Individual Details

Birth

Jonas Potts, son of David and Elizabeth (Lane) Potts, was born about 1726, probably in Pennsylvania, and removed with his parents to Virginia. To distinguish him from his uncle Jonas Potts, who lived in the same neighborhood, he was sometimes called Jonas Potts, Junior, and at others, Jonas Potts, Farmer.

Event

On 10 mo, 31, 1748, he was received into the membership of Friends, by Fairfax Monthly Meeting.

Event

On 2 mo. 29, 1752, he applied to the Monthly Meeting for a certificate of clearness, in order that he might proceed in marriage with Maryh Stroud, a member of Hopewell Monthly Meeting, which was in due time granted and the marriage regularly consumated.

His father seems to have sttled him upon a farm of 150 acres, and givenhim a one half interest in the grist mill.

Event

In 1761 he purchased 122 acres on the north fork of Kittockton from his uncle Jonas Potts, and in 1763 he sold 50 acres, part of this tract, to Thomas Bryant.

Event

In 1764, he purchased from Thomas Wilson and Margaret, his wife, 260 acres on the south fork of Kittockton.

Death

Burial: Potts Graveyard, Loudon Co. Virginia

He died August 15, 1769, at the age of forty two years, and was buried in the Potts graveyard. His tombstone bears the earliest inscripton in the yard. The monument is a rough Blue Ridge stone, and the lettering is somewhat crudely and quaintly cut. A copy of the inscripton is given below. The first line is curved upward in the form of an arc of a circle. Immediately below this curved line, are cut three inverted hearts, in positions indicated by the three asterisks.

His will bears date of July 31, 1768, and was filed and proven September 12, following. He mentions, "my father David Potts, late deceased," and appoints "my two brothers-in-law, John Vestal and Samuel Person, (Pearson), both of Frederick County," as his executors. He mentions his wife and each of his children by name, and makes provision for them in the distribution of his estate. John Vestal took out letters of testamentary, with Isreal Thompson and Francis Hague as bondsmen in the sum of L 1000. The inventory of his personality covers four folio pages.