Person:Sarah Irish (6)

m. 5 Jun 1837
  1. Sgt. Edgar Walton Irish1838 - 1897
  2. George Hadwin Irish1841 - 1864
  3. Sarah Maria Irish1843 - 1913
m. 7 Apr 1866
  1. Edwin Stanley Potter1867 - 1918
  2. Lucy Marie Potter1870 - 1894
  3. Harold Volney Potter1876 - 1877
Facts and Events
Name Sarah Maria Irish
Gender Female
Birth[1] 24 Jul 1843 Genesee, Allegany, New York, United StatesWest Genesee
Marriage 7 Apr 1866 Westerly, Washington, Rhode Islandto Zebulon Stanley Potter
Death[1] 25 Oct 1913 Santa Monica, Los Angeles, California, United States
Obituary[1]
Image Gallery
References
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Sabbath Recorder
    75:25:798.

    POTTER - Mrs. Sarah, widow of the late Stanley Potter of Farina, Ill., died at her home in Santa Monica, Cal., October 25, 1913. Whe was the daughter of George and Maria Potter Irish and was born at West Genesee, N. Y., July 24, 1843.
    Mrs. Potter was bereft of a mother when two years old and was brought up in the home of her paternal grandparents, George Irish and Betsey Babcock Irish of Ashaway, R. I. Many friends there will remember her as Sarah Maria Irish. On April 7, 1866, she was married to Mr. Z. Stanley Potter of that place and together they went to Farina, Ill., and made their home. Three children were born to them: Edwin, who now resides in Los Angeles, Cal.; Lucy Ann, who grew to womanhood; and Harold, who died in infancy. Mrs. Potter's husband passed away in 1892. Her daughter died two years later and her son went out to make his own way in the world.
    Then with broken health and heavy heart Mrs. Potter made her way alone, at an age when most women desire only quiet and rest. In her girlhood Mrs. Potter had learned to make wax fruit as fancy work, and now she thought to turn that early craft to advantage. She possessed a love for the beautiful, an artist's eye, and faith in her own ability. The Illinois Board of Agriculture gave her an order to make 200 samples in wax of the fruits and vegetables of that State for the world's fair exhibit in Chicago, and she did it well. Michigan also gave her an order for 400 pieces, and on this group she won a world's fair medal for her skill in workmanship as an artist. This with the exhibit is still at the College of Michigan. Later she did much work for the college at Stores, Conn., and also for a like school in Illinois. Her best work is at the Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph, Canada. She remained there 8 years, creating in the fruits of her labor a monument that will long keep her in remembrance. Here, we learn, she won a wide circle of friends, who esteemed her highly not only for her ability but for her conscientious adherence to what she believed was right, and for the cheerful spirit in which she bore up under her bodily suffereings, working on bravely when others would have given up in despair. Three years ago Mrs. Potter gave up her position and went to California, and in this far away place she again made new friends who stood by her faithfully in times of neeed.
    She was baptised at Farina, IL, Feb. 19, 1870, and joined the church there. From that time, throughout her checkered life, she faithfully kept the Sabbath and was true to her convictions of right. Her last days were passed in the Adventist faith. The Bible was her close companion. The exhalted poetry of the Psalms so filled her mind by day that in hours of wakefulness and pain at night she would repeat correctly from memory the most precious Psalms until sleep returned.
    Mrs. Potter knew the critical condition of her health but was very hopeful. As the days advanced she grew more fond of every beauty around her, from the blooming vines and fig tree in her seaside cottage yard to the booming waves of the Pacific. Her last letter to a friend was full of cheer and is best expressed in these words:
    "I know not the way I am going,
    But well do I know my Guide;
    With childlike trust I give my hand
    To the mighty Friend at my side."