He was born the illegitimate son of Margaret Potter of Westport. His mother later married John Briggs of Kingston Rhode Island and had three children with him before she died.
In 2017, an old ledger book kept by a 19th century Dartmouth farmer Howard Potter, was found. The ledger detailed his business dealings between the years 1827 and 1866. Among other things, the industrious Potter was the gravedigger for the Apponegansett Meeting House burial ground for many years, and the daybook reported his charges for preparing the graves of hundreds of fellow Quakers buried there.
His early life indicated he may have been a apprenticed to a cobbler as his later business records contain multiple references to shoes made or repaired for local folks. It was a skill that few farmers possessed in those days.
Howard a Westport resident, married April 9, 1809 Eliza Hathaway of Dartmouth, in Dartmouth Massachusetts. After Eliza passed, he would marry Elizabeth Howland. Several of their children would also marry into the Howland family.
As a adult, Howard owned the 80 acre Head Farm on Russells Mills Road, near Destruction Brook, plus a number of smaller parcels of land around town. Coming from a strong family of Quakers dating back to his maternal grandfather Abner Potter, who had been a key member of the Westport Friends Meeting, Howard became a trustee of the Smith Neck Friends Meeting in his later life.
Howard was an enterprising fellow, who kept oxen, cows, horses, and various fowl at his Russells Mills farm. In his younger days, he worked year-round.
Howard and his employees worked to cultivate and harvest crops from his own farm plus land owned by others, and hauled lumber, stone, seaweed and other goods with his team of oxen and freight wagon. One of his best freight customers was village blacksmith Allen Sisson, who regularly had Potter haul iron form New Bedford for him.
Potter's record show that he butchered hogs and sheared sheep for other farmers; sold meat and vegetables from his own farm; but storage trunks and repaired shoes and boots; and occasionally worked for the town as a caretaker o the poor and homeless, and of course, he dug graves at the Apponegansett Meeting burial ground.
In his later years, he rented pastures for cows owned by others. Even when he was older, he wasn't idle, and he didn't let his land sit idle either.
As a result, at his death in 1866, Howard was a well-off Dartmouth farmer, able to leave considerable property and persona goods to his three children.
In the mid 1800's Howard generally charged a dollar to dig a grave for an adult, 75 cents for a child's grave. In the winter, when the ground was frozen and some pickax work was needed to start the hole, he would charge a little extra for the digging, the record show.
.....This ledger will be given to the New Bedford Whaling Museum archived so it can accessed by genealogists and local history researchers.
In 2017, an old ledger book kept by a 19th century Dartmouth farmer Howard Potter, was found. The ledger detailed his business dealings between the years 1827 and 1866. Among other things, the industrious Potter was the gravedigger for the Apponegansett Meeting House burial ground for many years, and the daybook reported his charges for preparing the graves of hundreds of fellow Quakers buried there.
His early life indicated he may have been a apprenticed to a cobbler as his later business records contain multiple references to shoes made or repaired for local folks. It was a skill that few farmers possessed in those days.
Howard a Westport resident, married April 9, 1809 Eliza Hathaway of Dartmouth, in Dartmouth Massachusetts. After Eliza passed, he would marry Elizabeth Howland. Several of their children would also marry into the Howland family.
As a adult, Howard owned the 80 acre Head Farm on Russells Mills Road, near Destruction Brook, plus a number of smaller parcels of land around town. Coming from a strong family of Quakers dating back to his maternal grandfather Abner Potter, who had been a key member of the Westport Friends Meeting, Howard became a trustee of the Smith Neck Friends Meeting in his later life.
Howard was an enterprising fellow, who kept oxen, cows, horses, and various fowl at his Russells Mills farm. In his younger days, he worked year-round.
Howard and his employees worked to cultivate and harvest crops from his own farm plus land owned by others, and hauled lumber, stone, seaweed and other goods with his team of oxen and freight wagon. One of his best freight customers was village blacksmith Allen Sisson, who regularly had Potter haul iron form New Bedford for him.
Potter's record show that he butchered hogs and sheared sheep for other farmers; sold meat and vegetables from his own farm; but storage trunks and repaired shoes and boots; and occasionally worked for the town as a caretaker o the poor and homeless, and of course, he dug graves at the Apponegansett Meeting burial ground.
In his later years, he rented pastures for cows owned by others. Even when he was older, he wasn't idle, and he didn't let his land sit idle either.
As a result, at his death in 1866, Howard was a well-off Dartmouth farmer, able to leave considerable property and persona goods to his three children.
In the mid 1800's Howard generally charged a dollar to dig a grave for an adult, 75 cents for a child's grave. In the winter, when the ground was frozen and some pickax work was needed to start the hole, he would charge a little extra for the digging, the record show.
.....This ledger will be given to the New Bedford Whaling Museum archived so it can accessed by genealogists and local history researchers.
He was born the illegitimate son of Margaret Potter of Westport. His mother later married John Briggs of Kingston Rhode Island and had three children with him before she died.
In 2017, an old ledger book kept by a 19th century Dartmouth farmer Howard Potter, was found. The ledger detailed his business dealings between the years 1827 and 1866. Among other things, the industrious Potter was the gravedigger for the Apponegansett Meeting House burial ground for many years, and the daybook reported his charges for preparing the graves of hundreds of fellow Quakers buried there.
His early life indicated he may have been a apprenticed to a cobbler as his later business records contain multiple references to shoes made or repaired for local folks. It was a skill that few farmers possessed in those days.
Howard a Westport resident, married April 9, 1809 Eliza Hathaway of Dartmouth, in Dartmouth Massachusetts. After Eliza passed, he would marry Elizabeth Howland. Several of their children would also marry into the Howland family.
As a adult, Howard owned the 80 acre Head Farm on Russells Mills Road, near Destruction Brook, plus a number of smaller parcels of land around town. Coming from a strong family of Quakers dating back to his maternal grandfather Abner Potter, who had been a key member of the Westport Friends Meeting, Howard became a trustee of the Smith Neck Friends Meeting in his later life.
Howard was an enterprising fellow, who kept oxen, cows, horses, and various fowl at his Russells Mills farm. In his younger days, he worked year-round.
Howard and his employees worked to cultivate and harvest crops from his own farm plus land owned by others, and hauled lumber, stone, seaweed and other goods with his team of oxen and freight wagon. One of his best freight customers was village blacksmith Allen Sisson, who regularly had Potter haul iron form New Bedford for him.
Potter's record show that he butchered hogs and sheared sheep for other farmers; sold meat and vegetables from his own farm; but storage trunks and repaired shoes and boots; and occasionally worked for the town as a caretaker o the poor and homeless, and of course, he dug graves at the Apponegansett Meeting burial ground.
In his later years, he rented pastures for cows owned by others. Even when he was older, he wasn't idle, and he didn't let his land sit idle either.
As a result, at his death in 1866, Howard was a well-off Dartmouth farmer, able to leave considerable property and persona goods to his three children.
In the mid 1800's Howard generally charged a dollar to dig a grave for an adult, 75 cents for a child's grave. In the winter, when the ground was frozen and some pickax work was needed to start the hole, he would charge a little extra for the digging, the record show.
.....This ledger will be given to the New Bedford Whaling Museum archived so it can accessed by genealogists and local history researchers.
In 2017, an old ledger book kept by a 19th century Dartmouth farmer Howard Potter, was found. The ledger detailed his business dealings between the years 1827 and 1866. Among other things, the industrious Potter was the gravedigger for the Apponegansett Meeting House burial ground for many years, and the daybook reported his charges for preparing the graves of hundreds of fellow Quakers buried there.
His early life indicated he may have been a apprenticed to a cobbler as his later business records contain multiple references to shoes made or repaired for local folks. It was a skill that few farmers possessed in those days.
Howard a Westport resident, married April 9, 1809 Eliza Hathaway of Dartmouth, in Dartmouth Massachusetts. After Eliza passed, he would marry Elizabeth Howland. Several of their children would also marry into the Howland family.
As a adult, Howard owned the 80 acre Head Farm on Russells Mills Road, near Destruction Brook, plus a number of smaller parcels of land around town. Coming from a strong family of Quakers dating back to his maternal grandfather Abner Potter, who had been a key member of the Westport Friends Meeting, Howard became a trustee of the Smith Neck Friends Meeting in his later life.
Howard was an enterprising fellow, who kept oxen, cows, horses, and various fowl at his Russells Mills farm. In his younger days, he worked year-round.
Howard and his employees worked to cultivate and harvest crops from his own farm plus land owned by others, and hauled lumber, stone, seaweed and other goods with his team of oxen and freight wagon. One of his best freight customers was village blacksmith Allen Sisson, who regularly had Potter haul iron form New Bedford for him.
Potter's record show that he butchered hogs and sheared sheep for other farmers; sold meat and vegetables from his own farm; but storage trunks and repaired shoes and boots; and occasionally worked for the town as a caretaker o the poor and homeless, and of course, he dug graves at the Apponegansett Meeting burial ground.
In his later years, he rented pastures for cows owned by others. Even when he was older, he wasn't idle, and he didn't let his land sit idle either.
As a result, at his death in 1866, Howard was a well-off Dartmouth farmer, able to leave considerable property and persona goods to his three children.
In the mid 1800's Howard generally charged a dollar to dig a grave for an adult, 75 cents for a child's grave. In the winter, when the ground was frozen and some pickax work was needed to start the hole, he would charge a little extra for the digging, the record show.
.....This ledger will be given to the New Bedford Whaling Museum archived so it can accessed by genealogists and local history researchers.
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