My Genealogy Hound

AUSTIN W. POTTER, an old and influential farmer of Maury County, Tenn., was born September 29, 1811, in Williamson County, Tenn., and is one of six children born to Donaldson and Jane (Wright) Potter, natives, respectively, of Ireland and Virginia. The father, a man of strong mind and undoubted piety, settled in this county and was a minister of the Protestant Methodist Episcopal Church. He was for many years the only resident preacher in the neighborhood, and almost every Sunday he had an appointment to preach either at some private house or under the wide-spreading branches of the tall trees of the forest. In 1806 he removed to this State, and in 1865 his second wife, the mother of our subject, died. Donaldson Potter died in 1849. Our subject was a farmer boy and secured a good classical education in Jackson College, of this county. After attaining the years of manhood he began teaching school in this county. He afterward taught school in Williamson County for six months and then began the mercantile business at Spring Hill, beginning as clerk for his brother, but afterward entered the firm as a partner. In 1849 he was united in marriage to Amanda Ellen Haddox, a native of Kentucky, who died June 7, 1881. She was a noble woman, and her death is deeply regretted. She was the mother of four children: Ellen F., Andre J. (deceased), Mary A. and Austin W., Jr. In 1850 our subject began trading in mules, and this he continued until the breaking out of the war. After the war he began farming and stock raising on the farm where he is now residing, which consists of 790 acres. Mr. Potter is a Democrat in politics and was appointed postmaster at Spring Hill in 1845 by James K. Polk, and remained as such until he resigned in 1850. He and family are leading members of the Christian Church, and he has been a Mason for many years.