William Potts
William Potts, a substantial farmer and well-known citizen of Porter Township, residing on his farm of 98 acres, was born August 18. 1829, in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Charles and Mary Ann (Updyke) Potts.
The grandparents of William Potts were William and Susan Potts, who moved from Connecticut to New Jersey during the boyhood of their son Charles and remained in that State during the rest of their lives. Charles Potts was born in Connecticut in 1808 and lived in New Jersey until he was twenty years of age, when he moved to Pennsylvania. In 1828 he married Mary Ann Updyke, and eight years later they removed to Ohio, settling in Licking County, near Utica. They had nine children, namely: William, Catherine, Benjamin. Joseph, John. Daniel. Susan. Margaret, and Mary. Five of their children were born in Pennsylvania and four in Ohio. The survivors are: Benjamin, William. Joseph, Daniel, and Susan (Moore).
William Potts was a boy of eight when his parents came to Ohio. The first year was spent with a maternal uncle living at Utica, and then the family moved to a farm the father bought near Mt. Vernon, in Knox County. Five years later this farm was sold and the family removed in Delaware County, the father purchasing a farm in which they resided for twenty-seven years. Charles Potts retired to Sparta after selling his farm and died there six months later, aged sixty-five years. His widow survived to the age of seventy-five years. She was born in New7 Jersey in 1809.
Mr. Potts has been a resident of Delaware County for the past thirty-five years and has owned his present farm for thirty years. He purchased this property from Attorneys Curtis and Irvin of Mt. Vernon, who disposed of it at sheriff's sale. Mr. Potts has made all the excellent improvements here and his buildings are tasteful, substantial and attractive as he put them up himself, being a skilled carpenter. For the past twenty years he has given the larger part of his time to general farming.
In 1853, in Knox County, Ohio, Mr. Potts married Malinda Spindler, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1830, and died in Porter Township April 14, 1905. She was a daughter of John Spindler. Mr. and Mrs. Potts had seven children bom to them, namely: John, James, Mary J., Charles, Lenna. George and William. John Potts was born in 1854 and is a carpenter by trade, residing at Columbus. He married Addie Pierce and they have two children, Verna and Coral. James Potts, born in Knox County in 1857, resides at Olive Green, Ohio. He married Clara Powell and they have five children: Edith, Gertrude, Addie, Ray, and Hubert. Mary Jane Potts, born in Delaware County, in 1859, married Elmer Mandrel and they reside near Delaware, Ohio. They have two children. Alice and Howard. Charles Potts, born in 1861, residing in Morrow County, married Hettie Chambers and they have the following children: Elsie, Ernest, William. Belle. Fred and Mary Jane. Lenna Potts, born in 1863 and George Potts, born in 1865, both reside at home. William, who was born in 1867, died in 1908. Mr. Potts is a quiet, industrious, self-respecting citizen, one who enjoys the esteem of the community in which he has lived for so many years.
From 20th Century History of Delaware County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, Edited and compiled by James R. Lytle, Delaware, Ohio, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1908