#4512 Abigail Stow Potter

Born: July 11, 1812, New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut

Died: December 6, 1891, Elizabeth, Union, New Jersey

father: Allen Potter

mother: Patty Stow

married: John Dewin Beers November 14, 1839, New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut

children:

#4516 John G Beers b: 1831, Connecticut

#4517 William Beers b: 1836, New York State

#4518 Caroline Louisa Beers b: December 20, 1838; d: June 1, 1839

#4519 Thomas E Beers b: 1841, New Haven, New Haven, Connecticut

#4520 Theodore Beers b: 1844, Kings Co., New York

#4521 Emma A Beers b: 1846, Kings Co., New York

#4522 George Washington Beers b: 1849, Kings Co., New York; d: August 12, 1892, Elizabeth, Union, New Jersey; m: Caroline E Stults March 7, 1872, Somerset, New Jersey; b: May 17, 1855, Kingston, South Brunswick, Middlesex, New Jersey; d: September 28, 1927, Richmond Co., New York; dau.  of  Henry C and Frances (Reed) Stults

#4523 Abby Maria Beers b: 1851, Kings Co., New York

#4524 Adolphus Beers b: 1855,Kings Co., New York

John Edwin Beers and his wife Abigail Stow Potter represent the link to our oldest American branches of the family tree. The ancestors of both of these people were among the earliest settlers in New England, dating back to the 1630’s. Both John Edwin and Abigail were descended from the founders of New Haven colony. In fact, they were fifth cousins to each other (with William Bradley and Alice Prichard as common ancestors); whether they knew this at the time, is unknown.

John Edwin Beers was born out-of-wedlock to Eunice Gilbert in about 1808. The identity of his father is not presently known, but the surname “Beers” may or may not be a clue. The Beers family was prominent in New Haven at that time.

Abigail Stow Potter was born 11 July 1812 to Allen and Patty (Stow) Potter of New Haven, Connecticut.

On November 14, 1830, John Edwin Beers and Abigail Stow Potter were married by James Young, minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church in New Haven. Many sources record the date as “1820”; indeed, it appears that way in the New Haven Vital Records. However, careful examination of the sequence of the records shows that it was recorded in the year 1830. Also, since both the bride and groom would have been impossibly young to be married in 1820, it is clearly a mis-recording, possibly a transcription mistake. A newspaper, the Sentinel and Witness of Middletown, Connecticut, recorded the event in its issue of 24 November 1830.

beers-potter

The Middletown Sentinel and Witness, 24 November 1830

Expert genealogist Donald Lines Jacobus also noticed the mistake in his work on the Potter family, though he missed it elsewhere.

The Columbian Register of New Haven, CT carried the following ad on 20 October 1832:

Beers Grates

In 1834, John E. witnessed the transactions of his mother, Eunice Gilbert, as she sold and purchased property in New Haven.

Notes:  John Dewin Beers b: 1808; d: March 7, 1883, Elizabeth,Union, New Jersey

John E. and Abigail’s first son John was born in Connecticut in 1831. By the time son William was born six years later, the family had moved to New York State. The family appears in Williamsburgh. NY in the 1850 and 1860 U.S. Census with John E. employed as a mason and as a “manufacturer of lime,” Four other children — Theodore, Emma, George, and Abby — were also born in New York. A child Caroline died very young in 1839.

Connecticut probate records indicate that in 1842 John Beers sought a guardian for his sons John G. and William H. Beers. More research needs to be done to determine the circumstances, but, since Eunice Gilbert died in 1840, we may guess that she bequeathed land in Connecticut to her grandchildren and they needed a guardian to represent them in the transactions. Years later, in 1864, minor children George W. and Abby M. also needed guardians to represent them in the sale of land in New Haven.

During the years 1852-1858, John Edwin Beers is listed in several directories of Williamsburgh and Brooklyn. He was working at the limeworks at “7th near 5th.” One chronicler described the neighborhood this way:

“North 7th Street was opened in 1834. Hunts boathouse was at the foot of this street, here also was a swimming hole. Quinn ran a bath house at North 7th Street and Kent Avenue. The old Democratic Wigwam was located on North 7th Street and Bedford Avenue occupying a frame house which stood back from the street. The Club house of the Seymour Club occupied this site for years; it had been erected through the aid of Ed Scott who in later years became Port Warden. Frank Nolan, who during that period was Ward leader had his undertaking establishment office on the ground floor and the club quarters were upstairs. The site for the North 7th Street School or P.S. 38 on North 7th Street near Bedford Avenue was purchased in November 1863 for the sum of $3200 from Sam J. Hunt. The Lime Kilns on North 7th Street were near Roebling Street.”

Lime was used in the manufacture of many things, especially building materials like glass, cement, and bricks. One can surmise that John Edwin, who sometimes listed his occupation as “mason”, was involved in the manufacture of bricks or other building materials from “shell lime”, presumably oyster shells.

Right after the Civil War ended, John Edwin purchased 71.5 acres of land near Kingston in South Brunswick Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey. By September of 1865, he and his family are living there on a farm.  He is listed there in the 1870 census with wife Abigail and son George W. It is during this time, that George must have encountered Carrie Stults, who was born in Kingston, but living in nearby Harlingen, at the time. By March 1872 the couple were married.

Apparently, the farming life didn’t work well for John Edwin, however; by December of 1872 he is living in Elizabeth, New Jersey. George and his new wife Carrie moved there, as well. From that year through the end of his life in 1883, John Edwin Beers lived in that city, returning to the shell lime business. For a brief time, he is listed as a partner in the business of “Winans and Beers.” Freeman T. Winans was in the oyster business and Beers ran the shell lime kiln. Later, John Edwin is listed as a mason. For a time, his son George also worked for Winans as an oysterman. [see George Washington BEERS]

John Edwin Beers died 7 March 1883 in Elizabeth, NJ. and was buried in the “Almshouse Cemetery,” which apparently became part of Evergreen Cemetery. After that, Abigail went to live with her daughter Abby Maria and her husband Charles Howard.  She lived until December 1891 and was buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Elizabeth.