Thank you all for your contributions of time, research, donations, support and feedback.

Many thanks to the good folks at Bassett Historical Center for their input and assistance.

Thank you for visiting our heritage and history.
Please consider making a contribution (any amount is appreciated) to help offset the expense, and help us continually improve the quality and quantity of information.

We Gratefully Accept Yout Old/Odd Bitcoin, and Bit Cents at:
14Q2Cm1pRmUrSGTfn1a66Qe9YbAmdD8Dez

  First Name:  Last Name:
Log In
Surnames
What's New
Statistics

Terms of Use & Privacy
Contact Us
Join Our Community

Elisha Reynolds Potter

Elisha Reynolds Potter[1]

Male 1764 - 1835  (70 years)

Personal Information    |    Media    |    Sources    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name Elisha Reynolds Potter 
    Born 5 Nov 1764  North Kingstown, Greenwich, Rhode Island Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died 26 Sep 1835  South Kingstown, Rhode Island Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried Colonel Thomas Potter Cemetery South Kingstown, Rhode Island Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Person ID I3099  My Reynolds Line | Descendants of James Reynolds
    Last Modified 29 May 2020 

    Father Colonel Thomas 'Innkeeper' Potter,   b. 1738, North Kingstown, Greenwich, Rhode Island Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1793, North Kingstown, Greenwich, Rhode Island Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 55 years) 
    Mother Elizabeth Reynolds,   b. 11 Sep 1737, South Kingston, Rhode Island Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 9 Mar 1806, Washington County. Rhode Island Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 68 years) 
    Married 29 Oct 1768  South Kingstown, Rhode Island Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F6640  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Mary of Caleb Gardiner Mawney,   b. Est 1770, South Kingstown, Rhode Island Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1809, North Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 39 years) 
    Last Modified 23 Aug 2017 
    Family ID F647  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 2 Mary Mawney,   b. 25 Apr 1779, East Greenwich, Kent, Rhode Island Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 26 Jul 1835  (Age 56 years) 
    Married 9 Jul 1810  Greenwich, Rhode Island Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. William Henry Potter,   b. 2 Nov 1816, Kingston Hill, Rhode Island Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Yes, date unknown
    Last Modified 17 Jul 2020 
    Family ID F6973  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Photos
    Elisha Reynolds Potter
    Elisha Reynolds Potter
    3099ElishaReynoldsPotter.jpg

    Documents
    Elisha R Potter-Death Notice
    Elisha R Potter-Death Notice
    Fall River Monitor
    Oct 3, 1835
    Mary M Potter-Obit
    Mary M Potter-Obit
    Republican Herald
    Aug 1, 1835
    Elisha Reynolds Potter-Obit
    Elisha Reynolds Potter-Obit
    Rhode Island Republican
    Sep 30, 1835

  • Sources 
    1. [S107] Family Histories, http://www.lilyslittlerest.com/history.htm.
      The house is named for Elisha Reynolds and was transferred through multiple generations of the Reynolds and Potter Families, whose ancestors date back to the arrival of the Mayflower. Nathaniel Potter [b.1616/17-d.circa1644] (with wife Dorothy Wilbur [b.1617-d.1695/96]) arrived on the Mayflower and arrived to Aquineck Island in 1638 and was one of the 29 signers of the April 30, 2639 compact to King Charles that read: We whose names are underwritten do acknowledge ourselves the legal subjects of his Majesty King Charles, and in his name do hereby bind ourselves into a civil body politicke, unto his laws according to matters of justice. Nathaniel Potter's son, Ichabod Potter, Sr. [b.1640-d.1676] marries Martha Hazard [b.1641-d.?] and have six children, the youngest being Robert Potter, Sr. [b.1670-d .1745] who weds Elizabeth Wells [dates unknown] with whom five children are born, the youngest is Susanna(h) Potter [b.1705-d.?]. Susanna(h) Potter marries Col. Elisha Reynolds [b.1706-d.1791] in 1728, and they purchase 200 acres in 1738 and 300 acres in 1739 from Henry Knowles south of the highway (present day RI -Route138) and likely resided at the Potter Homestead on this land. They purchased another ½ acre of land from Susanna(h)'s father in 1729 for 10 pounds and exchanged this land for Lot 1 in 1733 for 16 pounds; the land identified as Lot 1 we suspect was much of the current property identified as 2545 Kingstown Road. Mostly commercial buildings were constructed on Lot 1 between 1733 and 1740; the land, all dwellings, stables, and other buildings were sold to Stephen Mumford in 1740 for 1,000 pounds and repurchased from Mumford 5 years later for 900 pounds. The property, having returned to the Potter and Reynolds families, continues to be passed down through generations through the 1938/39. Many family members of the Potter and Reynolds families served the State of Rhode Island as lawyers, governmental representatives, and as part of the military. The lineage of the property continues as follows:

      Col. Elisha Reynolds and Susanna(h) Potter Reynolds pass property to daughter Elizabeth Reynolds [b. 1737-d.1806] who married Col. Thomas Potter [b.1738-d.1793] in 1758; he is also her first cousin, son of Capt. Ichabod Potter [b.1703-d.1742/43] and wife Margaret (Helme?) Potter [dates unknown] who was Susanna(h) Potter Reynolds' older brother. Col. Thomas Potter operated a tavern with guest rooms on the corner (east lawn) of the property and the likely host to President George Washingston to his visit to Little Rest (Kingston), RI.

      Property passes to Thomas Potter, Jr. [b.1762-d.?], the second of seven children of Col. Thomas and Elizabeth (Reynolds) Potter and enters a period of frequent partial sales and repurchases, acquirements of additional land, and partial land leases to Jeremiah Sand, William Lunt, and William Nichols either directly through Thomas Potter, Jr. or his younger brother the Hon. Elisha Reynolds Potter, Sr. [b.1764-1835]. While the entire property was willed to Thomas Potter, Jr. in 1806 following his mother's death, Elisha Reynolds Potter, Sr. (married to Mary Mawny [b.?-d.1835] in 1811) assumed formal ownership of Lot 1 in 1806.

      Elisha Reynolds Potter, Sr. gifted the property to Maria Potter [b.1790-d.1831], the daughter of his younger brother Asa Potter, Sr. [b.1766-d .1805] and Hannah Hagadorn [b.1767-d.1836]. Maria Potter married Thomas Robinson Wells [b.1784-d.1853] and assumed ownership of Lot 1 in 1813, but the property (plus Lot 2) was re-gifted to Maria's brother the Hon. Asa Potter, Jr [b.1802-d.1872] in 1829, the year in which he built the current house attached the a pre-existing structure- likely a shop, in celebration of his 1830 marriage to Mary Ann Thurston (b.1808-d .1857]. Asa Potter, Jr. re-acquired Lot 2 from William Lunt in 1831 leasing him garden on the northeast portion of the land and sold 1/3 acre to Christopher Comstock and The Kingston Boot and Show Company in 1837.

      The land and property was later transferred to Elisha Reynolds Potter, Sr.'s eldest son, Elisha Reynolds Potter, Jr. [b.1811-d.1882], who also repurchased Lot 2 from The Kingston Boot and Show Company. Never marrying, Elisha Reynolds Potter, Jr. sold the property to his younger brother James Brown Mason Potter, Sr. [b.1818-d.1900] and his wife and first cousin Elisa Palmer-Potter [b.1831-d.1916], the daughter of Asa Potter, Jr. for $2,000. James Brown Mason Potter, Sr. then sold Lot 1 to Providence architect, Henry Hidden after 1848 and Lot 2 to Job. W. Watson in 1863 for $725.

      James Brown Mason Potter, Sr.'s younger brother Judge William Henry Potter [b.1816-d.1904] and his wife Sarah Corliss Whipple Swan [b.? -d.1895] re-purchased Lot 1 from Henry Hidden in 1870 for $5,000 and Lot 2 from Job B. Watson in 1870 for $950. He purchased additional lands from John G. Perry and Thomas P. Wells and occupied the estate until his death. At this time, the property was returned to James Brown Mason Potter, Sr's widow Elisa Palmer-Potter Potter, who turned ownership over to her daughter Mary Lemoine Potter [b.1860-d.1938] immediately and gifted away other land to the north and west in 1911. While she inherited Lots 1 and 2 and the Potter Homestead south of the highway, it is unknown if Mary Lemoine Potter ever resided in the home on Lot 1, but remained in Kingston through the hurricane of 1938 in which both properties (2545 Kingstown Road and the Potter Homestead) sustained major damage. Upon her death, the Potter Estate on Kingstown Road and the Potter Homestead on South Road were willed to cousin Carroll Potter, Jr. of Boston and his wife Maud. Additional properties were gifted to Frank and Elizabeth Barber (Lot 2), who were Mary Lemoine Potter's driver and cook and Harriet L. Thurston (the Boxwood property on North Road purchased by Miss Potter in 1913), who was a distant relative. The home and land at 2545 Kingstown Road was then sold to Drs. Charles and Marie Fish in 1938/1839.

      George Washington did not sleep in this house! However, there is evidence that President Washington may have taken a little rest in a guest room of the tavern that used to exist on the east lawn of the property during a trip through Little Rest (Kingston) on March 6, 1781 en route to South Ferry and Newport. The Reverend J. Hagadown Wells referred to the property as "a public house" and in 1782 and 1783, Col. Thomas Potter was listed as a tavern keeper.

    2. [S32] Find-A-Grave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=15552148.

    3. [S46] Marriage Record/Certificate.
      Elisha R. Potter and Mrs. Mary Perkins by Rev. Benjamin Waite 7 Nov 1790.

    4. [S100] Internet Source, http://www.whipple.org/descendants/john366_6.pdf.
      5. Pardon Mawney-11006 (b.27 Dec 1748- Providence, Providence, Rhode Island; d.6 Aug 1831-EG, Kent, Rhode Island)
      sp: Experience Gardner- (b.1 Nov 1751-SK,W, Rhode Island; m. Jun 1772; d.18 Nov 1815-EG,K, Rhode Island)
      Peter Lemoine Mawney- (b.16 Apr 1773- EG, Kent, Rhode Island; d.30 Jan 1868-Moreau,Saratoga, New York)
      John G. Mawney- (b.1 Oct 1774-East Greenwich, Kent, Rhode Island; d.28 Dec 1846)
      sp: Polly "Mary" Searle-52688 (b.22 Feb 1779-Cranston, P, Rhode Island; m.21 Feb 1801; d.13 Dec 1846)
      6. Mawney-Mawney twin- (b.23 Mar 1777-East Green
      wich, K, Rhode Island; d.3 Oct 1864-NK, W, Rhode Island)
      sp: William Earle Tillinghast Captain- (b.1778- of, Providence, Providence, Rhode Island; d.25 Apr
      1817)
      sp: Elisha Atkins- (d.19 Jun 1867-Newport, Newport, Rhode Island)
      Nancy Mawney twin-(b.23 Mar 1777-East Greenwich, Kent, Rhode Island; d.21 Dec 1787)
      Mary Mawney-(b.25 Apr 1779-East Greenwich, Kent, Rhode Island; d.26 Jul 1835)
      sp: Elisha Reynolds Potter-(b.5 Nov 1764; m.9 Jul 1810 d.26 Sep 1835)
      Moses Mawney- (b.4 Nov 1780- East Greenwich,
      Kent, Rhode Island; d.1 Aug 1821)
      sp: Elizabeth Arnold- (b.7 Dec 1791-Exeter,Washington, Rhode Island; m.1 Dec 1816; d.5 Oct 1884)
      Hannah Mawney- (b.12 Apr 1782-East Greenwich, Kent, Rhode Island; d.20 Sep 1860-NK, W, Rhode Island)
      sp: Nicholas Tillinghast-(b.6 Apr 1776; m.29 Aug 1802)
      sp: Jeffrey Davis-(b.6 Nov 1780; m. Dec 1824; d.21 Jul 1854)
      Elizabeth Cranston Mawney-(b.7 Jul 1784-East Greenwich, Kent, Rhode Island; d.20 Jul 1814)
      sp: Jeffrey Davis- (b.6 Nov 1780; m. 19 Oct 1806; d.21 Jul 1854)
      Nicholas G. Mawney-52712 (b.17 Mar 1786-East Greenwich, K, Rhode Island; d.27 Aug 1874-EG, Kent, Rhode Island)
      Robert Gibbs Mawney- (b.1788-East Greenwich, Kent, Rhode Island; d.Aft 1811)
      Caleb Mawney-(b.1789-East Greenwich, Kent,Rhode Island; d.1790)
      Tabitha Mawney-(b.1791-East Greenwich, Kent, Rhode Island; d.14 Mar 1808)
      Samuel Ayrault Mawney-(b.8 May 1792-EG, Kent, Rhode Island; d.8 Jan 1866-NK, Washington, Rhode Island)
      sp: Phebe Nichols- (m.1816)
      Isabella Ann Mawney- (b.30 Nov 1797-East Greenwich, Kent, Rhode Island; d.29 Jul 1873)
      sp: Peter G. Taylor-(m.27 Jun 1822; d.20 Dec 1871-Brooklyn, Kings, New York)

    5. [S270] Rhode Island Reynolds, (J.H. Beers & Co., Chicago 1908), 3 1924 092 219 892.
      Bio of Elisha Reynolds Potter