Potter, Arthur R.

POTTER, MURREY, TATE, WIDENSAUL, SHERWOOD, REDMOND

Posted By: Volunteer Transcribers
Date: 2/14/2003 at 15:32:44

ARTHUR R. POTTER

The expression, “the dignity of labor,” is exemplified in the life record of this gentleman, whose success is due entirely to his own industry and untiring perseverance. He is now manager of the Chauncy Coal Company, dealers in wood and fuel, and is also one of the largest contractors of Cinton (sic) for excavating and filling in low land.

Mr. Potter is a native of Canada, born in Prescott, Ontario, October 29, 1852, and is a son of Arthur T. and Charlotte (Murrey) Potter. His maternal grandfather was Donald Murrey, who was of French descent, and at one time owned several ocean vessels. Our subject’s father was born in Montreal, Canada, of Scotch parentage, and throughout his active business life followed farming. He and his wife are both still living, he having celebrated his eighty-fifth birthday in May, 1901. Of the nine children born to them, one died at the age of twenty-one years, and there was not another death in the family until Joseph M. Potter, of Clinton, died May 2, 1900, at the age of fifty-two.

Arthur R. Potter passed the days of his boyhood and youth on a farm in Canada, and remained there until coming to Clinton, in 1876. On his arrival here he had only one four-dollar bill in Canadian money, and a little change. He soon found employment at teaming, and earning enough to meet his expenses he sent the bill back to his old home in Canada. By 1878 he had saved enough to purchase a team and began teaming on his own account. He also bought slab wood from the Clinton Lumber Company at twenty cents per load, and would then retail it, and has since continued in that business, though the price of wood has advanced so rapidly that he now has to pay one dollar and thirty-five cents per load for refuse wood. This he delivers throughout the city for two dollars and a quarter per load. In 1899 he was appointed manager for the Chauncey Coal Company, and has since acceptably filled that position. In 1881 he owned three teams, which are (sic) employed in filling lots, but his increasing business in this line now demands ten teams, which are in constant use. Mr. Potter has bought and sold a large number of horses, is a good judge of the noble steed, and has owned some very fine animals. He is not only engaged in excavating but also in terracing lots for houses, and to some extent carries on a transfer business. He is one of the most energetic, enterprising and ambitious business men of the city, and is meeting with a well deserved success in all his undertakings. He now owns a fine residence and barns on Third avenue, and other property in various parts of the city.

In 1881 Mr. Potter was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Tate, a native of Freeport, Illinois, and a daughter of Rev. David and Sarah (Widensaul) Tate. Her father, who was a local minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, came to Lyons, Iowa, in 1856, and preached in the Clinton school house before any church had been erected here. Later he served as constable and justice of the peace. About ten years prior to his death he removed to Clinton, where he passed away at the age of eighty-three years. He was a son of William and Rebecca Tate, the latter of whom lived to the advanced age of one hundred and three years. Mrs. Potter’s mother was sixty-seven years old at the time of her death. She had thirteen children, of whom eight reached maturity. Unto Mr. and Mr. Potter have been born five children: Carrie Ray, who graduated at the Clinton high school in 1901; Hattie Belle; J. Ward; Harry Harrison; and Arthur L., who died at the age of four months. They have also given homes to two nieces: Maud Ethel, daughter of Edward and Anna Sherwood; and Nellie Fay, daughter of John and Nellie Raymond.

In his social relations Mr. Potter is a member of Lincoln Lodge, No. 42, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; the Encampment of the same order; the Modern Woodmen of America; the Mystic Workers of the World; the Knights and Ladies of the Golden Precept; and the Order of Ben Hur. His wife and daughter, Carrie, are members of the Rebecca Lodge of Odd Fellows, and the former has taken a very active and prominent part in its work, serving as noble grand two terms and as delegate to the Grand Lodge, and is the chaplain of the degree staff of the same order. She is now serving her third term as Oracle in the Royal Neighbors, and is president of the staff in the Knights and Ladies of the Golden Precept, and is the only one in the state who gives the unwritten work letter perfect, at this time. Both Mr. and Mrs. Potter are members of the First Methodist church, and he is now a member of the board of trustees, while Mrs. Potter is an active member of the Ladies’ Aid Society and is now serving as president. She is very prominent socially, and both she and her husband are widely and favorably known.

Mr. Potter has always been a stanch Republican, and in 1896 was superintendent of public works and served his constituents so well that he was only defeated by one vote for the next term.
Source: The 1901 Biographical Record of Clinton Co., Iowa, Illustrated published: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1901.