Henry Albert Potter
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| Henry Albert
Potter was born April 6th
1840 to Edward Coke Potter, son of an old New York
family, and Sophia Welter, daughter of Dutch parents from
New Jersey, in the town of Starkey, Yates County, New
York. The family moved to Michigan and homesteaded a
farm, but Henry stayed to finish school at Starkey
Seminary in Starkey. At 17 he graduated and joined the
family in Ovid Michigan where he began teaching school in
the winters while working on the farm in the summers. At the time the war began Henry was a loyal Republican and from his letters it can be seen that he encouraged a few of the Ovid boys to join him in signing up with Company B of the 4th Michigan Cavalry. Later as some died and others were maimed for life he regretted influencing them to join. But he himself never wavered in staunch defense of the war and the Union. Henry joined up as a sergeant and after Stones River was promoted first to 2nd Lieutenant then 1st Lieutenant. In August of 1864 after Tullahoma, Chickamauga, and the campaign to Atlanta, he was promoted to Captain of Company H and served as such until July of 1865 when he was discharged at the mustering out of the regiment. After the war, he returned to Starkey where he met his wife to be, Katherine Elisabeth Gardner. They had 3 children, two sons who died as children and a daughter, Bertha, who was my maternal grandmother. Before the war Henry had worked as a clerk at Pearl and Faxon dry goods store. When he returned he became a partner with Faxon from 1866 to 1871, then the store became Faxon, Potter and Swarthout and from 1871 to 1883: Potter and Swarthout. Potter bought out Swarthout and then in 1884 sold it back to Swarthout. Potter then bought a dairy in Ovid which he ran until 1901. In 1902 he became a partner in Jillson and Potter mercantile. He became part owner and President of First National Bank of Ovid until 1905. When a clerk was caught speculating with the funds, Potter went back to work and at 60 opened another dry good store. He was able to pay off the bank’s debt to the depositors. Potter retired at 75. He lived to be 95 and spent his later years (1919-1935) at Quaker Hill in New York at the home of his son in law, Samuel Palmer, who was the Minister of the local Presbyterian church. In 1869 joined the George Winans post of the GAR. He belonged to Grace Methodist Church in Ovid and was chairman of the building committee which erected the church. Henry’s favorite Civil War story was of charging his horse up a hill in a skirmish somewhere around Lookout Mountain in Georgia. He always maintained the Rebels could stand in the open and fire their muskets accurately while the Union boys had to steady their muskets against posts and trees. As he charged up the hill, with shells whizzing around him, he looked down to see a Rebel taking dead aim on him. "Did you duck?" the listeners invariably would ask. Henry always said firmly "a Cavalry Officer doesn’t duck." Luckily for him and me the horse raised his head up as the Rebel fired and the took the bullet meant for great grandpa. "Oh, she was a noble beast" was the way he always finished off the story. He wrote many letters during the war and over 60 of his letters and his diary were donated to the State of Michigan and are at the Archives in Lansing. Submission by Michael Palmer Ruddy |
