Capt. Elbridge Gerry Potter (2) - 1879

POTTER, THOMPSON, KILBORN, STUART

Posted By: LuAnn Goeke (email)
Date: 8/15/2009 at 12:46:40

CAPT. ELBRIDGE GERRY POTTER, deceased, late of Bellevue Township. Jackson Co., Iowa; was born Oct. 17, 1791, in West Brookfield, Worcester Co., Mass.; he was the oldest of a family of eleven children, and doubtless the care and responsibility of the younger members, which largely devolved upon him, may have served to develop his self reliance, energy and industry. When he was about 13 years of age, his father settled in the then wilderness of Houndsfield, Jefferson Co., N.Y.; he was brought up to the trade of mason, and worked with his father at that business in Jefferson Co., N.Y., until 1830, when he emigrated to Illinois and settled at Lebanon, county of St. Clair. Fourteen years before he removed West, he married Miss Lucretia Thompson, of Jefferson Co., N.Y.; she was a woman of remarkably strong character and a wonderful worker; she was a model of industry, frugality and benevolence, and her friends proudly report her as possessing "every virtue necessary to constitute a good wife, mother and citizen;" she ruled her own household, and was the wise counselor of her husband, who gave her due credit for his success in life; she preceded him to the grave about eighteen months, after having lived in happy union full fifty-seven years. After locating in Lebanon, Ill., in 1830, he engaged for twelve years in the business of milling and distilling; his mills and distillery were crowded to their utmost capacity, and realized him, some seasons, fully $100 per day profits on their products; these earnings he wisely invested in lands, which, by their rise in value, continued to enhance his property. With him at Lebanon were his father and mother, his brother Warren, the book-keeper; Daniel, the distiller, and Philo, the school-boy, and his two sisters; these, with his wife, constituted the family, of which he was the honored head, and, because of his position, he was called "Captain." During the dozen years of his manufacture of whisky, he became fully convinced of its pernicious effects, especially, after witnessing its wrecking power upon a near and trusted relative; such was his disgust with the business that, just before leaving Lebanon, he deliberately removed the roof of the distillery, and reduced it to firewood. Then he took down the stone walls of the same and scattered them broadcast; then he dug up, and, with his own hand, chopped in pieces the "worm of the still." All this remained for many years unchanged, a complete wreck and desolate ruin. In 1842, he came to Iowa, and located on the farm known as "Paradise," four miles west of the city of Bellevue, in township of same name, in Jackson Co., where he resided until death. In 1843, he built at Bellevue the flouring-mills known as the Jasper Mills, and, in addition to carrying on his large farm, he did, thereafter, an extensive business in the manufacture and shipment of flour till he sold to the present proprietors, Kilborn & Co., in the autumn of 1871. "Paradise," by numerous additions, has become of immense size, and is one of the finest stock farms in the State, of rich rolling land, watered with living springs, and is under a high state of cultivation. Capt. Potter was noted as a thorough and systematic farmer, and having selected this rich and beautiful tract of land, he devoted his taste, energy and skill to making it truly an earthly paradise. In a romantic spot, under the brow of a hill, he built his home, which, with its unassuming exterior will surprise the visitor with its revealed capacity, convenience and elegance; a village of needed buildings are grouped conveniently near. In politics, Capt. Potter has been a Whig and Republican. His business cares and his tastes prevented his engaging actively in politics. He never held but one office - that of County Commissioner of St. Clair Co., Ill., and then, by his skillful financiering, the depreciated county bonds were raised to par. Capt. Potter would have been a marked man in any community. He had a vigorous intellect of more than ordinary caliber; he was industrious, energetic, self-reliant and positive in character; without the advantages of an early education, he was as persevering in self-culture as he was in business, and therefore was well read and deeply interested in all that was transpiring in the busy world. His public spirit prevented his reaping the fruits of his inventive genius. In 1840, he invented and patented the spring coupling for machinery driven by reciprocating engines; he applied this to his own mills and sold a few rights, but soon let it go to the public; it is now, in the original or slightly modified form, in use in nearly every steam mill in the country, and a selfish yet justifiable management of the patent would have produced a vast fortune. He was original in suggestions, and some of his acquaintances banked upon the capital of his brains; his was the energy and pluck which, especially in the great West, seldom fails of financial reward; when he settled in Lebanon, Ill., his cash capital was just $1,100, but all his investments were eminently successful, and he died one of the wealthiest men in Jackson Co. He was ready to help the deserving poor, and the afflicted and truly unfortunate found in him a liberal friend. He was not intemperate and would not allow card-playing or gambling on his premises; he had a strong sense of justice and right with a kindly and generous disposition; he lived according to his conception of duty, and, in old age, claimed the satisfaction of looking back upon a life governed by honesty and integrity and actuated by pure motives; from boyhood, he was a pronounced atheist; this early subjected him to prejudice, but soon his neighbors respected him for his character without regard to his creed; he was long held in high esteem even among professors of religion. His standing in regard to sound judgment and sense of equity is illustrated by the confidence in him shown by two Methodist neighbors in Lebanon; the two Methodist brethren, having differences in a business settlement, agreed to each choose, by ballot, a referee, and those two referees were to choose a third, and thus constitute a Board of Arbitration, by whom these differences were to be adjusted. Upon opening the ballots, it was discovered that both parties had chosen Capt. Potter, and he, unaided, settled the dispute to their mutual satisfaction. He always exhorted men to be helpful to each other, to deal justly and to live in peace among themselves; and to these principles his own conduct was conformed. His religious, or, rather, irreligious, views were all that caused him to differ from the best of his fellow-men; in him, opposition to Christianity was not mere skepticism - passive non-belief - but an active working faith, and he labored earnestly to proselyte others to his views; for this purpose, he scattered broadcast in Jackson Co. homes, gratuitously, many infidel newspapers and publications and furnished atheistic literature to any young man who would agree to peruse it; he also contributed liberally to the Abner Kneeland Fund, Tom Paine Monumental Building and similar objects. During his life, he selected a beautiful spot on his own farm, a little more than a mile from his home, "Paradise," where he was to be buried, and that ground was made by inheritance forever free as an Infidel Cemetery. His last illness was very short, and, at last, when conscious of approaching death, he bade his faithful attendant to lock the door so no one could hear the "foolish words of a dying man." He died on the morning of May 29, 1875, aged 83 years 7 months and 12 days; his last hours were calm and peaceful, and he died as he had lived from the age of 10 years, a professed atheist. He directed that there should be no costly parade at his funeral and no praying, singing or lengthy remarks at his house or at his grave; he directed that the picture of the Paine Memorial Building should be placed by his coffin, and that John Stuart, his valued friend for over forty years, should thank the people and perform the last duty of the living to the dead. All his requests were faithfully performed. His son and only child, Lucius Byron Potter, a prominent citizen, over 50 years of age, inherited the Captain's large estate and now resides upon the old homestead, "Paradise." - 1879 History of Jackson County Iowa, pg 671-672