EARLY POTTER, NY YATES COUNTY 1790 – 1840   1790 – (Per Cleveland) The Bingham Tavern was a double-log cabin on Middle Road, just north of the old district schoolhouse and on the east side of the road. (Middle road) From 1790 – around 1820 the tavern was operated by one “Bingham.” It was likely gone by the time the District # 11 schoolhouse was built. (1845 ?) Bingham was succeeded by Alben Darby, who remained many years and died there.   This log tavern should have lasted more than 40 years. It appears to have stood until the death of Alben Darby around 1830, but there are no cemetery records for him. Alben Darby appears on the 1820, 1825, and 1830 census records. A Sylvester Darby appears on the 1835 Yates census, living in the town of Potter.   Frank Swan notes say that Sylvester Darby built the first dwelling in the hamlet in 1820 and it is where John Dinehart now resides. Other sources say that Peleg Thomas built the first dwelling.   The only Bingham mentioned in this time was a Col. Luther Bingham, (p. 622 Cleveland), “1806 town meeting was held at Luther Binghams.” “Voted to build a pound near where Col. Luther Bingham now lives (1807). In 1803 Luther Bingham was added to a list of qualified jurors for Augusta. There is no Bingham or Darby listed in the early Ontario County deeds at the Yates County clerks office. 1793 – Benjamin Brown Jr., Brenton W. Hazard and Charles W. Henry were partners in the erection of a sawmill and a gristmill at Arnold’s Hollow (Yatesville). These mills burned in 1840 while owned by Dr. Hazard A. Potter In 1794 Nathan Warner settled on land “adjoining George Green to the east.” In 1876 there were three Warners just east of Bell Road on the north side of the road. Per Cleveland, Nathan’s son, William E. Warner lived in Nathan’s Warner’s home after the father. This house was east of the gully, and Bell Road and on the north side of current Rt. 364. The 1865 Stone and Stewert map shows a J. H. Warner at that location. In 1804, George Green (1761 – 1851) settled on lot 4, range 3, where George G. Wyman resided. (1876 Potter map) In 1804 Enoch Bordwell (1775 – 1838) settled in Potter. His farm was on Flynt Creek and was in part on what is now Potter Center. In 1830 he sold it to Henry Husted. He later owned a farm west of the creek known as the Carr farm. In 1805 Luke Conley built a saw mill (Cleveland says it was a distillery) in Nettle Valley which was sold in 1810 to Arnold Potter and moved to Yatesville. In 1805, John Griffin (1774-1846) located in Augusta (Potter). In the company of John Riggs, he opened the first store in the town. He also erected an ashery and distillery on lot 4 of the 4th farm range. (Lot 4, 4th range is the area of Nettle Valley - 1876 atlas, north of the 364) Griffin bought out Riggs and operated it alone until 1812, when he sold the operations to Richard M. Williams. In 1809 Samual Wyman (1780 – 1848) settled in Nettle Valley where Enoc Bordwell and George Green built a sawmill and a log house. (south of Twitchell Rd.) 1812 - Richard M. Williams (1776 -1837), brother in law to John Griffin, “succeeded John Griffin in Middlesex, now Potter, carrying forth a large operations as a farmer, merchant and manufacturer of potash and whiskey. This was at a time when the hamlet of Potter was not yet settled. (1813 Middlesex assessment shows Williams, Richard R&Z - house, barn, store and distillery)    1813 – Dr. Archibald Burnett met up with George Green, soon after the death of Dr. Jereb Dyer. He settled near the store of Richard M. Williams. (Nettle Valley) He moved away by 1836. 1814 – Methodist Conference met near the schoolhouse, near the site of the (Marian) Burke Antique Shop (old schoolhouse and John Smith’s house) in a log meeting house. This log meeting house was their first church. The second church was built nearby in 1838. The second church was where the Wyman and Wells family monuments are. On December 12, 1829 a subscription list was made to build a log parsonage. Around 1817 Lindsey Warfield settles in the Warfield neighborhood on what was know as the Faurot farm. A Yates County Chronicle and a Penn Yan Express article from February of 1897 states that a tavern / hotel “a public resort” burned February 16, 1897. Before the town was divided, all the town meetings and elections for the territory were held in this building. It was then a hotel conducted by Mr. Warfield, veteran of the war of 1812. This building was located on the east side of Rt. 247 south of Ward Simmons Road. Near the location of the Rush residence there was a well that has since been covered over. 1820 – William L Hobart (1778 – 1865) purchased a two acre lot adjacent to Nettle Creek and Swamp off George Green. He built a tannery and a house. The barn used for the tannery still exist. Directly in front of the barn and now nearly all underneath the ditch is several vats used in the tanning process. This tannery operated as late as 1860. Chester L. Hobart bought the 2 acre tannery lot off his father in the early 1860’s and in 1872 sold it to Isaac Wells. 1820 - First dwelling (of the hamlet) was built by Sylvester Darby, where John Dinehart now resides (Swan notes). 1825 Milton Finch built a Public House where the hotel now stands. (Corner store lot) The blacksmith shop of Eben and Thomas Finch was where the Hobart and Johnson shop is now (1825) 1825 – Yatesville, Isreal Arnold owned a sawmill, ashery, carding and fulling works. Benjamin Brown owned the gristmill and distillery. 1825 - At Bordwells, in Nettle Valley, Bretton W. Williams operated a sawmill, as well as an ashery and distillery. Per Fran Dumas she believes that the ashery and distillery were started by John Griffin around 1805. (There was a J. R. Bordwell in Nettle Valley who owned several lots at and east of the creek. (in 1876 atlas). A distillery should have been located very close to the creek, and likely on the north side of the road on lot 4. Griffin and Riggs original store, ashery and distillery should be east of Nettle Creek. They do not appear on the early 1854 Burns and Miller map or the 1868 Stone and Stewert map. 1826 – Sanford Strobridge settles “about one mile north of Potter Center.” Likely the location of the old Olsen Farm. There he was a wheelwright and chair maker. Besides the Bingham tavern and Sylvester Darby’s house built in 1820, there were no other stores or buildings around the future hamlet of Potter Center. 1829 – A subscription list was made to build a log parsonage. This first parsonage was on the site of the church that would later be built. In 1850 they purchased a lot off George G. Wyman to build a parsonage. This second parsonage was on the south side of the road and across from the Hobart tannery. It shows an early 1854 Burns map. 1831 – William H. Simmons purchases the 168 acre, Martin R. Vosburg farm north of Potter Center. The original Vosburg house may have been what would later be an early schoolhouse at the base of the middle vineyard. 1836 – “Cyrus Daines, James Stout, (Wm.) Silvernail each purchased lots off Henry Husted and built the first houses and established each his business.” Daines a blacksmith shop, Stout a shoe shop, and Silvernail a tailor shop. The first store (in the hamlet) was kept by James Turner, succeeded by Cyrus Danes until his death in 1870. Richard H. Williams built a  house and a store. Peleg Thomas built a store on the west side of the road, afterwards occupied as a union store, and later by Dr. Charles S. Hoyt, the first settled physician. That same store was occupied by Dr. W. Hawley until around 1875 or later. This store was most likely the Foster store, which sat on the same foundation as the current block store until it burned 1/29/1917 In 1838 Sanford Strobridge resided in Potter Center and operated the grist mill, sometimes called the “gully mill.” This mill was at the intersection of Hagerty Rd. and Rt. 364. On an 1854 map it appears that it was just behind Tony Hiler’s house. (If it was labeled correctly) 1838 – Methodist church was built at the cemetery lot and used until around 1867, when it was sold and moved to Branchport. 1843 Freewill Baptist Church was built in Potter Center. (Current Baptist church) A short history of Potter From Stafford C Cleveland's "History of Yates County" The township of Potter was formed April 26, 1832 when a separation was made from the town of Middlesex, which was formerly called Augusta. The area was first called Potter's Town due to the fact that the 42,430 acres was first purchased by Arnold Potter on July 15, 1789. In December of 1856 one and a half-square miles was taken from the town of Middlesex. Potter now contains 34 and one half square miles or about 22,000 acres.   Arnold Potter, a son of Judge William Potter, built the first sawmill in 1793 at Potter’s Hollow. Benjamin Brown Jr., Charles W. Henry and Brenton W. Hazard later remodeled these two mills. The mills burned in 1840 while owned by Dr. Hazard A. Potter. Arnold Potter also built a gristmill in the same area. Around 1794 he also built a sawmill in Potter Center. Potter’s Hollow would later be called Arnold's Hollow after Col. Isreal Arnold settled there in 1811. Col. Arnold was highly active in the settlement and in 1832, when they were legally established, he gave a lot to the Yatesville Methodist Church. He died in 1839, however the Yatesville cemetery records do not show his burial. He may be buried in the Baldwin’s Corners Cemetery. There is a (Lot 17) that says Isreal Arnold.   Some of the early settlers of that time were Rouse Perry, Benjamin, Jesse and Joshua Brown, Elias Gilbert, Jabez French, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Lane, Francis Briggs and Peleg Briggs Jr., Edward Craft, David Southerland and John Griffin. Around 1805 John Griffin and John Riggs operated an ashery, store, and a distillery about on half mile from Nettle Valley on a farm that in 1929 was the Erwin Wells farm. John Riggs left and in 1812 John Griffin sold the operations to his brother-in-law, Richard M. Williams. John Riggs would later become a State Senator, in 1832, from Allegheny. Richard M. Williams became an Associate Judge of Yates County after refusing the position of First Judge. He largely concentrated on the manufacturing of potash and whisky. He died in Potter on June 4, 1837 and is buried in the Nettle Valley Cemetery. Richard H. Williams, his son, was elected to the State Senate in 1845 and served two years when his term was cut short by the adoption of the 1846 Constitution.   Luke Conley also built a distillery in Nettle Valley some time after his arrival in Potter in 1805. Around 1810 he sold this building to Arnold Potter and it was moved to Potter’s Hollow or Yatesville. He worked for five years for Judge Potter in payment for ninety acres on lot four of the second range. Mr. Conley was also associated with William B. Rochester and aided in laying the foundation for the first mill in Rochester, NY.   In Potter Center, around 1790, there was at first a double log tavern, operated by one Bingham which was located just north of the hamlet on what is now Middle Rd. The tavern sat on the knoll on the east side of the road and just north of the Potter Center Schoolhouse. Mr. Bingham operated the tavern even before wagon roads were open. He was succeeded by Alben Darby who remained many years and died there. Many older documents refer to Darby's Corners, which was the intersection of what we now call Simmons, Mothersil and Middle Rd. to the north of Potter Center.  In 1798 Lindsey Warfield established the “Warfield Neighborhood” which included in part, land that would later become the township of Middlesex. Mr. Warfield’s residence was on a farm previously owned by Benjamin Watkins. His house was at the southeast corner of Ward Simmons and Rt. 247. The foundation of a house still remains. His son, Lindsey D. Warfield is listed in the 1876 Yates County Atlas at that site. The house burned some time in the middle 1800’s. It was most likely to be the second house that burned.  Other early settlers in the Warfield Neighborhood were a Mr. Wesson, William Foster, and Abraham Florence. Others were James Southerland, Jacob Voorhees, Peter Lamoreaux and Henry VanWormer, who settled on the Darwin B. Holbrook farm, which is now owned by the Pendleton family.  Dr. Frederic Dutch was a native of Germany. He came to Potter around 1800 and settled on 150 acres that eventually became the hamlet of Voak or The Dutch Settlement Dr. Dutch was a German lutheran and helped to organize the German Lutheran Church at Voak. It is important to distinguish that it was not a “Dutch settlement.” It was a settlement of German Lutherans. At that location there is mention of the “German Meeting House” in 1816, where a Christopher Bergstresser settled near.  Other smaller settlements were Moontown and Hoardtown, which were basically the same location. These were not established villages. They were settlements highly populated by the Moon and Hoard family. It was basically the area of the intersections of Voorhees, West Swamp and Reynolds roads. There was a church on the north side of the intersection of Voorhees and West Swamp as early as 1810. The 1876 Yates County Atlas has it located on what now is the Artlip property. The school was originally located on the southeast corner. Later it was on the southwest corner.  In 1802 Dr. Jereb Dyer purchased 1,008 acres that extended from the Willis Dyer Corners, west of the road, north beyond what would later become Potter Center. At that time there were no houses nearer than Warfield’s Corners to the north and Aberham Lane to the south. Samual Wyman settled in Nettle Valley in 1809 where Enoc Bordwell and George Green built a sawmill and a log house.   Sanford Strobridge came to Potter in 1826 and at first settled one mile north of Potter Center. He was a wheelwright and a chair maker. In 1838 he resided in Potter Center and owned a gristmill known as the “Gully Mill” located at the southeast corner of Hagerty Rd. and Rt. 364. His son George would later operate the gristmill. The foundation of that mill can still be found. Arnold Potter, a son of Judge William Potter built the first sawmill in 1794 at Potter Center. Sanford had eleven children. Sanford D. Strobridge, Lyman H. Strobridge - who planted the first vineyard in Potter, Samual G. Strobridge - who lived where the old Olsen Farm is, George W. Strobridge – who was a wagon maker, and William M. Strobridge - who was a soldier killed in the Civil war. The carriage or wagon shop owned by George W. Strobridge was located at the point where West Swamp Rd. and Rt. 364 meet. The carriage shop was a three-story building that was later opened in 1928 as the Blodgett Bean House. Still later that same building was used as a feed mill outlet for a milling company based in Rushville. It was torn down in 1968. Directly behind his wagon shop was a blacksmith shop belonging to Eben and Thomas Finch in 1825 and later. It was also a three-story building with a planked incline on the north side.   The Strobridge gristmill site at Hagerty Rd and the sawmill were driven by water from Mill Brook, which at that time took a slightly different course. When the mills were in operation, they made use of a dike west of Hagerty Rd that must have also served as a bridge for that same road. The dike held the water back to the marsh in the gully towards Middlesex. With a gristmill and a sawmill in operation the water was probably split in to two separate paths to turn both wheels. The stepped contour of the site was provides this assumption.   Another early mill was the sawmill that was upstream from the current Tony Hiler residence. This mill was said to have wooden gears and no metal. Some of the beams and siding of the mill were used by Tony Hiler to repair his house, and make the lean-to additions. According to a conversation between Carl Simmons and Tony Hiler, the Simmons, Hiler and George Clark house were built from the wood cut at this mill. The Hiler house was built in 1850. The old or main part of the Simmons home was built in 1831. This is believed to be the sawmill referred to in a 1913 newspaper as being operated by Culver, Barber and Barrett. As early as 1868 the assessment records show the mill belonging to Barber and Burnett. By 1874 it was registered as belonging to Oscar Burnett. At some point it was also used as a feed mill.  In 1825, Milton Finch bought a lot from Henry Husted and established a public house, or tavern, and a blacksmith shop in Potter Center which he and his father, Ebenezer Finch ran. The tavern was located where the McDonald Hotel stood. It was first known as Finch's Tavern. Cleveland’s book states that he was succeeded by Mark Weare, and Weare by Peleg Thomas. On November 8, 1879 the tavern burned and was later replaced by the McDonald Hotel. On the same night the store of John W. Durham and the George Fitzwater building also burned.  About 1836 Cyrus Daines, James Stout and one Silvernail purchased land in Potter Center off Henry Husted and each established a business and a residence. These were the first buildings in Potter Center. Daines opened a blacksmith shop, Stout, a shoe shop and Silvernail, a tailor shop. The first store was kept by James Turner who was succeeded by Cyrus Daines who continued until his death in 1870. Richard H. Williams built a house and store, which was long occupied by Daines. The 1876 Atlas shows that Daines's store was on the east side of the road across from the hotel. The garage owned by Henry Eckert was in Cyrus Dains’s old store, which burned in 1931.   Peleg Thomas built a store on the west side of the road, which was later used as a Union Store. In 1836 in Potter Center there was a Methodist Church, a Baptist Church, two blacksmith shops, two wagon shops, one harness shop, other mechanics and one store. In 1928 James Blodgett opened a bean plant at the location of the old Aaron Gleason and Hobart carriage shop. The Aaron Gleason and Hobart carriage shop was the same building as the previous George Strobridge carriage shop.   A Post Office was established in Potter Center around 1835. It was located in several places, usually at the store of who ever was appointed Postmaster. Richard M. Williams was the first postmaster. It was his work that established a route from Canandaigua, through Rushville, Potter, Naples, Blood's Corners, Liberty and Prattsburg. He had stores at most of these locations.

EARLY POTTER, NY YATES COUNTY 1790 – 1840

1790 – (Per Cleveland) The Bingham Tavern was a double-log cabin on Middle Road, just north of the old district schoolhouse and on the east side of the road. (Middle road) From 1790 – around 1820 the tavern was operated by one “Bingham.” It was likely gone by the time the District # 11 schoolhouse was built. (1845 ?) Bingham was succeeded by Alben Darby, who remained many years and died there.
     This log tavern should have lasted more than 40 years. It appears to have stood until the death of Alben Darby around 1830, but there are no cemetery records for him.   Alben Darby appears on the 1820, 1825, and 1830 census records. A Sylvester Darby appears on the 1835 Yates census, living in the town of Potter.
     Frank Swan notes say that Sylvester Darby built the first dwelling in the hamlet in 1820 and it is where John Dinehart now resides. Other sources say that Peleg Thomas built the first dwelling.
     The only Bingham mentioned in this time was a Col. Luther Bingham, (p. 622 Cleveland), “1806 town meeting was held at Luther Binghams.” “Voted to build a pound near where Col. Luther Bingham now lives (1807). In 1803 Luther Bingham was added to a list of qualified jurors for Augusta. There is no Bingham or Darby listed in the early Ontario County deeds at the Yates County clerks office.

1793 – Benjamin Brown Jr., Brenton W. Hazard and Charles W. Henry were partners in the erection of a sawmill and a gristmill at Arnold’s Hollow (Yatesville). These mills burned in 1840 while owned by Dr. Hazard A. Potter

In 1794 Nathan Warner settled on land “adjoining George Green to the east.” In 1876 there were three Warners just east of Bell Road on the north side of the road. Per Cleveland, Nathan’s son, William E. Warner lived in Nathan’s Warner’s home after the father. This house was east of the gully, and Bell Road and on the north side of current Rt. 364. The 1865 Stone and Stewert map shows a J. H. Warner at that location.

In 1804, George Green (1761 – 1851) settled on lot 4, range 3, where George G. Wyman resided. (1876 Potter map)

In 1804 Enoch Bordwell (1775 – 1838) settled in Potter. His farm was on Flynt Creek and was in part on what is now Potter Center. In 1830 he sold it to Henry Husted. He later owned a farm west of the creek known as the Carr farm.

In 1805 Luke Conley built a saw mill (Cleveland says it was a distillery) in Nettle Valley which was sold in 1810 to Arnold Potter and moved to Yatesville.

In 1805, John Griffin (1774-1846) located in Augusta (Potter). In the company of John Riggs, he opened the first store in the town. He also erected an ashery and distillery on lot 4 of the 4th farm range. (Lot 4, 4th range is the area of Nettle Valley - 1876 atlas, north of the 364) Griffin bought out Riggs and operated it alone until 1812, when he sold the operations to Richard M. Williams.

In 1809 Samual Wyman (1780 – 1848) settled in Nettle Valley where Enoc Bordwell and George Green built a sawmill and a log house. (south of Twitchell Rd.)

1812 - Richard M. Williams (1776 -1837), brother in law to John Griffin, “succeeded John Griffin in Middlesex, now Potter, carrying forth a large operations as a farmer, merchant and manufacturer of potash and whiskey. This was at a time when the hamlet of Potter was not yet settled. (1813 Middlesex assessment shows Williams, Richard R&Z - house, barn, store and distillery)

1813 – Dr. Archibald Burnett met up with George Green, soon after the death of Dr. Jereb Dyer. He settled near the store of Richard M. Williams. (Nettle Valley) He moved away by 1836.

1814 – Methodist Conference met near the schoolhouse, near the site of the (Marian) Burke Antique Shop (old schoolhouse and John Smith’s house) in a log meeting house. This log meeting house was their first church. The second church was built nearby in 1838. The second church was where the Wyman and Wells family monuments are. On December 12, 1829 a subscription list was made to build a log parsonage.

Around 1817 Lindsey Warfield settles in the Warfield neighborhood on what was know as the Faurot farm. A Yates County Chronicle and a Penn Yan Express article from February of 1897 states that a tavern / hotel “a public resort” burned February 16, 1897. Before the town was divided, all the town meetings and elections for the territory were held in this building. It was then a hotel conducted by Mr. Warfield, veteran of the war of 1812. This building was located on the east side of Rt. 247 south of Ward Simmons Road. Near the location of the Rush residence there was a well that has since been covered over.

1820 – William L Hobart (1778 – 1865) purchased a two acre lot adjacent to Nettle Creek and Swamp off George Green. He built a tannery and a house. The barn used for the tannery still exist. Directly in front of the barn and now nearly all underneath the ditch is several vats used in the tanning process. This tannery operated as late as 1860. Chester L. Hobart bought the 2 acre tannery lot off his father in the early 1860’s and in 1872 sold it to Isaac Wells.

1820 - First dwelling (of the hamlet) was built by Sylvester Darby, where John Dinehart now resides (Swan notes).

1825 Milton Finch built a Public House where the hotel now stands. (Corner store lot) The blacksmith shop of Eben and Thomas Finch was where the Hobart and Johnson shop is now (1825)

1825 – Yatesville, Isreal Arnold owned a sawmill, ashery, carding and fulling works. Benjamin Brown owned the gristmill and distillery.

1825 - At Bordwells, in Nettle Valley, Bretton W. Williams operated a sawmill, as well as an ashery and distillery. Per Fran Dumas she believes that the ashery and distillery were started by John Griffin around 1805. (There was a J. R. Bordwell in Nettle Valley who owned several lots at and east of the creek. (in 1876 atlas). A distillery should have been located very close to the creek, and likely on the north side of the road on lot 4. Griffin and Riggs original store, ashery and distillery should be east of Nettle Creek. They do not appear on the early 1854 Burns and Miller map or the 1868 Stone and Stewert map.

1826 – Sanford Strobridge settles “about one mile north of Potter Center.” Likely the location of the old Olsen Farm. There he was a wheelwright and chair maker. Besides the Bingham tavern and Sylvester Darby’s house built in 1820, there were no other stores or buildings around the future hamlet of Potter Center.

1829 – A subscription list was made to build a log parsonage. This first parsonage was on the site of the church that would later be built. In 1850 they purchased a lot off George G. Wyman to build a parsonage. This second parsonage was on the south side of the road and across from the Hobart tannery. It shows an early 1854 Burns map.

1831 – William H. Simmons purchases the 168 acre, Martin R. Vosburg farm north of Potter Center. The original Vosburg house may have been what would later be an early schoolhouse at the base of the middle vineyard.

1836 – “Cyrus Daines, James Stout, (Wm.) Silvernail each purchased lots off Henry Husted and built the first houses and established each his business.” Daines a blacksmith shop, Stout a shoe shop, and Silvernail a tailor shop. The first store (in the hamlet) was kept by James Turner, succeeded by Cyrus Danes until his death in 1870. Richard H. Williams built a
house and a store. Peleg Thomas built a store on the west side of the road, afterwards occupied as a union store, and later by Dr. Charles S. Hoyt, the first settled physician. That same store was occupied by Dr. W. Hawley until around 1875 or later. This store was most likely the Foster store, which sat on the same foundation as the current block store until it burned 1/29/1917

In 1838 Sanford Strobridge resided in Potter Center and operated the grist mill, sometimes called the “gully mill.” This mill was at the intersection of Hagerty Rd. and Rt. 364. On an 1854 map it appears that it was just behind Tony Hiler’s house. (If it was labeled correctly)

1838 – Methodist church was built at the cemetery lot and used until around 1867, when it was sold and moved to Branchport.

1843 Freewill Baptist Church was built in Potter Center. (Current Baptist church)

A short history of Potter

From Stafford C Cleveland's "History of Yates County"

     The township of Potter was formed April 26, 1832 when a separation was made from the town of Middlesex, which was formerly called Augusta. The area was first called Potter's Town due to the fact that the 42,430 acres was first purchased by Arnold Potter on July 15, 1789. In December of 1856 one and a half-square miles was taken from the town of Middlesex. Potter now contains 34 and one half square miles or about 22,000 acres.
     Arnold Potter, a son of Judge William Potter, built the first sawmill in 1793 at Potter’s Hollow. Benjamin Brown Jr., Charles W. Henry and Brenton W. Hazard later remodeled these two mills. The mills burned in 1840 while owned by Dr. Hazard A. Potter. Arnold Potter also built a gristmill in the same area. Around 1794 he also built a sawmill in Potter Center. Potter’s Hollow would later be called Arnold's Hollow after Col. Isreal Arnold settled there in 1811. Col. Arnold was highly active in the settlement and in 1832, when they were legally established, he gave a lot to the Yatesville Methodist Church. He died in 1839, however the Yatesville cemetery records do not show his burial. He may be buried in the Baldwin’s Corners Cemetery. There is a (Lot 17) that says Isreal Arnold.
     Some of the early settlers of that time were Rouse Perry, Benjamin, Jesse and Joshua Brown, Elias Gilbert, Jabez French, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Lane, Francis Briggs and Peleg Briggs Jr., Edward Craft, David Southerland and John Griffin. Around 1805 John Griffin and John Riggs operated an ashery, store, and a distillery about on half mile from Nettle Valley on a farm that in 1929 was the Erwin Wells farm. John Riggs left and in 1812 John Griffin sold the operations to his brother-in-law, Richard M. Williams.   John Riggs would later become a State Senator, in 1832, from Allegheny. Richard M. Williams became an Associate Judge of Yates County after refusing the position of First Judge. He largely concentrated on the manufacturing of potash and whisky. He died in Potter on June 4, 1837 and is buried in the Nettle Valley Cemetery. Richard H. Williams, his son, was elected to the State Senate in 1845 and served two years when his term was cut short by the adoption of the 1846 Constitution.
     Luke Conley also built a distillery in Nettle Valley some time after his arrival in Potter in 1805. Around 1810 he sold this building to Arnold Potter and it was moved to Potter’s Hollow or Yatesville. He worked for five years for Judge Potter in payment for ninety acres on lot four of the second range. Mr. Conley was also associated with William B. Rochester and aided in laying the foundation for the first mill in Rochester, NY.
     In Potter Center, around 1790, there was at first a double log tavern, operated by one Bingham which was located just north of the hamlet on what is now Middle Rd. The tavern sat on the knoll on the east side of the road and just north of the Potter Center Schoolhouse. Mr. Bingham operated the tavern even before wagon roads were open. He was succeeded by Alben Darby who remained many years and died there. Many older documents refer to Darby's Corners, which was the intersection of what we now call Simmons, Mothersil and Middle Rd. to the north of Potter Center.
     In 1798 Lindsey Warfield established the “Warfield Neighborhood” which included in part, land that would later become the township of Middlesex. Mr. Warfield’s residence was on a farm previously owned by Benjamin Watkins. His house was at the southeast corner of Ward Simmons and Rt. 247. The foundation of a house still remains. His son, Lindsey D. Warfield is listed in the 1876 Yates County Atlas at that site. The house burned some time in the middle 1800’s.   It was most likely to be the second house that burned.
     Other early settlers in the Warfield Neighborhood were a Mr. Wesson, William Foster, and Abraham Florence. Others were James Southerland, Jacob Voorhees, Peter Lamoreaux and Henry VanWormer, who settled on the Darwin B. Holbrook farm, which is now owned by the Pendleton family.
     Dr. Frederic Dutch was a native of Germany. He came to Potter around 1800 and settled on 150 acres that eventually became the hamlet of Voak or The Dutch Settlement Dr. Dutch was a German lutheran and helped to organize the German Lutheran Church at Voak. It is important to distinguish that it was not a “Dutch settlement.” It was a settlement of German Lutherans. At that location there is mention of the “German Meeting House” in 1816, where a Christopher Bergstresser settled near.
     Other smaller settlements were Moontown and Hoardtown, which were basically the same location. These were not established villages. They were settlements highly populated by the Moon and Hoard family. It was basically the area of the intersections of Voorhees, West Swamp and Reynolds roads. There was a church on the north side of the intersection of Voorhees and West Swamp as early as 1810. The 1876 Yates County Atlas has it located on what now is the Artlip property. The school was originally located on the southeast corner. Later it was on the southwest corner.
     In 1802 Dr. Jereb Dyer purchased 1,008 acres that extended from the Willis Dyer Corners, west of the road, north beyond what would later become Potter Center. At that time there were no houses nearer than Warfield’s Corners to the north and Aberham Lane to the south. Samual Wyman settled in Nettle Valley in 1809 where Enoc Bordwell and George Green built a sawmill and a log house.
     Sanford Strobridge came to Potter in 1826 and at first settled one mile north of Potter Center. He was a wheelwright and a chair maker. In 1838 he resided in Potter Center and owned a gristmill known as the “Gully Mill” located at the southeast corner of Hagerty Rd. and Rt. 364. His son George would later operate the gristmill. The foundation of that mill can still be found. Arnold Potter, a son of Judge William Potter built the first sawmill in 1794 at Potter Center. Sanford had eleven children. Sanford D. Strobridge, Lyman H. Strobridge - who planted the first vineyard in Potter, Samual G. Strobridge - who lived where the old Olsen Farm is, George W. Strobridge – who was a wagon maker, and William M. Strobridge - who was a soldier killed in the Civil war. The carriage or wagon shop owned by George W. Strobridge was located at the point where West Swamp Rd. and Rt. 364 meet. The carriage shop was a three-story building that was later opened in 1928 as the Blodgett Bean House. Still later that same building was used as a feed mill outlet for a milling company based in Rushville. It was torn down in 1968. Directly behind his wagon shop was a blacksmith shop belonging to Eben and Thomas Finch in 1825 and later. It was also a three-story building with a planked incline on the north side.
     The Strobridge gristmill site at Hagerty Rd and the sawmill were driven by water from Mill Brook, which at that time took a slightly different course. When the mills were in operation, they made use of a dike west of Hagerty Rd that must have also served as a bridge for that same road. The dike held the water back to the marsh in the gully towards Middlesex.   With a gristmill and a sawmill in operation the water was probably split in to two separate paths to turn both wheels. The stepped contour of the site was provides this assumption.
     Another early mill was the sawmill that was upstream from the current Tony Hiler residence. This mill was said to have wooden gears and no metal. Some of the beams and siding of the mill were used by Tony Hiler to repair his house, and make the lean-to additions. According to a conversation between Carl Simmons and Tony Hiler, the Simmons, Hiler and George Clark house were built from the wood cut at this mill. The Hiler house was built in 1850. The old or main part of the Simmons home was built in 1831. This is believed to be the sawmill referred to in a 1913 newspaper as being operated by Culver, Barber and Barrett. As early as 1868 the assessment records show the mill belonging to Barber and Burnett. By 1874 it was registered as belonging to Oscar Burnett. At some point it was also used as a feed mill.
     In 1825, Milton Finch bought a lot from Henry Husted and established a public house, or tavern, and a blacksmith shop in Potter Center which he and his father, Ebenezer Finch ran. The tavern was located where the McDonald Hotel stood. It was first known as Finch's Tavern. Cleveland’s book states that he was succeeded by Mark Weare, and Weare by Peleg Thomas. On November 8, 1879 the tavern burned and was later replaced by the McDonald Hotel. On the same night the store of John W. Durham and the George Fitzwater building also burned.
     About 1836 Cyrus Daines, James Stout and one Silvernail purchased land in Potter Center off Henry Husted and each established a business and a residence. These were the first buildings in Potter Center. Daines opened a blacksmith shop, Stout, a shoe shop and Silvernail, a tailor shop.   The first store was kept by James Turner who was succeeded by Cyrus Daines who continued until his death in 1870. Richard H. Williams built a house and store, which was long occupied by Daines. The 1876 Atlas shows that Daines's store was on the east side of the road across from the hotel. The garage owned by Henry Eckert was in Cyrus Dains’s old store, which burned in 1931.
     Peleg Thomas built a store on the west side of the road, which was later used as a Union Store. In 1836 in Potter Center there was a Methodist Church, a Baptist Church, two blacksmith shops, two wagon shops, one harness shop, other mechanics and one store. In 1928 James Blodgett opened a bean plant at the location of the old Aaron Gleason and Hobart carriage shop. The Aaron Gleason and Hobart carriage shop was the same building as the previous George Strobridge carriage shop.
     A Post Office was established in Potter Center around 1835. It was located in several places, usually at the store of who ever was appointed Postmaster. Richard M. Williams was the first postmaster. It was his work that established a route from Canandaigua, through Rushville, Potter, Naples, Blood's Corners, Liberty and Prattsburg. He had stores at most of these locations.