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Anthony Potter (1628 - bef. 1690)

Anthony Potter
Born [location unknown]
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married 1641 (to 15 Dec 1648) in Ipswich, Massachusettsmap
Husband of — married before Sep 1652 [location unknown]
Descendants descendants
Died before before age 62 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colonymap
Profile last modified | Created 13 Sep 2010
This page has been accessed 5,572 times.
There are disproven, disputed, or competing theories about this person's parents. See the text for details.

Contents

Biography

Anthony Potter is first recorded in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1648, when he purchased a "dwelling house & house lott" from John Burnham, deed signed "the first day of the fourth month [June], Anno: Dom: 1648".[1][2] and he may have been recorded as being about age 40 in 1668.[3] His origin, birth date, and parentage are all unknown.

He is named in the 1669 will of John Whipple: "I give unto Anthony Potter my son in law sometimes, forty shillings," which has been interpreted to mean that Anthony had been married to John's daughter. If so, it's assumed that this daughter was deceased prior to 1669 and that she left no children, as none were named in the will.[2]

Anthony married (perhaps second), by about 1653, Elizabeth Stone.[4] In a record dated Jan. 1658/9 at the church in Cambridge she is listed with the children of Dea. Gregory Stone as "Elizabeth Stone now Potter living at Ipswich,"[5] and she is named as Elizabeth Potter in Gregory's will.

Their children (presumably born in Ipswich; birth dates not precisely known) were:

  1. John
  2. Edmund
  3. Samuel
  4. Elizabeth
  5. Lydia
  6. Thomas
  7. Anthony

Anthony and his wife Elizabeth sold their dwelling house, barn, and land to John Safford in a deed dated 29 Jan 1661[/2] and sold an additional parcel of land to John Appleton in a deed dated 22 Dec 1664; Elizabeth "did freely resigne" her right of dower in both transactions. In 1669 and again in 1671[/2] the town recorded stray livestock belonging to Anthony Potter.[1]

Anthony's will was dated 27 December 1689 and proved 25 March 1690. In it he names his wife Elizabeth and children John, Edmund, Samuel, Elizabeth Kimball, Lydia Putnam, Thomas, and Anthony.[6]

Secondary sources relate that Anthony and his wife Elizabeth gave an engraved silver cup to the church at Ipswich in 1699; this must have been Anthony's widow Elizabeth (Stone) Potter or their children.[2][7]

Research Notes

There doesn't seem to be any evidence for Anthony's date of birth nor his age at death. There's definitely no evidence that he came from Coventry.

Disputed parents

DO NOT ATTACH PARENTS TO THIS PROFILE WITHOUT A SOURCE AND A DISCUSSION!

According to Anderson’s Great Migration, Robert Potter and his wife Isabel had three children: Deliverance, John and Elizabeth. Anthony is not mentioned as a child of this family, not even as a possibility in a comment.[8] There's no evidence Isabel's surname was Anthony (this may have been an invention to justify assigning Anthony as their son).

Even Potter 1888 argues that there's no proof for an origin or parentage for Anthony:[2]

"It has also been stated by some historians that Anthony Potter, of Ipswich, was a son of the Robert Potter, of Lynn, who subsequently settled in Portsmouth, R.I. There does not seem to be any records to make this certain. The name Anthony was a family name, and suggests that his mother may have been an Anthony, as the families of Anthony and Potter were connected. Robert Potter's sister was the wife of John Anthony, etc."[9] (The author is conflating Robert Potter of Roxbury and Warwick with Robert Potter of Lynn, who were different men.)

Questionable spouse

The evidence for __ Whipple as a first wife is pretty thin. There's absolutely no documentation for her supposed death in 1648 (it looks like the earliest death records in Ipswich are 1657-1687). "Son in law" had alternate meanings during this time, and indeed the Gregory Stone Genealogy 1918 states that Anthony was a stepson of John Whipple — there's no evidence for that either, since we don't know who Anthony's parents were, and neither of John Whipple's wives had been a Potter as far as we know.

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 Sanborn, Jr., George Freeman and Ian Watson, Ipswich deeds, vols. 1 & 2 (Charlottetown, P.E.I.: the author, 2023), pp. 1:67, 134, 248-9, 251, 252; 2:28, 54-5, 220-2.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Potter, Charles Edward, Genealogies of the Potter families and their descendants in America to the present generation: with historical and biographical sketches (Boston: A. Mudge & Son, 1888), p. 24. (This source gives only one wife for Anthony and calls her Elizabeth Whipple; it doesn't mention Elizabeth Stone.)
  3. Austin, John Osborne, One hundred and sixty allied families (Salem, Mass.: The Salem Press Co., 1893), pp. 200-1. (It doesn't provide any sources for the claimed 1648 and 1668 dates.)
  4. Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration: immigrants to New England 1634-1635, vol. 7, T-Y (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 2011), p. 551.
  5. Bartlett, J. Gardner, Gregory Stone genealogy: ancestry and descendants of Dea. Gregory Stone of Cambridge, Mass., 1320-1917 (Boston: Stone Family Association, 1918), pp. 46, 59, 65.
  6. Essex County, Massachusetts, Probate estate files, Potter, A - Potter D, 1538-1880, Will papers of Anthony Potter, 1689-90; imaged, FamilySearch (image 7 [will page 1], https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YSQ3-ZV1; image 2 [packet cover], https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YSQ3-ZVC; image 66 [will page 2], https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YSQ3-ZNG; image 79 [packet cover], https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YSQ3-ZNH; image 85 [will page 3/signature], https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YSQ3-ZN5 : accessed 13 March 2024, from FHL microfilm 4,483,785 (“Massachusetts, Essex County, probate records, 1538-1880”).
  7. Cutter, William Richard, Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1908), pp. 1816-18. (This source gives only one wife for Anthony and calls her Elizabeth Whipple; it doesn't mention Elizabeth Stone.)
  8. Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great Migration: immigrants to New England 1634-1635, vol. 5, M-P (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 2007), p. 503.
  9. Potter, Charles Edward, Genealogies of the Potter families and their descendants in America to the present generation: with historical and biographical sketches (Boston: A. Mudge & Son, 1888), introduction, p. not numbered.
  • Bouton, N., “Memoir of the Hon. Chandler Eastman Potter,” The New England Historic and Genealogical Register, vol. 23, no. 1 (Jan 1869): p. 61. (Incorrectly states he was son of Robert of Lynn.)
  • Babcock, Mary Kent (Davey), “Samuel and Sarah (Fellows) Knowlton of Ipswich, Mass., and Nobleborough, Me.,” The New England Historic and Genealogical Register, vol. 86, no. 2 (Apr 1932): pp. 140-1. (Incorrectly states John was a son of Elizabeth Whipple.)
  • Torrey, Clarence A. New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004, Vol 2, p. 1217.
  • William Richard Cutter, “New England Families”, Third Series, 1915, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York, Volume 1, page 209.
  • Holman, Mary Lovering. Ancestry of Charles Stinson Pillsbury and John Sargent Pillsbury. 2 vols. Concord, NH: Priv. print. at the Rumford Press, 1938, vol. I, pp. 43-8. Ancestry.com ($) (Profile for Elizabeth Whipple; doesn't provide any evidence or sources.)
  • Whipple, Blaine, History and genealogy of "Elder" John Whipple of Ipswich, Massachusetts : his English ancestors and American descendants (Victoria, B.C.: Whipple Development Corp., 2004), pp. 171, 188 (endnote), G4. (Wildly wrong about Anthony's origin and parentage; none of the sources cited in the endnotes support the author's conclusions.)
  • Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/124226787/anthony-potter: accessed March 13, 2024), memorial page for Anthony Potter (1627–26 Mar 1690), Find A Grave: Memorial #124226787, citing Old Burying Ground, Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA; Maintained by Robert DeVowe (contributor 48224154). (There's no surviving grave site or marker, and the given death date is his probate date.)




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Comments: 15

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Does anyone object to my removing the "DNA Path" section of this profile? Neither link works because of the privacy level of Jewell-1540. It presumably refers to autosomal DNA, as it doesn't mention yDNA. For someone living in the 1600s, the DNA of one or more living people cannot possibly tell us who his father might be.
posted by Kay (Johnson) Wilson
No objection from me. Thanks for doing this
posted by Rhonda Scoullar
Hearing no objections, I've removed the DNA Path section
posted by Kay (Johnson) Wilson
Birth place has no sources and does not generally seem to be considered accurate. Also, as source information relates, the biography needs to be updated to include both Elizabeth Whipple and Elizabeth Stone and their appropriate years of marriage.
posted by Stephen Potter
The marriage date of Anthony and Elizabeth Whipple do not appear to make historical sense. In 1641, Anthony would have been 13/14 and Elizabeth would have been 14/15. Historically, much as today, women would not be married until 19-22 years of age. Additionally, 1641 is several years before Anthony is known to have been in Ipswich. If, instead the marriage were to have happened in 1647, a common enough transcription error between "1" and "7", it would make sense. Anthony at that time would be 19, and Elizabeth would be 20, which although young would not be considered significantly abnormal for marrying. It would also only be a year before the earliest known record of Anthony in Ipswich. He could have come over a year or so previous, at or about age 18.

Looking at Torrey (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSM4-RZMC?i=831&cat=290345, image 832), and zooming in, it is easy to see how the transcription error could occur.

posted by Stephen Potter
That sounds reasonable to me! That would also line up with her not having had any children, and dying in 1648.
posted by Kay (Johnson) Wilson
That seems reasonable to me. Thanks
posted by Rhonda Scoullar
As far as I can tell, there are few-to-no vital records for Ipswich prior to about 1657. Anything before that date must have been a guesstimate or an invention - including Anthony's supposed birth year. If the 1648 record in Ipswich is accurate (I can't find what that's based on), then it's reasonable to suppose he was of age then, i.e., born before 1627, but other than that I don't think we know.

I'm not convinced he married __ Whipple at all, but if he did, there's no record of it and I'm not finding any record of her supposed death either. John Whipple's will was 1669, so that's not where those dates are coming from.

posted by Cheryl Hammond
Potter-5534 and Potter-143 appear to represent the same person because: Please agree to merge these duplicate profiles. Thanks!
posted by Kay (Johnson) Wilson
I added, then detached Robert Potter and Isabel Anthony as parents. I believe that they are indeed Anthony's parents because of the Sources listed in Potter-5534. (Potter-5534 was created because the DOD did not match this one and did not show up as a match. When the parental issue is resolved, we can merge these two Anthonys.)
posted by Steve Selbrede
I think I have it. Perhaps Anthony was married twice-- first to Elizabeth Whipple who died about 1648; then he m2 Elizabeth Stone in 1652. She died in 1712. But why didn't Anderson get this?
posted by Jillaine Smith
I've found what appears to be the source for Anthony Potter marrying a daughter of John Whipple, although it doesn't indicate which daughter. John Whipple of Ipswich made a will in 1669; among other things it says: "I give unto Anthony Potter my son in law some times, forty shillings." What's odd about this is the "some times". I wonder if it means "former" and that Anthony's wife, and John Whipple's daughter was deceased by 1669.
posted by Jillaine Smith
The source for Whipple is: Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts , Volume 4 page 1816-1817. There is also mention of Potter and Whipple as a couple in: Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, Volume 1 page 52. I hope this is helpful. TR
posted by Toby Rockwell
What is the source that Anthony was son of Robert Potter and Isabel? Great Migration lists only three children of Robert, none of which is Anthony.
posted by Jillaine Smith
Robert Anderson, in The Great Migration, says that Anthony was married to Elizabeth Stone and mentions no other wife. What is the source for the Whipple marriage?
posted by Jillaine Smith

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