The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: CT
Qualifying Service: Staff Officer / Surgeon
Photos by permission: Karl Richard Von Hindenfalken, Texas Society SAR
Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:
Photo: 1 of 2
Photo: 2 of 2
Author: Karl Richard Von Hindenfalken
Dr. Jared Potter, (09.25.1742-07.30.1810), was surgeon in the Canadian Expedition under Maj General David Wooster. One references states he was with the Continental Army at the battles of Long Island and White Plains as a staff officer with the title of surgeon. It may have been there that he met his future son-in-law, Turhand Kirtland, who was a boatman in the evacuation of Brooklyn Heights during the battle of Long Island. Turhand became ill with “camp fever” and was honorably discharged on that basis. In 1775 Dr. Potter was present at the capture of St. Johns’, and was in charge of a hospital at Montreal. In the hasty retreat from Montreal, his medical equipment and supplies were lost, hampering his ability to treat the sick and wounded soldiers. When he returned to Connecticut he was honorably discharged as his term of enlistment had expired. In 1776 Dr. Potter reenlisted and served under Col William Douglas in the Connecticut Regiment from which he concluded his service in the Continental Army.
Dr. Potter was born to Gideon Potter and Mary Moulthrop in East Haven, Connecticut in. He was a descendant of John Potter, who signed the plantation covenant of New Haven in 1639. In 1764 he married Sarah Potter. They met when she came to him as a patient, suffering fever and ague for which he successfully treated her. They married and established their home on Gregson Street. They had two daughters. His daughter Mary “Polly” Potter (02.10.1772-02.21.1850) married another revolutionary war veteran, Turhand Kirtland (SAR P-261111/DAR A065705). At the time of Jared’s birth, there was an epidemic of dysentery, so his parents decided that he should be educated as a physician. He enrolled at Yale in 1756 as a medical student. After graduation in 1760 he studied under Dr. Jared Elliot at Killingworth, Connecticut and set up his own practice in the village of East Haven, Connecticut in 1763. He became a distinguished physician, teacher of medicine and was one of the founders of the Connecticut Medical Society. Dr. Potter was known for his own favorite remedy, Potter's powder. It contained charcoal, camphor, ammonia and chalk and was popular with Connecticut doctors in former days.
After the American Revolution, he bought a farm of about fifty acres outside of East Haven and enjoyed cultivating the soil. While developing his farm, he corresponded about agriculture with Benjamin Franklin seeking advice and comparing results. He was an active member of the New Haven Colony Medical Society and in 1798 received the degree of M.D. from that association. Shortly after this he turned over his practice to his son-in-law, though he continued to be active in a consulting role. In 1810 he died when he choked on a beard of wheat he had picked while passing through a wheat field. He is buried in the Center Street Cemetery, Wallingford, Connecticut. Find A Grave Memorial# 19714446
SAR # P-272476 / DAR # A091615
DAR Descendants:
Mary Edwina Bell Cogswell (#380272) Elizabeth Harsch Fork (#363763) Mary L. Mansfield (#31047) Mary K. Moody (#31045) Lucy Kirtland Mays (#19463) Emma Kirtland Hine (#19462) Ruth Harsch Rhodes (#351262) Ruthanna A. Clark (#295437) Katherine Mays Harsch (#264587)
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Additional Information:
Find-a-Grave lists the patriot as "Dr Jared Potter" and has two photos of the grave marker, one showing the oblisk shaped stone marker
There are some short notes and links to Find-a-Grave memorials for the patriot's father, three siblings, his wife, daughter
