New Yorkers had discovered a hellish plot. He does

(1) The news of this battle, which took place April 19, reached Philadelphia on the afternoon of the 24th. It was carried by express-riders, the local committee of each town it passed through being required, if needed, to furnish a fresh horse and rider. The original paper, with the time the news reached each important town, and the name of the committee at every stage indorsed upon it, with additional particulars, is now in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

228 - Third Generation.

not say what. We suppose here it must be a plan to seize the Congress. Hold yourselves & neighbors in readiness to assist us.

"The New Yorkers have shut their port, seized the keys of the custom-house, & armed themselves. Connecticut has sent 10,000 men to take post at King's Bridge near New York, where it is said the troops intended to erect a fortress to cut off all communication between the N & S Colonies. I have sent for a letter from the York Committee. If I obtain it shall be sent therewith. We have warmed our people almost to a military phrenzy. Yesterday we had a meeting of Associates; 9,000 were present. (1) T. M. harangued them with success. We divide into wards & choose our officers tomorrow. 3 troops of light horse, 2 companies of artillery, 2 companies of light infantry, 2 companies of riflemen, are forming The artillery & light horse form tomorrow. The horses are training. I have sent two. We have here a stable for 30. The town is filled with companies exercising. I have attended during the last week six hours every day & have gained some knowledge in that way. Our artillery & powder are guarded every night by detachments from the companies already formed.

"The Virginians have lost their powder at Williamsburgh. It was taken by order of the government, by a detachment of Marines, from a ship of war in the night time. The people are so irritated they are marching to Williamsburgh from all the neighboring counties & by this time have secured the Governor as a hostage, whom they, are determined to keep in close custody until the powder is returned.

"Fleeson is so pressed by our people that I fear that you will get neither drum nor colours for some days. I called on him last Friday; nothing done except the drum hooped. I have now sent to him. The York letter you will have with a letter from our Committee. Hold yourself ready to march at an hour's warning. I believe the Congress will meet at Reading.

"If you want two small iron carriage guns to exercise Johnny Miers with, send for them. They are three-pounders. The brass we shall keep. The device for your drum &.colors I have not bad time to complete. Tomorrow Fleeson shall have them."

(1) The meeting of the Associates was April 26, and Thomas Mifflin, subsequently general and governor, was one of the speakers.

Third Generation. - 229

The preceding letter shows the war spirit in Philadelphia, and that James was already drilling for service.. He joined Cadwalader's musket battalion, which, from the high social position of its members, was derisively called the "silk-stocking company." In March, 1776, he was appointed by Congress a major in this battalion, and soon after, by the Assembly of Pennsylvania, commissioned to outrank all other majors in the service of the State. It appears from the records that Cadwalader was not satisfied with his own official rank, and there was much debate about it, which ended in his resignation. It was probably on account of this trouble that in July James Potts requested leave of Congress to resign the commission with which they had honored him.

He was chosen a member of the Provincial Conference that assembled in Philadelphia, June 18, 1776, of which Colonel Thomas McKean was president. It met for the purpose of framing rules for the election of members of a convention which should take charge of the government of the Province when Congress, then sitting in Philadelphia, should declare the Colonies. independent of the English crown.

The Provincial Conference required every member elected to the Convention, before taking his seat, to sign the following oath or affirmation:

"I do declare that I do not hold myself bound to bear allegiance to George the III King of Great Britain &c. & that I will steadily & firmly at all times promote the most effectual means according to the best of my skill & knowledge to oppose the tyrannical proceedings of the King & Parliament of G. B. against the Am. Colonies & to establish & s support a government in this province on the authority of the people only &c. That I will oppose any measure that shall or may in the least interfere with or obstruct the religious principles or practices of any of the good people of this province as heretofore enjoyed." Also, I do profess faith in God the Father

230 - Third Generation.

& in Jesus Christ his eternal Son the true God & in the Holy Spirit one God blessed forevermore; and do acknowledge the Holy scriptures of the Old & New Testament to be given by Divine inspiration."

On July 2, two weeks after this Conference was organized, the Honorable Continental Congress declared the United Colonies free and independent States.

In 1778 James married Anna, daughter of Anthony and Margaret Stocker,(1) of Philadelphia. By a marriage settlement he conveyed to her, April 7 of that year, after stating that " a marriage is intended to be shortly had and solemnized between the aforesaid, a certain messuage and lot of ground situate in Pottstown on the south side of King Street, being lot No.- 18 in the plan of said town."

He died at Philadelphia, November 16, 1788, and the following obituary of him appeared in the Philadelphia "Independent Gazetteer," Thursday, November 20, 1788:

"On Tuesday afternoon last the remains of James Potts, Esq., counsellor at law, of Pottsgrove, Pa., were interred in the Friends' burial-ground, attended by many respectable le inhabitants and brother practitioners of the law. The many social virtues and good qualities of this worthy gentleman render his loss very affecting to his surviving relatives and friends. It may be justly said of Mr. Potts what was once asserted on a similar occasion in faithful remembrance of a predecessor in the practice of the law in England

'God works wonders now and then

Here lies a lawyer and an honest man.'"

(1) This inscription is on her tombstone in Christ Churchyard

In memory of

Margaret Stocker

relict of

Anthony Stocker

Departed this life

Oct 3 1821

aged 83 years 11 months & 28 days."

Third Generation. - 231

His wife survived him until May 24, 1821, when she died, in Philadelphia.

This obituary is copied from Poulson's "American Daily Advertiser," May 28, 1821

"Died, on the 24th instant, Mrs. Anna Potts, relict of Mr. James Potts. Endowed by her Creator with sterling and noble feelings and great energy of character, the deceased, in the several stations of daughter, parent, and friend, made an exemplary use of the talents committed to her.

"Her charities were active and judicious, and her resignation and confidence in the last earthly trial, it is humbly hoped, were harbingers of her entrance into that rest which remaineth for the people of God.

By Nature's law what may be, may be now.

There's no prerogative in human hours.

In human hearts what bolder thoughts can rise

Than man's presumption on to-morrow's dawn.

Where is to-morrow? In another world;

For numbers this is certain. The reverse

Is sure to none."

The following is the inscription on her tombstone in Christ Churchyard, Philadelphia:

In memory of

Anna Potts

daughter of

Anthony & Margaret Stocker

and widow of James Potts of Pottsgrove

who having lived 65 years in

the faithful discharge of the various duties of

Child Wife Parent Friend & Christian

was called on the 24th day of May

A. D. 1821

to receive the rich reward prepared for the righteous

from the foundation of the world

Gentle Spirit the Lord shall preserve thee from all evil,

Yea, it is even He that shall keep thy soul in glory everlasting."

232 - Third Generation.

27. Rebeccah Grace (117), born at Pottsgrove, 1755. Married Benjamin Duffield, M. D., (1) who was born November 3, 1753. He was a graduate of the College of Philadelphia in 1771, and delivered at the Commencement exercises of that year a poem on Science. He afterwards went to the Medical School in Edinburgh, where he passed several years. Soon after his return home be was married, and began the practice of his profession in Philadelphia. During the prevalence of the yellow-fever in that city (1793), a committee was appointed to alleviate the sufferings of those afflicted. From the published minutes of their proceedings I copy the following: "Dr. Benjamin Duffield offered his services to assist at the hospital at Bush Hill, which are accepted. Agreed, that the thanks of the committee be, presented to him ; that he be furnished with a chair or other carriage to aid him in his benevolent undertaking."

This seems to be the proper place to record the acts of benevolence of the Potts family to the pestilence-stricken city. A committee to alleviate the sufferers was organized in Pottsgrove, and October 10, 1793, a letter was received from them informing the Philadelphia Committee that they had forwarded fourteen sheep to Peter, Robeson's mill for the use of the sick, and requesting to know how they may render themselves most useful. Another let

(1) The ancestors of Dr. Duffield came to Philadelphia soon after that city was laid out by Penn. Edward, the father of Benjamin, was a warden of Christ Church, and a friend of Franklin, and executor of his will. He died at the family place in the manor of Moreland, and his tombstone, with those of many of his descendants, are in All-.Saints' Churchyard, near Holmesburg.

Third Generation. - 233

ter was received soon after with one hundred and six fowls. October j 6, a letter from Joseph Pats with a copy of the resolutions of the meeting of the inhabitants of Montgomery County, held at Norristown, October 22, 1793. One from John Clements Stocker,(1) Secretary of the Potts-rove Committee, covering $150, for the use of the poor. October 24, 1793, a letter from Joseph Potts, of Pottsgrove, to the committee, informing them that he had forwarded two, hundred and twelve fowls from the inhabitants of Douglass Township for the use of the poor. The committee acknowledge receiving through J. C. Stocker $135.18, two turkeys, and a barrel of centaury. The total number of interments in the burial-grounds of the city, Northern Liberties and Southwark, from the 1st of August to November 9, was 4,044. During the prevalence of this terrible scourge all the inhabitants who were able to do so fled to the country, and, on their return to their former habitations, a general clearing out from garret to cellar and a universal purification took place, to the great loss and eternal regret of antiquarians.

From a Philadelphia paper of February 8, 1797, 1 extract the following:

"Died, on Saturday last, in the forty-third year of her age, of a short but excruciating illness, Mrs. Rebecca Duffield, wife of Dr. B. Duffield of this city."

Dr. Duffield is said to have been the first physician in America who gave public lectures on obstetrics.

(1) Mr. Stocker had left the city with his family, and taken refuge with his wife's brother at Pine. In a letter from that place Mrs. Stocker says that their part of Philadelphia (near St. Peter's Church) was more infected than the upper part, and mentions that A "looks upon their situation in Sansom Street above Sixth as quite secure and healthy," and does not intend leaving. So we see what was considered as the upper part of Philadelphia in 1793.

234 - Third Generation.

He survived his wife until December, 1799, and died, aged forty-six years.

28. Jesse (122) was born at Pottsgrove about 1757. Married Sarah Lewis, and died young. His widow survived him many years, but his two daughters died in girlhood.

29. Ruth, the thirteenth child of John and Ruth Potts, was born at Pottsgrove about 1758. She was an attractive woman, much admired in Philadelphia society, and it is remembered that she had danced with General Washington. Her musical talents were highly cultivated for that day, and her voice, tradition says, was remarkably fine. Ruth corresponded with General Mifflin and many of the distinguished men of the times. Her letters are sprightly, and show her to have been a well-educated and cultivated woman. Notwithstanding her many admirers, she refused all offers of marriage, and when remonstrated with by her friends, declared that she would not marry until too old to bear children. When over forty-five she was united to Peter Lohra, a well-known notary-public and ship-broker, located at the southeast corner of Walnut and Dock Streets, Philadelphia. The following is copied from Poulson's "American Advertiser," July 13, 1803:

"On Saturday evening last (July 9th), by the Rev. James Abercrombie,(1) Peter Lohra, Esq., of this city to Miss Potts, of Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania."

(1) Rector of St. Peters Church. in one of the family letters there is an interesting account of Mr. Abercrombie's determination to take orders. He appears to have been then a particular friend and correspondent.

Third Generation. - 235

Her married life was in a few years cut short by death, as appears by this extract from Relf's "Philadelphia Gazette," June 1, 1811

"Died, on Wednesday last (May 29th), much and deservedly respected and sincerely lamented, Mrs. Ruth Lohra, wife of Peter Lohra, Esq., of this city. The deceased was the youngest and only survivor of thirteen sons and daughters of John Potts, Esq., ofPottsgrove, in Pennsylvania, and the original founder of that place."

Children of Thomas and [7] Martha (Potts) Yorke.

30. Stephen, b. in Berks CO., 1735 ; d. unm. 1771. He is mentioned in his grandfather's will as a devisee with his brother of their mother's share of the estate. There was, besides. bequeathed to them a property purchased of Jonathan Robeson, Esq., which probably comprised part of that of their ancestor Robeson.

On page 78 1 have stated that the mother of Martha Yorke was a daughter of Israel Robeson, which is probably an error; for after many unavailing attempts to find the will of said Israel I obtained a copy, and he does not mention a daughter Magdelen; but a very extensive search among legal documents concerning this family reveals the fact that Andrew Robeson himself, the judge and councillor in Penn's time, settled afterwards in Manatawny. To him, doubtless, St. Gabriel's Church, Morlatton, owes its existence, as he is buried in its churchyard with the following inscription on his tombstone:

Andrew Robeson

died Feb'y 19, 1719-20

aged 66 years." aged

The Swedish annalist, Rev. F. C. Clay, states that in 1720 Rev. Samuel Hesselius went to Manating, which place he believes to be "Morlatton, four miles above Pottstown, Rev. Jonas Rudman. re

236 - Third Generation.

linquishing to him as much of his salary at Wicaco as was furnished by that part of his congregation."

The word "Manatawny," as the reader will observe, is very differently spelled in this book. It is an Indian name, signifying, according to Heckewelder, "where we drank," and the orthography he gives is more like that printed in Clay than the present style.

Andrew Robeson's will, made 1719, is recorded at Philadelphia, and names seven sons and three daughters. To the third son, Jonathan, he left the "1,000 acres whereon I now live." This was in Amity, and in 1718 he had conveyed to Hans Hoff half of another one thousand acres near Manatawny, east of the Schuylkill. To his son Samuel "that Foundment and the house where John Owen now lives." It has been supposed that this is an obsolete word for foundry, and I- have no doubt that Andrew Robeson went up to the Manatawny region, and became interested in the early iron-works there. The first Andrew the Swede died in Philadelphia in 1694, leaving to his son Andrew two hundred and fifty acres on Raccoon Creek, New Jersey. I have already stated that Andrew, Jr., became in 1787 one of the twelve proprietaries of that State and Surveyor-General; but removed to Philadelphia the year of his father's death, where he became a judge and councillor. Robert Turner, often mentioned in the -Penn and Logan papers, appears to have left New Jersey for Philadelphia at the same time, and was executor of the elder Robeson's will.

In Mickle's "History of Gloucester, New Jersey," is the copy of a map laid out by Thomas Sharp, 1689, whereon is marked, "Andrew Robeson one whole propriety ye 12 8 mo. 1689."

Andrew Robeson, who inherited the Wessahicon property, was the eldest son of Andrew, whose tombstone is in St. Gabriel's Churchyard, near Pottstown. Magdalen Robeson, the second. wife of the first Thomas Potts, probably died in June, 1764, as I have

Third Generation. - 237

recently received from the recorder's office at Reading the abstract 9 of her will, wherein she gives to her grandchildren Sarah Dewees, Hanna Dewees, Magdalen Potts, and Thomas Potts, all children of her son Thomas Potts, deceased, her property, share and share alike. Her slaves, Jo, Rachel, and Jude, to be free when they arrive at the age of thirty-one years.

The will was written and read to her the 10th of June, 1764, but not signed by her. It is signed, June 27, 1764, by John Potts, her son-in-law,(1) and Elizabeth Walker, who were present at the reading of the will, and heard her statements. From this it would appear that she was too ill to sign it, and died between the 10th and 27th of June.

31. Edward (124), b. in Berks Co., Pa., 1740; m. Sarab, (2) dau. of Peter Stille. He early espoused the patriotic cause, and was an officer under Commodore Hazlewood. He was wounded at the engagement between the American galleys and the "Augusta " in the Delaware River, October 2 , 1777, the day after the battle at Red Bank. The " Augusta," a British ship of sixty-four guns, took fire and blew up, and her consort, the " Merlin," ran aground in escaping from the Americans, and was burned by her crew. The wrecks of both vessels still lie in the Delaware, below Philadelphia, near the mouth of Mantua Creek.

Edward's half-brother, Thomas Yorke, was a loyalist, and went to England in the train of Sir William Howe, where he settled in Hull, of which town he became mayor.

(1) Meaning step-son.

(2) Sarah Stille was descended from one of the old Swedish families who settled on the Delaware. The name appears often in their records. John Stille's signature is appended to the petition of the Swedes to the General Association of Pennsylvania in 1709, setting forth their difficulty with William Penn and his agents in regard to their patents and grants of land.

238 - Third Generation.

Edward died in Philadelphia, April 12, 1791, and was buried among his Swedish ancestors in the graveyard of Gloria Dei Church. His wife married, for her second husband, Thomas Vanderpool, and died in Philadelphia, May 5, 1825, in the eighty-seventh year of her age. She was buried in Christ Churchyard, and a long epitaph commemorates her virtues.

Children of [8] Thomas and Rebecca (Rutter) Potts.

32. David (99), b. at Colebrookdale. He purchased Pine Forge when it was sold after the death of his uncle John, in 1768, for L2,000, and established himself there, for some reason preferring it to Colebrookdale Furnace, which, according to his father's will, he had the option of taking when he came of age. He married his cousin (24) Anna Potts, December 22, 1768, and they resided there and carried on that establishment until their death in 1782. A more extended account of David appears under the notice of his wife Anna.

33. Sarah (132), b. at Colebrookdale. She is mentioned in her grandfather's will. She m. William, son of William and Rachel (Farmer) Dewees, (1) and d. before the Revolution.

(1) This family is believed to be identical with the D'Ewees of French history, and is of Huguenot descent. In 1742 William, Sen., owned and carried on one of the paper-mills in the neighborhood of Germantown. He built a large stone mansion at Whitemarsh, which is still standing, and on the gable-end can be seen the initials D W & R. The Farmer family were of Irish descent, "Their ancestor," says Dr. Hodge, "enjoying much wealth, part of which was invested in the purchase of immense tracts of land in this country." Rachel was probably the grand-daughter of Major jasper Farmer, whose name often occurs in colonial records, and who is put down on Holmes's map as the owner of a large tract of land next above Germantown, reaching from the Schuylkill beyond Whitepain's Creek. Hediedin1683. Rachel's father, Edward, died at Whitemarsh, 1745. On part of his wife's estate William Dewees built this house in 1764, as the date on the end beneath the initials is plainly cut.

Third Generation. - 239

William Dewees, Jr., was sheriff of Philadelphia County, and a colonel of a Pennsylvania regiment in the Revolution. I find the following letter from the Board of War to President Wharton, August 30, 1777:

SIR, There is a large quantity of Flour spoiling for Want of baking. It lies at Valley Forge; I am directed to request of you that you with the Council will be pleased to order Furloughs to be given to six Bakers out of the Militia for the purpose of baking the Flour into hard biscuit. Col. Dewees will receive your order & endeavor to find out the Bakers.

"RICH. PETERS,

Sec."

It was doubtless at this time -more than three months previous to the army going into winter quarters at Valley Forge - that Colonel Dewees built the large ovens in the cellar of his cousin's house. David Potts had probably removed from his summer home to the city for security, and the house was taken at that time for a bakery, and used as such for the greater part of a year. In 1773 Joseph Potts, of Philadelphia, had conveyed to William Dewees an undivided moiety of Mount Joy Forge; and as early as 1771 he appears to have resided at the mansion-house belonging to these ironworks,, and to have carried them on in conjunction with David Potts, who, for nearly half a century, had sold in Philadelphia the bar-iron made there.

When Washington intrenched the army at Valley Forge, Colonel Dewees's family were residing there, and many incidents have come to my notice of the intercourse of this family with the General and his wife during the terrible winter of 1777. The Valley Forge was burned by the British in September of that year. This fact does not appear to be generally known; but in Buck's "History of Montgomery County" is the following:

240 - Third Generation.

"A detachment of the British army arrived at Valley Forge (whilst Washington was trying to bring on an engagement with them previous to their. marching into Philadelphia) and burned the mansion-house (1) of Colonel Dewees and the iron-works, leaving the grist-mill uninjured."

In the Orderly Book of General Irvine, April 29, 1778, is the following

"Complaint having been made by Mr. Dewees, proprietor of the Valley Forge, that the soldiers pull down the houses and break up the timbers of the buildings which is called Valley Forge, the Commander-in-Chief strictly forbids all persons from damaging the said buildings and works, which he hopes will be particularly attended to, especially when they consider the great loss that Mr. Dewees has already suffered, and the great waste our army has been under the necessity of committing upon the wood and other improvements.''

Many years after the war, the family of Colonel Dewees, through his son William, (2) a lawyer in Washington, D. C., presented a claim to Congress for indemnity. About the year 1820, government allowed them a sum not even equivalent to the interest on the amount of loss.

The mansion-house of the iron-works is on the Chester County side of Valley Creek, and stands about five hundred paces beyond the bridge. It is a fine, large house, and shows unmistakable signs of age, and it is certain that Colonel Dewees's family resided in it while the army was encamped at Valley Forge. On account of

(1) A grand-daughter of Colonel Dewees says that the mansion-house was not burned, but that the British destroyed all they could. She still has a bed made from the feathers which the soldiers turned out of the tick, but did not injure. She has often heard it related that her grandmother gathered many valuables into one of the rooms, and told the enemy that they should only enter it over her dead body. A Tory woman named Brown led the British to the place.

(2) A son of his second marriage with Sarah Waters. By this last wife Colonel Dewees had issue, Waters, Thomas W., George, William, and Anne.

Third Generation. - 241

the losses he met with during the Revolution, he failed in business; and after the peace, David and Isaac Potts appear to have rebuilt the works near the present cotton-factory, and to have carried them on together until the death of the former in 1798. Soon after that event took place, his daughter Harriet married Reese Brooke whose father purchased from David's widow her rights in the property, and Reese Brooke lived there and operated them until his death, while James sold the iron, as his father had done, in Philadelphia, and in 1812 married a daughter of Colonel Dewees, and his second wife, Sarah Waters. I have not traced the part belonging to Isaac, nor do I know to whom it was sold. But in 1824 the works were discontinued, and nothing now remains but an immortal name. In 1826 the widows of Reese Brooke and James Potts occupied the mansion-house, which had been the home of many members of their family for three quarters of a century; but Mrs. Potts about that time sold. her share and removed to the West.

I have been thus particular in giving the above account, drawn from contemporaneous letters, private documents, and from the testimony of living descendants, because so many- inaccuracies have appeared in every history of Valley Forge.

34. Hanna (134), m. Thomas Dewees, brother of William. In March, 1777, he appears to have bad charge of the prison in Philadelphia; for in a letter to President Wharton, in Pennsylvania archives, he asks to have it repaired. He returned to Pottstown, where he died.

35. Thomas. He is mentioned in the will of his grandmother Magdalen as a legatee of one fourth of her property, and he also signed a deed with his sisters, Mrs. Dewees and Mrs. Ellis, in 1770, releasing land to his brother David. He is there styled a watchmaker, and there is some reason for supposing that he was connected in this business with David Rittenhouse; further than this I cannot trace him. He probably died unmarried, as he is not even mentioned in the record of his nephew, William B. Potts.

242 - Third Generation.

36. Magdalen (140). She is alluded to by name in her father's will and is the only one of his seven children, except the eldest, David, who is particularly designated ; it is said she was sometimes called Margaret. She become a preacher among Friends, and m. John Ellis, who was by profession a surveyor.

36 1/2. Mary. This child must have died young; for she could not have been one of the seven children mentioned in her father's will, the number being complete without her.

Children of Second Wife, Deborah (Pyewell) Potts.

37. Rebeccah (144), b. June, 1753; m., about 1782, Samuel, son of Thomas and Mary (Douglass) Baird. He was by profession a surveyor, and was interested in the coal mines on Schuylkill in 1784. Rebeccah's daughter-in-law, Mrs. Lydia (Biddle) Baird, writing to me a few years ago, said: " I remember perfectly hearing her speak of sitting with Mrs. Washington, who taught her to sew, and, when she left Valley Forge, gave her a variety of little articles, among others a silver netting-needle and thimble, pincushion and needle-book, which my daughters now have in their possession." Samuel d. June 26, 1820. His w. survived him until June 16, 1830, and both are buried in the family graveyard. (See inscriptions.) It is said by some of her descendants that the date on her tombstone makes her five years older than she was. If so, she was born in 1758, and her brother William in 1760.

38. William (153), b. 1755 m. [91] Mary Frances, dau. of [23] Dr. Jonathan and Grace (Richardson) Potts, at Wilmington, Delaware, September, 1798. He lived at Valley Forge, and had some connection with the works there. After his marriage, I infer from family letters that he removed to the neighborhood of Pottstown.

Third Generation. - 243

Extracts from the Journal of Friends (1) who were exiled to Virginia -by the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania in 1777.

"9th month, 12th, 1777. -We stopped about sunset at William Lloyd's tavern, about 30 miles from Philadelphia, but as we could not be accommodated there, we went on to Pottsgrove, which we reached between 7 and 8 o'clock, 37 miles from Philadelphia. Several of our kind friends came to the tavern and invited us to their houses. As soon as we arranged, we went with them and lodged at the houses of Widow Potts, Samuel Potts, John Potts, David Potts, and Thomas Rutter, agreeing to meet our guards at the tavern at about 8 o'clock the next morning.

9th month, 13th. -Part of the baggage being left behind, the escort agreed we should remain at Pottsgrove until to-morrow morning at 7o'clock

"9th month, 14th.- A writ of Habeas Corpus allowed by Chief Justice McKean was served at Pottsgrove upon the officers of the Guard, but they refused to obey it.

"At 9 o'clock we took leave of our kind friends at Pottsgrove, who had treated us with an extraordinary degree of hospitality, and expressed much sympathy for us, and a high approbation of our conduct.".

These prisoners left Philadelphia the day after the battle of Brandywine, and. Dr. Muhlenburg states in his journal that they expected to be rescued by a party of British Light Horse, and that at Pottsgrove they refused to proceed farther, until a body of militia was sent from Reading, "and conveyed the defenceless lambs" there.

As several of the persons here named were connections. of the Potts family, the " approbation " expressed was probably that of friendly sympathy in. their afflictions, and a belief that, with their principles, they could not have acted otherwise. Those who think

(1) Their names were James, Israel, and John Pemberton; Thomas, Samuel, and Miers Fisher; Thomas Wharton, Sr., Samuel Pleasants, Elijah Brown, John Hunt, Charles Jervis, Charles Eddy, Thomas Pike, Owen Jones, Jr., Edward Pennington, William D. Smith, William Smith, Thomas Gilpin, Thomas Affleck, Dr. Phinehas Bond, and Rev. Thomas Coombe, rector of Christ Church.

244 - Third Generation.

the Council were tyrannical in exiling inoffesive Quakers should read the broadside (1) from the London Yearly Meeting, which was circulated in Philadelphia while the country was in a state of war, and the paper issued by their own Meeting, entitled the "Ancient Testimony and Principles of the People called Quakers renewed with Respect to the King and Government, and touching the Commotions now prevailing in these and other Parts of America addressed to the People in General. 20 of 1 MO. 1776." Signed, "John Pemberton, Clerk."

The Rev. Thomas Coombe, a clergyman of the Church of England, the companion in exile of the Quakers, was a cousin to all the Potts family here mentioned, and own nephew of Thomas Rutter, his mother being Sarah, daughter of Thomas and Mary Katherine Rutter, who was baptized at Christ Church when ten years old, November 17, 1734, and married, about 1744, to Thomas Coombe, who held an office in the customs at Philadelphia. Their son Thomas, Jr., was recommended for orders to the Bishop of London, in 1768, and went over to England, where he was ordained the same year. From that period until his exile to Virginia he officiated at Christ Church as assistant minister. When Congress allowed the return of these banished Tories, in July, 1778, he had a pass granted him to go to New York, to sail for Europe, where be became chaplain to the Earl of Carlisle, and afterwards obtained the high preferment of Prebendary of Canterbury, and was made one of the chaplains of the king., He published several poems, one of which, " Edwin," a continuation of the "Deserted Village," was dedicated to Oliver Goldsmith, and was written to discourage emigration to this country, by a terrible picture of its inhabitants and its prospects.

(1) The length of these papers, of which I have the original printed copies, prevents me from giving them in the Appendix.

Third Generation. - 245

In the Collections of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, where some account is given of the poetry of Rev. Thomas Coombe, it is stated that he did not go to Virginia, but sailed for England. According to Colonial Records this is incorrect; for in answer to the petition of Rev. Dr. Buchee and the wardens and vestry of Christ Church and St. Peter's, the council returned answer, on September 9 (three days only before the exiles reached Pottsgrove), that they had "determined to send away Mr. Coombe and the rest of the prisoners." September 10 he was released from imprisonment on parole; and the following June, when several of the returned exiles were discharged from their parole, the Rev. Thomas Coombe was excepted, and the next month, still refusing to take the oath of allegiance, he was allowed a pass to go to New York, and sail for England with other refugees. "A beloved infant " of Rev. Thomas Coombe was buried, in 1776, among his relatives in the family graveyard at Pottstown. See inscriptions.