"Alfred Potts grew to manhood in his native county (Franklin) and assisted his father with the work on the farm until his marriage. His early experience in clearing land, making rails, chopping wood and other hard labor inseparably connected with the pioneer period peculiarly fitted him for the duties of the very active life which he subsequently led.
May 11, 1843, in the prime of his manhood, he married Miss Mary Craney of Franklin county.
After Alfred married he began farming in Franklin county on a small place of forty two acres given him by his father, which he cultivated for about ten years, adding to it and making it a desirable farm. At the expiration of that time, in 1853, he sold his home for seven hundred dollars, and moving to Hancock county purchased for one thousand dollars eighty acres of partially improved land in the township of Brandywine. The country was then new and a more uninviting prospect than their little cabin home presented would be difficult to imagine.
Alfred Potts states that the first morning after his arrival he looked out of the cabin door and saw two immense male deer engaged in dealy combat within a few yards of the house. The woods abounded with wolves and of nights the farmers were obliged to pen their domestic animals in high and secure enclosures to save them from being killed by these ravenous beasts. Wild turkeys were so plentiful as to be no rarity as an article of diet, while smaller game such as pheasants, ducks, grouse, quails and squirrels were not considered to be worth the ammunition required to shoot them, but many wolves, turkey and deer fell under his unerring aim.
The life of Alfred Potts and the early growth and development of Brandywine township were very closelt interwoven; he bore his part as a sturdy pioneer and has lived to see a fine farm take the place of dense woods which greeted him when he came to take possession of his new home. He worked hard, economized carefully, endured with heroic fortitude the ills which beset his pathway during the early days and now in his declining years is enjoying the fruits of his many years of toil in a life of honorable retirement.
His home is a comfortable one and his farm has always been kept in first class condition. He has improved it greatly by several hundred rods of tile drainage and by paying attention to the proper rotation of crops has retained its productiveness. He depends largely upon live stock for a part of his income, raising every year quite a number of fine cattle and hogs, also devoting considerable attention to domestic fowls.
Alfred has always taken a pardonable pride in his township and county; he has stood for all legitimate public improvements and used his influence to further enterprises having for their object the general welfare. He is highly esteemed by all who know him and has lived so as to merit the universal respect in which he is held by the people of Hancock county.
He has never been blessed with any children and since the year 1900 has been treading life's pathway alone, his wife having died that year. She was a devout Catholic, but he subcribes to the Methodist creed.
In politics he is a stanch Democrat, but has never taken an active part in political affairs further than to express his opinions freely and fearlessly and vote for the candidate of his party.
When a young man he was made an Odd Fellow, but since leaving Franklin county has not attended meetings of the order.
Mr. Potts carries the weight of his eighty four years with becoming dignity and still possesses unimpaired many of his physical powers; mentally he is active and alert, has read much and managed successfully his agricultural interests ans business affairs. While far beyond the alloted age of man, his friends unite in wishing that he may be spared many years in which to reach the end of his earthly journey."
May 11, 1843, in the prime of his manhood, he married Miss Mary Craney of Franklin county.
After Alfred married he began farming in Franklin county on a small place of forty two acres given him by his father, which he cultivated for about ten years, adding to it and making it a desirable farm. At the expiration of that time, in 1853, he sold his home for seven hundred dollars, and moving to Hancock county purchased for one thousand dollars eighty acres of partially improved land in the township of Brandywine. The country was then new and a more uninviting prospect than their little cabin home presented would be difficult to imagine.
Alfred Potts states that the first morning after his arrival he looked out of the cabin door and saw two immense male deer engaged in dealy combat within a few yards of the house. The woods abounded with wolves and of nights the farmers were obliged to pen their domestic animals in high and secure enclosures to save them from being killed by these ravenous beasts. Wild turkeys were so plentiful as to be no rarity as an article of diet, while smaller game such as pheasants, ducks, grouse, quails and squirrels were not considered to be worth the ammunition required to shoot them, but many wolves, turkey and deer fell under his unerring aim.
The life of Alfred Potts and the early growth and development of Brandywine township were very closelt interwoven; he bore his part as a sturdy pioneer and has lived to see a fine farm take the place of dense woods which greeted him when he came to take possession of his new home. He worked hard, economized carefully, endured with heroic fortitude the ills which beset his pathway during the early days and now in his declining years is enjoying the fruits of his many years of toil in a life of honorable retirement.
His home is a comfortable one and his farm has always been kept in first class condition. He has improved it greatly by several hundred rods of tile drainage and by paying attention to the proper rotation of crops has retained its productiveness. He depends largely upon live stock for a part of his income, raising every year quite a number of fine cattle and hogs, also devoting considerable attention to domestic fowls.
Alfred has always taken a pardonable pride in his township and county; he has stood for all legitimate public improvements and used his influence to further enterprises having for their object the general welfare. He is highly esteemed by all who know him and has lived so as to merit the universal respect in which he is held by the people of Hancock county.
He has never been blessed with any children and since the year 1900 has been treading life's pathway alone, his wife having died that year. She was a devout Catholic, but he subcribes to the Methodist creed.
In politics he is a stanch Democrat, but has never taken an active part in political affairs further than to express his opinions freely and fearlessly and vote for the candidate of his party.
When a young man he was made an Odd Fellow, but since leaving Franklin county has not attended meetings of the order.
Mr. Potts carries the weight of his eighty four years with becoming dignity and still possesses unimpaired many of his physical powers; mentally he is active and alert, has read much and managed successfully his agricultural interests ans business affairs. While far beyond the alloted age of man, his friends unite in wishing that he may be spared many years in which to reach the end of his earthly journey."
"Alfred Potts grew to manhood in his native county (Franklin) and assisted his father with the work on the farm until his marriage. His early experience in clearing land, making rails, chopping wood and other hard labor inseparably connected with the pioneer period peculiarly fitted him for the duties of the very active life which he subsequently led.
May 11, 1843, in the prime of his manhood, he married Miss Mary Craney of Franklin county.
After Alfred married he began farming in Franklin county on a small place of forty two acres given him by his father, which he cultivated for about ten years, adding to it and making it a desirable farm. At the expiration of that time, in 1853, he sold his home for seven hundred dollars, and moving to Hancock county purchased for one thousand dollars eighty acres of partially improved land in the township of Brandywine. The country was then new and a more uninviting prospect than their little cabin home presented would be difficult to imagine.
Alfred Potts states that the first morning after his arrival he looked out of the cabin door and saw two immense male deer engaged in dealy combat within a few yards of the house. The woods abounded with wolves and of nights the farmers were obliged to pen their domestic animals in high and secure enclosures to save them from being killed by these ravenous beasts. Wild turkeys were so plentiful as to be no rarity as an article of diet, while smaller game such as pheasants, ducks, grouse, quails and squirrels were not considered to be worth the ammunition required to shoot them, but many wolves, turkey and deer fell under his unerring aim.
The life of Alfred Potts and the early growth and development of Brandywine township were very closelt interwoven; he bore his part as a sturdy pioneer and has lived to see a fine farm take the place of dense woods which greeted him when he came to take possession of his new home. He worked hard, economized carefully, endured with heroic fortitude the ills which beset his pathway during the early days and now in his declining years is enjoying the fruits of his many years of toil in a life of honorable retirement.
His home is a comfortable one and his farm has always been kept in first class condition. He has improved it greatly by several hundred rods of tile drainage and by paying attention to the proper rotation of crops has retained its productiveness. He depends largely upon live stock for a part of his income, raising every year quite a number of fine cattle and hogs, also devoting considerable attention to domestic fowls.
Alfred has always taken a pardonable pride in his township and county; he has stood for all legitimate public improvements and used his influence to further enterprises having for their object the general welfare. He is highly esteemed by all who know him and has lived so as to merit the universal respect in which he is held by the people of Hancock county.
He has never been blessed with any children and since the year 1900 has been treading life's pathway alone, his wife having died that year. She was a devout Catholic, but he subcribes to the Methodist creed.
In politics he is a stanch Democrat, but has never taken an active part in political affairs further than to express his opinions freely and fearlessly and vote for the candidate of his party.
When a young man he was made an Odd Fellow, but since leaving Franklin county has not attended meetings of the order.
Mr. Potts carries the weight of his eighty four years with becoming dignity and still possesses unimpaired many of his physical powers; mentally he is active and alert, has read much and managed successfully his agricultural interests ans business affairs. While far beyond the alloted age of man, his friends unite in wishing that he may be spared many years in which to reach the end of his earthly journey."
May 11, 1843, in the prime of his manhood, he married Miss Mary Craney of Franklin county.
After Alfred married he began farming in Franklin county on a small place of forty two acres given him by his father, which he cultivated for about ten years, adding to it and making it a desirable farm. At the expiration of that time, in 1853, he sold his home for seven hundred dollars, and moving to Hancock county purchased for one thousand dollars eighty acres of partially improved land in the township of Brandywine. The country was then new and a more uninviting prospect than their little cabin home presented would be difficult to imagine.
Alfred Potts states that the first morning after his arrival he looked out of the cabin door and saw two immense male deer engaged in dealy combat within a few yards of the house. The woods abounded with wolves and of nights the farmers were obliged to pen their domestic animals in high and secure enclosures to save them from being killed by these ravenous beasts. Wild turkeys were so plentiful as to be no rarity as an article of diet, while smaller game such as pheasants, ducks, grouse, quails and squirrels were not considered to be worth the ammunition required to shoot them, but many wolves, turkey and deer fell under his unerring aim.
The life of Alfred Potts and the early growth and development of Brandywine township were very closelt interwoven; he bore his part as a sturdy pioneer and has lived to see a fine farm take the place of dense woods which greeted him when he came to take possession of his new home. He worked hard, economized carefully, endured with heroic fortitude the ills which beset his pathway during the early days and now in his declining years is enjoying the fruits of his many years of toil in a life of honorable retirement.
His home is a comfortable one and his farm has always been kept in first class condition. He has improved it greatly by several hundred rods of tile drainage and by paying attention to the proper rotation of crops has retained its productiveness. He depends largely upon live stock for a part of his income, raising every year quite a number of fine cattle and hogs, also devoting considerable attention to domestic fowls.
Alfred has always taken a pardonable pride in his township and county; he has stood for all legitimate public improvements and used his influence to further enterprises having for their object the general welfare. He is highly esteemed by all who know him and has lived so as to merit the universal respect in which he is held by the people of Hancock county.
He has never been blessed with any children and since the year 1900 has been treading life's pathway alone, his wife having died that year. She was a devout Catholic, but he subcribes to the Methodist creed.
In politics he is a stanch Democrat, but has never taken an active part in political affairs further than to express his opinions freely and fearlessly and vote for the candidate of his party.
When a young man he was made an Odd Fellow, but since leaving Franklin county has not attended meetings of the order.
Mr. Potts carries the weight of his eighty four years with becoming dignity and still possesses unimpaired many of his physical powers; mentally he is active and alert, has read much and managed successfully his agricultural interests ans business affairs. While far beyond the alloted age of man, his friends unite in wishing that he may be spared many years in which to reach the end of his earthly journey."
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