Captain JD Potts (James David Potts)was born in Otsego, New York in 1817.
CALIFORNIA PIONEER
He came from Michigan to California with a wagon train on 13 Nov 1849. JD was the Captain of this wagon train as the first Captain got into the whiskey and drank it until nothing was left. So the group voted and Judge JD Potts was elected.
Margaret “Maggie” K. Neel - Maggie was born in 1835 in Pennsylvania and her father Henry was the Justice of the Peace. Maggie’s mother Rhoda Hiller brought three of her daughters out to California in 1859 after the death of her husband Henry. Rhoda already had two sons living in Northern California at this time so she and her daughters came to live in Red Bluff in 1859 with her sons Barnet & William Neel and their families. This is where Maggie met JD and they were married in Battle Creek, California near Red Bluff in 1863.
JD worked as a miner in 1850 and on his son Albert’s obituary it states that he helped his father run a toll road and hotel during this time.
On September 9, 1850, was held the first election for the purpose of choosing alcaldes. The election was held at Lassen's ranch on Deer Creek. Captain J. D. Potts was elected Chief Alcalde, and Colonel Wilson as his assistant. The brown star on the map above shows where Lassen’s ranch was located. Below is an etching of Lassen’s Ranchero by James Goldsborough Bruff.
Another etching by Bruff done in 1850 which is the same year JD Potts visited. Lassen is one of the men sleeping on the ground.
A map of Tehama County lying on its western side from 1860
Above is some of the mining stock that
JD purchased in the 1870’s
I have to say I wonder about the name of the company "Afterthought" and just who might want to invest in a mining company with that name?
1873 – Captain and
Maj. C. A. Comstock kept the Red Bluff Tremont Hotel which was located on the corner of
Oak and Main St. He remained there until 1876 when he sold out and retired. His daughter Rhoda would have been 11 years old at the time and JD was only 56.
This is a notarized document dated 18 Jan 1886 showing that JD Potts paid for five acres of land, a log cabin known as the Whit George House in the Bully Choop Mining District from a John J. Wheeler of Shasta County.
View of the Bully Choop Mine from about 1900
Captain JD Potts died within the same year as purchasing this land and cabin in 1886. He and his wife Maggie Neel Potts are both buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Red Bluff, California. After JD’s passing Maggie went to live her remaining years with Frank & Rhoda Boole, her daughter and son-in-law.
In the 1900 Census it lists Margaret Potts living in Fresno County Township 8. Which is near the South Fork of Big Creek near Huntington Lake up in the Sierra. And they have a male cook by the name of Suin Lee living with them. Since Frank Boole was the manager for several lumber companies, I am assuming that the cook was for the entire camp. The 1910 Census lists Margaret living in Placerville Township on a California State Road at a lumber camp, she is 75 years old. When Margaret is 80 she is living in the town of Visalia, Tulare, California. She dies when she is 81 and was buried alongside her husband JD Potts in July 1917.
Note: In 1980 when I originally wrote to the Red Bluff cemetery for information on their burial, they told me that these grave markers was relatively new because their remains were moved from their original location.
To see how JD and Maggie fit into Mr. B's family tree click HERE.
To read Captain JD Potts memorial by The Society of California Pioneers click HERE.
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