Person:Thomas Potts (28)

Thomas Potts, Jr. whose family gave the name to Pottstown, was born in Wales, and arrived in Germantown, Pa before 1698, (the family arrived in America in 1683). He could not read or write, though he did learn how to sign his name. At first he was a miller and then sheriff of Germantown. After his marriage to Martha Keurlis, Thomas moved to Philadelphia, where town records him as a butcher and victualer (a lot like todays caterers). Having prospered there, he bought 250 acres of land on from Thomas Rutter. There he built his mansion, "Popodickon," on Iron Stone Creek - a building still standing, not as a mansion, but as a boarding house. He may have been there as early as 1720, when Potts, Rutter, and others built the Colebrookdale Furnace, named for Colebrookdale in England, on Iron Stone Creek. He and his son John were engaged in ironworks, at the confluence of the Namatawny and Schuykill Rivers and laid out Pottsgrove which became Pottstown, PA.

Thomas began serving as Sheriff of Germantown Dec 16, 1702/03.

Source: The Potts Memorial, Author: Mrs. Thomas Potts James, Call Number: CS71.P871

Bibliographic Information: James, Mrs. Thomas Potts. The Potts Memorial. Privately Printed. Cambridge. 1874.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} HODGKISS, Sarah from terep.ged.

   Date of Import: May 31, 2001

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} HODGKISS-DEWEES.FTW.

   Date of Import: Mar 22, 2003

3. ↑ Magdalen Robeson - flawler.ged.

   Date of Import: Mar 23, 2003

4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 Thomas Potts - gumby291.ged.

   Date of Import: Mar 22, 2003