Potts, Jonas

The Pottses were a large family that lived in Loudoun County, with many of its members belonging to the Society of Friends (Quakers). In his history of the Potts family, Thomas Maxwell Potts claimed that “Jonas Potts has been a common name in Loudoun County” since the 1750s. Therefore, while it is difficult to identify which Jonas Potts is listed in Stevens T. Mason’s account book, it appears that Mason was referring to a miller in the nearby town of Waterford, where a Jonas Potts had been operating a mill since as late as 1794. This may be the same Jonas Potts who purchased the Waterford Mill from the Janney family a few years later, a property located only four miles from the Masons' Raspberry Plain estate. However, since there was also a Jonas Potts who owned a grist mill and saw mill in Goose Creek —located in the southern part of Loudoun County—Mason’s account book may be referring to a different man with the same name. In short, the Jonas Potts referenced in the account book was likely a miller, given the sizeable amount of wheat that he purchased from Mason in 1799.

By David Armstrong