Maybe he’s our own “almost a Gold Rusher” because as you will see, he arrived quite late to the party. Wheeler Potts…that’s my favorite name of all our ancestors. It just has this curious flavor to it; it’s a name that you just want to know the story behind. Wheeler Potts was my great-great-great-grandfather, well if Sarah Potts Asbell was his natural child. If she was a Cherokee orphan taken in by the family, then Wheeler isn’t blood. It is likely, though, that he was the natural father of Sarah.
The only Potts that appears in the 1830 census for southern Illinois, is the infamous Isaiah “Billy” Potts of Potts’ Inn in Gallatin County. Check out his story here. There is no indication that we are descended from this crew.
There’s a marriage record in White County for Wheeler Potts and Elizabeth Tombs on August 3, 1833.
Wheeler Potts then appears in the 1840 U.S. census in White County. That’s the county north of Saline County, with Carmi as the county seat. There is no indication of the township, range location. “White County” is the only description of location. In 1840, there are six persons in the household.
Males
2 under five (Hosea? and ?)
1 five and under nine (William Potts)
1 20 and under 29 (Wheeler Potts)
Females
1 under five (Sarah Potts Asbell)
1 20 and under 29 (Elizabeth Tombs Potts)
Although there is no indication of location in the 1840 record, the 1850 and 1860 censuses show that members of the related Potts family were in the area of Emma, Illinois. (Note that Emma is 65 miles north-northeast of Golconda. In terms of 1830s travel, it would be quite a distance from the Trail of Tears route.)
Then in 1850, there’s a census record in Hardin County, Illinois (“Township So.”), enumerated on September 11 1850.
Wheeler Potts 35 born in Tennessee
Elizabeth Potts 33 born in Illinois
William Potts 15 born in Illinois, attended school in the last year
Sarah Potts 13 born in Illinois
Hosa (Hosea) Potts 10 born in Illinois
James Potts 9 born in Illinois
Julia Potts 2 born in Illinois
Wheeler Potts 2 born in Illinois
Christopher Potts 11/12 born in Illinois
We might note here that the ages and spacing of the children would support Sarah Potts as being the natural child of Wheeler and Elizabeth.
In the 1850 U.S. Census Agriculture Schedule (as of year ending June 1, 1850), there is a record for “Wheeler Potts.”
Wheeler Potts Improved Acres: 50, Unimproved Acres: 20, Cash Value of Farm: 600, Horses: 5, Asses and Mules: 3, Working Oxen: 3, Other Cattle: – , Sheep: 4, Swine: 26, Value of Live Stock: 140?, Wheat, bushels of: -, Rye, bushels of: – Indian Corn, bushels of: 800 Corn, bushels of: – (no other crops) – – second page: Value of Home-made Manufacture: 30.
Then in an 1855 Illinois State Census, Hardin County, Township 12 S, Range 7 E
Potts, Wheeler
Free White Male Persons
1 under 10 (Wheeler Potts, Jr., and assuming Christopher has died)
2 10 to 20 (James and Hosea, assuming William is out of household)
0 20 to 30
0 30 to 40
1 40 to 50 (Wheeler Potts, Sr.)
0 50 to 60
0 60 to 70
0 70 to 80
0 80 to 90
0 90 and over
Free White Female Persons
1 under 10 (Julia)
2 10 to 20 (Sarah would be one, the other unknown)
0 20 to 30
1 30 to 40 (Elizabeth Tombs Potts)
0 40 to 50
0 50 to 60
0 60 to 70
0 70 to 80
0 80 to 90
0 90 and over
What is most significant about this census is the appearance two lines above of the William Asbell family. We’ll return to that in another posting.
Now we come to the 1860 U.S. census. Wheeler Potts is nowhere to be found in Illinois. We keep searching until we find a record for “Wheeler Pats,” household no. 1713, Placerville Township, County of El Dorado, State of California. He is age 45, born in Tennessee. He is listed first in the household which was usually a indication of “head of household.” The records for “Real Estate” and “Personal Estate” are blank. His occupation is noted as “Miner” as most of the men are noted on the page. In the household are two other men: Elias Packer, 30, real estate of $3500 and personal estate of $300, born in Massachusetts and David Driver or Daiver, 35, Black, no real estate or personal estate.
I have yet to find Elizabeth Tombs Potts and the minor children in the 1860 census.
So between 1855 and 1860, Wheeler Potts had taken off to the California Gold Rush leaving his family behind. The California Gold Rush (1848-1855) had started at Sutter’s Mill near present-day Coloma, CA on January 24, 1848. Placerville, originally called Dry Diggins, was incorporated in 1854 and at that time was the third largest city in California because of the huge influx of gold-seekers. It was a central hub for the area’s mining operations.
It is estimated that 90,000 people had arrived in California in 1849 because of the news of the Gold Rush. By 1855, it’s estimated that 300,000 had arrived. However, most of the easily extracted gold had been played out by 1850 and after that, it took much more difficult work and much more complicated operations to extract what gold remained. The competition, the density of the population, the frustration…as the years went on in Gold Rush country it created a landscape of violence and despair.
Yet in the 1870 U.S. census, we again find Wheeler Potts in Placervillle, El Dorado County, California. He is alone, in his own household, 56 years old, a laborer, personal estate of $100. His birthplace is Tennessee. He is surrounded by immigrants as he is only one of two people on the census page who are not noted as having “father of foreign birth” and “mother of foreign birth.” He is one of only six U.S. citizens on the entire page.
By 1870, the children of Wheeler and Elizabeth Potts are all 21 years old and older. Several have married and are found in their own households. (Sarah Potts married Mariel Asbell in 1857.)
Wheeler Potts cannot be located in the 1880 U.S. Census.
Then we find a land patent in the records of the U.S. General Land Office issued on November 30, 1885 to a “Wheelor Potts.” It covers the north half of the SE quarter of Mount Diablo Meridian, Township 10N, Range 11E, Section 13. This would have equaled about 80 acres as that section is 633 acres total. The coordinates are “38.7195016, -120.7135880”. Enter that into Google Maps and you will see that it is located east-southeast of Placerville, about 3 miles from the community of Smithflat on Placerville’s eastern edge.
The records of the 1890 U.S. census were largely destroyed by fire and no records remain for California or Illinois.
Finally, in the U.S. Register of Civil, Naval and Military Service, 1891, volume 2 on page 488, we find a list of post offices and postmasters in California as of July 1, 1891. There is a record for the Post Office of Smith Flat, county of El Dorado. The postmaster is listed as “W. P. Potts” and compensation as $66.55. Is this our Wheeler Potts? It might be; it might not be. There were other unrelated Potts in the Placerville area during the time and Wheeler would have been about 77 years old at this date.
I can find no record of his death or burial.
Leave a comment