Potter Family Photo Albums, Order BBQ tickets before August 22
From Shallee Lauzze, IHS Member, Follow them on Facebook
Pictured is Edith “Dottie” Potter Childs was born in 1919 and died in 2006, her brother Joseph Orren Potter was born in 1922 and died in 1999. Dottie and Joseph are Joseph and Susan LaForge Potter’s great grandchildren.
We have a piece of advice for those looking through photographs from someone’s past.
Take the time to “really” look at the photographs and see what the person who stored them wanted you to discover and share.
Back in 2021, the Independence Historical Society was given four large boxes containing eighteen family photo albums. These albums once belonged to Edith “Dottie” Potter Childs. Dottie lived on Harrigan Road, in the Town of Independence in the house that had been the Potter family for several decades.
At first glance these photographs appeared to be mainly photos of the many family cats the family owned through the years along with photographs of beautiful flower gardens. Initially, we questioned the historical significance and set the albums aside for a rainy day. Well, this “rainy day” appeared to us in July of this year.
As we perused each album carefully, we decided these photos were important to the person who so meticulously assembled and some times labeled them. This is what drove us to discover the great treasure of the history of the Potter family and ultimately historical records for the Town of Independence Historical Society.
After finding two photographs labeled Joseph Coats Potter and Susan LaForge Potter, we began to trace the early history of the family, using FamilySearch.org and FindAGrave.com. Our research revealed that the original Potter family’s residence was located in the British Colony of Rhode Island in 1610. This is just one example of the many things we discovered through the photographs that were left behind.
We want to thank Jim Potter of Independence Road, Wellsville, New York for donating these photographs to the historical society. These albums have been selectively condensed down to one very important record of the Potter family and it tells the story that Dottie Potter wanted to preserve for future generations. If we could, we would also have thanked Dottie and her brother Joseph Orren Potter. They will forever be remembered by those of us trying to preserve and share the history of the Town of Independence.
We welcome visitors to come and take a look for themselves. We are open on August 6th, 8th, 13th and 15th from 10:00 AM until Noon or you can set up an appointment to visit us by calling (607)356-3566. Please visit our Facebook page, where you can find our address, lots of historical photographs along with postings of future events.
