Hi Sue,
Thank you for responding.
Yesterday, I found the 1871 deed from my second great-grandfather to the
Detroit Eel River and Illinois Railroad in a packet of material that a
genealogist who was working on a genealogy for Ezra Varnum Potter had
sent me 11 years ago. So now I know when the railroad was constructed,
but don't know when it was abandoned.
My basic problem is that Galutia Potter insisted that the railroad
station the DER&I railroad built on his property be called Potter's
station. He owned building lots, which he sold, in the Village of
Potter's Station. The railroad is now gone and the village is called
ARI. So that has left me wondering:
1. Was Galutia Potter a real estate developer in addition to being a
farmer ?
2. Was the village of Ari in existence before the railroad came through?
3. Was the original name of the village were ARI or POTTER'S STATION?
4. When was the name of ARI first applied to the village?
My Grandfather and his siblings left Indiana in 1912. Was the name
change made before or after Fred Potter left Indiana?
All these questions have been precipitated by the fact that I am
submitting a family biography sketch to the Allen County History Book
and I want to be accurate. Unfortunately, I did not realize how little
I knew until I started to write.
The following is the present draft of my family biographical sketch. I
have put the words where the ARI/Potter's Station is of concern to me in
bold print and italics.
Oliver Potter (1797-185_), the son of Pardon Potter and Rhoda Carver,
purchased 440 acres of land in Eel River Township in 1836. Oliver was
a descendant of Robert Potter (d.1655) of Warwick, Rhode Island and
Roger Williams (1604-1683), founder of Rhode Island. Rhoda Carver was
descended from eight Mayflower passengers. Oliver Potter married
Clarissa Barnes (1800-187_). Their children were: James, Vernon,
Galutia (1823-1873), Stephen, Columbus, Charles, Louisa, and
Caroline. Prior to settling in Eel River Township, Oliver and
Clarissa Potter had lived in Butler Township, Wayne County, New York.
Oliver and Clarissa Potter built a very fine two-story, six-bay, frame
Greek Revival style house on their Indiana farm. This house was later
known as premises # 7473 North County Line Road, Eel River Township,
Allen County, Indiana. During the 1990's the Oliver Potter
descendants, who owned Oliver's farm at the time, razed his house.
In 1839 Samuel W. Coon (1780-1865), a widower and descendant of John
Mac Coone (1630-1705) of Westerly, Rhode Island, left Orangeville
Township, Wyoming County, New York with his youngest children. He
followed his son, Amos Freeman Coon, to Indiana. The children of
Samuel Coon and Phebe Freeman (1788-1825), a Mayflower descendant,
were: Francis; Anna; Amos Freeman; Preserved Brownell; Elisha; and,
Phebe (1821-1888). The 200 acres of land, which Amos had purchased in
Eel River Township in 1836, abutted land owned by Oliver Potter.
On March 9, 1851, Galutia Potter married his 6th cousin Cooke, Phebe
Coon. They settled on a farm on the opposite side of the present day
village of Ari from Oliver Potter's residence. Galutia and Phebe's
children were: Annie E. (1851-1861); Charles Jesse (1854-1900);
Newtown Galutia (1860-1899); and, Peter (1864-1866). Although raised
as an Orthodox Quaker, Phebe Potter became a committed member of the
Church of God at Ari. All of the members of this family are buried in
Eel River Cemetery, as is Samuel W. Coon, who apparently remained
behind living with his daughter, Phebe, when his sons removed to
Delaware County, Iowa in the early 1850's.
Phebe Potter was a prolific letter writer. All of her letters bear
the return address of the Village of Potter's Station. In 1871 when
the Detroit Eel River and Illinois Railroad Company purchased the
right of way for the tracks from Galutia Potter, he insisted that the
a railroad station that was located on Potter property near the
present day village of Ari be named "Potter's Station". Galutia
Potter owned land in both Allen and Noble Counties. He also owned and
sold building lots in the Village of Potter's Station. Both the 1874
and 1893 plat maps of Noble County show the Village of Potter's
Station straddling the Allen/Noble County boundary line. Family oral
tradition also states that Galutia's sons, Newton and Charles operated
sawmill near railroad tracks later. Charles' son Arthur Potter, also
kept a store in the village
Newton Galutia Potter married Maria Louise Young (1862-1911), daughter
of Johann Jung, a/k/a John Young, a Civil War veteran, and Mary
Elizabeth Grim of Ari. Both John Young and his wife were of
Pennsylvania Dutch descent. The children of Galutia and Maria Potter
were: Verna Potter Peckham; Newton Elroy Potter; and, Fred Leslie
Potter (1894-1985).
After Maria Potter's death, her children sold their farm in Ari and
moved to Reno, Nevada where all three married into pioneer Nevada
families. Roy and Fred worked on a government survey team. Later
Fred managed a dry-goods store. Fred married Florence Mildred
Sutherland (1895-1993), the daughter of John Henry Sutherland and Mary
Florence Luke. Fred and Mildred had one son, William Leslie Potter
(1918-1997). William was an electrical engineer employed by General
Electric Co. On September 6, 1942, he married Olive Dundas, daughter
of William John Dundas and Anna Helena Pilling. William Leslie Potter
settled in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. However, like his father and his
eldest daughter, Leslie Barbara Potter, William Potter returned to
visit the Potter farmsteads and his cousins in Ari, Indiana from time
to time.
Any light that you can shed on the ARI / POTTER'S STATION situation will
be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for all of your help.
Sincerely,
Barbara
Leslie Barbara Potter
Glen Mills, PA