Mays Family Tree - Person Sheet
NameJohn POTTS 
1194
1194Death Dateabt 17683724
OccupationIronmaster
ReligionSociety of Friends (Quaker)
FatherThomas POTTS
Misc. Notes
A prominent Quaker ironmaster who purchased in 1757 the ironworks known as Valley Forge in Schuylkill Township, Chester County Pennsylvania. Several years later he added a gristmill* to the property.
Over the ensuing years the property was owned by John’s sons. It was here on this property where General George Washington and his Continental army encamped and spent a severe winter beginning in December of 1777.
John Potts’ daughter [Sarah] married William Dewees.
See more on the Valley Forge story in the notes of Colonel William Dewees (aft 1700).
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The History of Valley Forge
Valley Forge, in Chester county, has historic associations which no American can ever forget. This forge seems to have been erected some time prior to 1757 by Stephen Evans, whose executors sold it in that year to John Potts. There is a misty tradition, however, that it was built at a much earlier day by a person named Walker, an Englishman, who came over with William Penn.
Its original name was Mount Joy, which name is said to have been given to the neighboring mountain by William Penn. This was also the name of a manor owned by him on the Schuylkill. The forge was located near the mouth of East Valley creek, on the Chester side of the creek—the creek forming a part of the boundary between Chester and Montgomery counties. The forge was destroyed by the British in 1777, just prior to Washington's occupation of the vicinity for winter quarters. It was rebuilt after the Revolution, probably by David and Isaac Potts. The iron used at Valley forge was made at Warwick furnace, which continued in operation during a part of almost every year from its erection in 1737 down to 1867, when its last blast came to an end and the furnace was abandoned.
The foregoing information about Valley forge was obtained with much difficulty and from various sources. Since writing the above, however, we have received a yet more circumstantial account of this historic forge, the particulars of which were kindly obtained for us, after much personal investigation, by Joseph E. Thropp, Esq., of West Conshohocken, Montgomery county. It is as follows:
Valley forge was built on the western side of Valley creek, in Chester county. The original site was about five-eighths of a mile from the mouth of the creek. It was owned and operated by members of the Potts family from the spring of 1757 until its destruction by the British about two months before the American army encamped there in 1777.
From 1771 Col. William Dewees, son of Sheriff William Dewees of Philadelphia, was associated with the Potts's, and in 1773 appears to have bought an interest. The iron used at this forge was hauled by teams from Warwick furnace. After the close of the war another forge was erected about three-eighths of a mile farther down the stream, on the Montgomery county side, on ground now covered by part of the cotton and woolen factory, and a new dam was built, raising the water partly over the site of the old Mount Joy forge. (This second forge was in ruins in 1816.)
About the same time a slitting-mill was erected on the Chester county side, most probably being constructed out of one of the buildings used by the artisans for the army. The forge and slitting-mill were built by Isaac Potts and his brother David. In 1786 they were operated under the firm name of " Isaac Potts & Co.," the company consisting of David (Isaac's brother) and his son James.
The property subsequently passed through the hands of Joseph Potts, Ralph Peacock, Rebecca Robbins, and Jacob Vogdes, until in 1814 the latter, who had not operated the works, sold them to John Rogers and Joshua Malin. Malin, who was a cousin of Rogers, was the manager.1201
See more about the history of Valley Forge in the notes of Colonel William Dewees (b. aft 1700), also found in this database.3725
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POTTSGROVE MANOR
Blessed with iron ore deposits, vast forests that provided charcoal, abundant coal beds for fuel, limestone for use as flux and streams for water power, Pennsylvania was the ironmaking center of America for more than a century. From tools for blacksmiths and wheel rims for carriages, to steam locomotives and iron rails, iron products from Pennsylvania played a leading role in the development of the English colonies and the United States well into the nineteenth century.
Iron plantations based on charcoal-fueled furnaces were the centers of iron manufacturing. Rural iron plantations were large complexes of production facilities including housing for workers, an ironmaster’s mansion, a village store, forests and often encompassed land containing iron ore deposits. This system of charcoal furnace plantations peaked during the 1830s.
John’s father Thomas Potts started the family’s iron empire by becoming manager of the Colebrookdale Furnace in the Schuylkill River Valley. Established about 1720, it was the first blast furnace in Pennsylvania. In 1725 Thomas leased the furnace and became its resident manager. While leasing Colebrookdale Furnace he earned enough money to buy a two-thirds share in the furnace and in 1734 John his son became a founder there.
John Potts’s next stroke of good fortune came in 1745, when he and his wife received from his mother-in-law a 50% share in Warwick Furnace, a sizable operation that consumed 240 acres of forest timber annually.
John Potts built an empire around the productive Warwick Furnace, using it to supply pig iron to refinery forges and using the profits to buy or build his own forges, all located in Pennsylvania’s Schuylkill River Valley. One of them was called Mount Joy Forge, although the name Valley Forge was also used. He erected a mansion at Mount Joy Forge; that residence became George Washington’s headquarters during the Continental Army’s winter encampment at Valley Forge in 1777-1778.
In 1752 John Potts established the iron plantation of Pottsgrove, where he built a mansion house and refinery forge and laid out a village in a grid pattern. He made Pottsgrove his family seat and the residential and commercial center for the forge. Warwick Furnace produced pig iron that supplied the refinery forge at Pottsgrove and his other forges in southeastern Pennsylvania.
John Potts’s oldest son, Thomas, inherited the plantation in 1768, and held onto it until 1783, when he sold it. The subsequent 150 years or so brought a myriad of owners and uses of the property. In 1820 the Georgian-style home was remodeled in the Greek Revival style, which was popular at the time. After the Civil War, the home was turned it into a hotel. By the 1920’s, it had been converted to a multiple family residence. During the Great Depression it was abandoned and was inhabited by homeless and itinerant people.
The Pottstown Historical Society purchased the Pottsgrove Manor along with four acres of land in 1939. From that time until the present the mansion has been in public hands and has undergone a couple of major restorations. Under the full jurisdiction of Montgomery County since 1988, the home has been open to the public on a nearly continual basis since September, 1991.
The Pottstown Historical Society owns John Potts’ personal ledger, and that manuscript has been used to guide the furnishing of the mansion’s interior. Potts carefully recorded details of the home’s construction, materials and craftsmen, and left a room-by-room probate inventory of nearly all furnishings. The home’s collection of artifacts is comprised primarily of authentic 18th and 19th century pieces, and the acquisition of those pieces was guided by the John Potts’ ledger. The homes furnishings are on loan from various sources, including the Pottstown Historical Society, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and several private collections. Some of Pottsgrove Manor’s original antiquities are part of the collection housed at the du Pont familiy’s Winterthur Museum in Delaware.
Pottstown was originally named Pottsgrove in honor of its founder, John Potts.3724
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Pottsgrove Manor was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.3726
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Pottstown is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia and 18 miles southeast of Reading, on the Schuylkill River. Pottstown was laid out in 1752–53 and named Pottsgrove in honor of its founder, John Potts. The old name was abandoned at the time of the incorporation as a borough in 1815. In 1888, the limits of the borough were considerably extended. Pottstown is the center of a productive farming and dairying region.
In the past, its iron and steel interests were very extensive. There were large rolling mills, furnaces, nail works, textile mills, bridge works, agricultural-implement works, boiler and machine shops, foundries, and manufactories of bricks, silks, shirts, hosiery, etc.
Pottstown is not to be confused with Pottsville, a city in Schuylkill County.3727
____________
A Lemuel Beyers whose father was John Beyers, one of the pionners of Clearfield County, was born at Valley Forge, in the year 1762 and died June 1861. Lemuel’s grandfather owned a farm at Valley Forge, on which General Washington quartered his army during the memorable winter of 1777. The fences and improvements of the farm were very much destroyed during the occupation of the army. [More about Lemuel can be found at this source]1717
*A gristmill or grist mill is a building in which grain is ground into flour. In many countries these are referred to as corn mills or flour mills.
Over the ensuing years the property was owned by John’s sons. It was here on this property where General George Washington and his Continental army encamped and spent a severe winter beginning in December of 1777.
John Potts’ daughter [Sarah] married William Dewees.
See more on the Valley Forge story in the notes of Colonel William Dewees (aft 1700).
==================================================
The History of Valley Forge
Valley Forge, in Chester county, has historic associations which no American can ever forget. This forge seems to have been erected some time prior to 1757 by Stephen Evans, whose executors sold it in that year to John Potts. There is a misty tradition, however, that it was built at a much earlier day by a person named Walker, an Englishman, who came over with William Penn.
Its original name was Mount Joy, which name is said to have been given to the neighboring mountain by William Penn. This was also the name of a manor owned by him on the Schuylkill. The forge was located near the mouth of East Valley creek, on the Chester side of the creek—the creek forming a part of the boundary between Chester and Montgomery counties. The forge was destroyed by the British in 1777, just prior to Washington's occupation of the vicinity for winter quarters. It was rebuilt after the Revolution, probably by David and Isaac Potts. The iron used at Valley forge was made at Warwick furnace, which continued in operation during a part of almost every year from its erection in 1737 down to 1867, when its last blast came to an end and the furnace was abandoned.
The foregoing information about Valley forge was obtained with much difficulty and from various sources. Since writing the above, however, we have received a yet more circumstantial account of this historic forge, the particulars of which were kindly obtained for us, after much personal investigation, by Joseph E. Thropp, Esq., of West Conshohocken, Montgomery county. It is as follows:
Valley forge was built on the western side of Valley creek, in Chester county. The original site was about five-eighths of a mile from the mouth of the creek. It was owned and operated by members of the Potts family from the spring of 1757 until its destruction by the British about two months before the American army encamped there in 1777.
From 1771 Col. William Dewees, son of Sheriff William Dewees of Philadelphia, was associated with the Potts's, and in 1773 appears to have bought an interest. The iron used at this forge was hauled by teams from Warwick furnace. After the close of the war another forge was erected about three-eighths of a mile farther down the stream, on the Montgomery county side, on ground now covered by part of the cotton and woolen factory, and a new dam was built, raising the water partly over the site of the old Mount Joy forge. (This second forge was in ruins in 1816.)
About the same time a slitting-mill was erected on the Chester county side, most probably being constructed out of one of the buildings used by the artisans for the army. The forge and slitting-mill were built by Isaac Potts and his brother David. In 1786 they were operated under the firm name of " Isaac Potts & Co.," the company consisting of David (Isaac's brother) and his son James.
The property subsequently passed through the hands of Joseph Potts, Ralph Peacock, Rebecca Robbins, and Jacob Vogdes, until in 1814 the latter, who had not operated the works, sold them to John Rogers and Joshua Malin. Malin, who was a cousin of Rogers, was the manager.1201
See more about the history of Valley Forge in the notes of Colonel William Dewees (b. aft 1700), also found in this database.3725
==================================================
POTTSGROVE MANOR
Blessed with iron ore deposits, vast forests that provided charcoal, abundant coal beds for fuel, limestone for use as flux and streams for water power, Pennsylvania was the ironmaking center of America for more than a century. From tools for blacksmiths and wheel rims for carriages, to steam locomotives and iron rails, iron products from Pennsylvania played a leading role in the development of the English colonies and the United States well into the nineteenth century.
Iron plantations based on charcoal-fueled furnaces were the centers of iron manufacturing. Rural iron plantations were large complexes of production facilities including housing for workers, an ironmaster’s mansion, a village store, forests and often encompassed land containing iron ore deposits. This system of charcoal furnace plantations peaked during the 1830s.
John’s father Thomas Potts started the family’s iron empire by becoming manager of the Colebrookdale Furnace in the Schuylkill River Valley. Established about 1720, it was the first blast furnace in Pennsylvania. In 1725 Thomas leased the furnace and became its resident manager. While leasing Colebrookdale Furnace he earned enough money to buy a two-thirds share in the furnace and in 1734 John his son became a founder there.
John Potts’s next stroke of good fortune came in 1745, when he and his wife received from his mother-in-law a 50% share in Warwick Furnace, a sizable operation that consumed 240 acres of forest timber annually.
John Potts built an empire around the productive Warwick Furnace, using it to supply pig iron to refinery forges and using the profits to buy or build his own forges, all located in Pennsylvania’s Schuylkill River Valley. One of them was called Mount Joy Forge, although the name Valley Forge was also used. He erected a mansion at Mount Joy Forge; that residence became George Washington’s headquarters during the Continental Army’s winter encampment at Valley Forge in 1777-1778.
In 1752 John Potts established the iron plantation of Pottsgrove, where he built a mansion house and refinery forge and laid out a village in a grid pattern. He made Pottsgrove his family seat and the residential and commercial center for the forge. Warwick Furnace produced pig iron that supplied the refinery forge at Pottsgrove and his other forges in southeastern Pennsylvania.
John Potts’s oldest son, Thomas, inherited the plantation in 1768, and held onto it until 1783, when he sold it. The subsequent 150 years or so brought a myriad of owners and uses of the property. In 1820 the Georgian-style home was remodeled in the Greek Revival style, which was popular at the time. After the Civil War, the home was turned it into a hotel. By the 1920’s, it had been converted to a multiple family residence. During the Great Depression it was abandoned and was inhabited by homeless and itinerant people.
The Pottstown Historical Society purchased the Pottsgrove Manor along with four acres of land in 1939. From that time until the present the mansion has been in public hands and has undergone a couple of major restorations. Under the full jurisdiction of Montgomery County since 1988, the home has been open to the public on a nearly continual basis since September, 1991.
The Pottstown Historical Society owns John Potts’ personal ledger, and that manuscript has been used to guide the furnishing of the mansion’s interior. Potts carefully recorded details of the home’s construction, materials and craftsmen, and left a room-by-room probate inventory of nearly all furnishings. The home’s collection of artifacts is comprised primarily of authentic 18th and 19th century pieces, and the acquisition of those pieces was guided by the John Potts’ ledger. The homes furnishings are on loan from various sources, including the Pottstown Historical Society, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and several private collections. Some of Pottsgrove Manor’s original antiquities are part of the collection housed at the du Pont familiy’s Winterthur Museum in Delaware.
Pottstown was originally named Pottsgrove in honor of its founder, John Potts.3724
==================================================
Pottsgrove Manor was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.3726
____________
Pottstown is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia and 18 miles southeast of Reading, on the Schuylkill River. Pottstown was laid out in 1752–53 and named Pottsgrove in honor of its founder, John Potts. The old name was abandoned at the time of the incorporation as a borough in 1815. In 1888, the limits of the borough were considerably extended. Pottstown is the center of a productive farming and dairying region.
In the past, its iron and steel interests were very extensive. There were large rolling mills, furnaces, nail works, textile mills, bridge works, agricultural-implement works, boiler and machine shops, foundries, and manufactories of bricks, silks, shirts, hosiery, etc.
Pottstown is not to be confused with Pottsville, a city in Schuylkill County.3727
____________
A Lemuel Beyers whose father was John Beyers, one of the pionners of Clearfield County, was born at Valley Forge, in the year 1762 and died June 1861. Lemuel’s grandfather owned a farm at Valley Forge, on which General Washington quartered his army during the memorable winter of 1777. The fences and improvements of the farm were very much destroyed during the occupation of the army. [More about Lemuel can be found at this source]1717
*A gristmill or grist mill is a building in which grain is ground into flour. In many countries these are referred to as corn mills or flour mills.