Alexander Potter, born 23 Sep 1882 at Darlington Township, Ontario
Research Note by Wesley Johnston
last updated 23 Dec 2012
Overview
I am researching Alexander Potter, who was born to William Potter and Susannah (Butson) Potter at Darlington Township, Durham County, Ontario. His own trail of records is challenging, and there were other Alexander Potters with whom he could be (and sometimes has been) confused -- in particular, three Alexander Potters who lived in Eastern Ontario. So this research note is intended to document what is known about William and Susannah's son, as well as to identify and separate other Alexander Potters from confusion with him.
There are two aspects of his known life that make this particularly challenging. First, he was quite mobile, showing up in records in New York and Michigan as well as Ontario. Second, the records of his life make only passing mention of others, so that it is difficult to document his life fully. There is also a third aspect: there are inconsistencies in the records. All of these will be considered in the following paragraphs.
The records will be considered chronologically, after which the Eastern Ontario Alexander Potters will be documented and clearly identifed as separate from the Alexander Potter born at Darlington Township.
Birth 23 Sep 1882 (delayed record 24 Sep 1918) - Darlington Township
Even his birth is a documentary problem, since it was not recorded at the time but was filed 36 years later as a 1918 delayed birth record, with the written testimony of his mother (then living in Toronto) as evidence. Ancestry has the record image at:
search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=8838&path=Ontario.1882.255
1891 Census - The First Murky Period
His parents and older brother appear in the 1881 Census at Darlington Township (search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1577&path=Ontario.Durham+West.Darlington.79), and the family appears in Toronto in the 1901 Census. But I have not yet found them in the 1891 Census, which was the first Census conducted after Alexander's birth. It cannot be ruled out that they may have come to the United States in this period. Land and/or tax assessment records may help to figure out where they were in 1891.
1901 Census - Toronto
The first record I have found for Alexander after his birth was the 1901 census record of him with his parents and siblings, living in Ward 1 of Toronto (addresses not recorded):
search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=8826&path=Ontario.Toronto+%28East%2fest%29+%28City%2fCit%C3%A9%29.Toronto+%28East%2fest%29+%28City%2fCit%C3%A9%29+Ward%2fQuartier+No+1.226
This is the first indication of his occupation. He is a printer, working in a factory, employed for all of the prior 12 months, earning $200 in wages. His older brother, John, was a tinsmith, also employed in a factory and also making $200.
1902-1915 - The Second Murky Period, Partly Clarified - Buffalo, NY
I am going to present this section in the order that I discovered it, since the credibility of each element rests on those that came before.
From the 1901 Census until his 14 Feb 1916 World War I Attestation (both records in Toronto), there was at first only one record that I found that is definitely him. This is the 11 Feb 1912 arrival record of his relatives William Tolley and Louis Fitze, coming to join him at 183 Shaw in Buffalo, NY. The left side of the page for this record is on Ancestry at this location:
search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1075&path=New+York.Buffalo.Manifests.1912.02.11
When I first found this record in 2009, Ancestry showed both the right and left sides of the page, and the right side gave physical descriptions of the two men, as well as the specifics that they were coming to visit their relative Alex Potter at 183 Shaw Street. At some point in the past three years, Ancestry eliminated the images of the right sides of all the pages in this collection, so that the information is no longer viewable on Ancestry. But here are the notes that I copied down before Ancestry deleted these images:
+ William Tolley: clothes presser -- with Louis Fitze (husband of Sarah Butson's daughter Elvida Ellis) to visit William's in-law Alex Potter (his wife Violet's brother) at 183 Swan St in Buffalo, NY -- Debarred from entry
+ Louis Fitze: Entry rejected - 5'8 1/2, fair complexion, auburn hair, gray eyes, distinguishing marks "Loss, front up Teeth"
+ Alex Potter: 183 Swan St -- see right side of page lines 14 (William Tolley - husband of Alex' sister Violet Potter) & 15 (Louis Fitze, husband of Violet's cousin Elvida Ellis - daughter of Violet's mother's sister)
William Tolley was the husband of Alexander's sister Violet Potter. Their mother was Susannah Butson. Louis Fitze was the husband of Elvida Ellis, daughter of Sarah Butson, sister of Susannah. In fact, in the 1911 census of Toronto (http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=8947&path=Ontario.Toronto+East.9+-+Ward+2.21) William and Violet (Potter) Tolley are living with her parents William and Susannah (Butson) Potter. This is the first census in which Alexander Potter was not living with his parents, when he would have been 29. So the details of him living in Buffalo in 1912, due to the immigation record of William Tolley and Louis Fitze, provide very important information about a significant move by Alexander, to live in Buffalo, NY.
Once I knew that he had come to the US, I searched for and found his 8 Feb 1909 arrival at Niagara Falls, NY:
search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1075&path=New+York.Niagara+Falls.Cards.P.ALL.7789
This was a particularly useful record, since it showed that (1) he was born at "Iniskilin" and (2) that he was single and (3) that he had been in the US once before from June-September 1906 and (4) that he was visiting his Aunt Celia Borgomaster in Buffalo and (5) that he was a sheet metal worker.
And there is something else that is implicitly important and should be noted here: I have found no record of him with any other given names than Alexander. He may have been baptized with an additional name, but none of the civil records that I have found show any other other given name.
-- "Iniskilin" is really "Enniskilen" which is a small hamlet in Darlington Township, at the south end pf Lots 18 and 19 of Concession VIII. And in fact, the H. Belden & Co. 1878 "Illustrated Historical Atlas of the Counties of Northumberland and Durham, Ontario" shows a Philip Potter just east of town at the north half of Lot 17 of Concession VII (digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/images/maps/townshipmaps/nor-m-darlington.jpg).
-- It is important to note that he was shown as single in 1909 -- more on this below.
-- I have not found any records for his 1906 border crossing. So his first arrival in the US is only known through this later record.
-- Celia Borgomaster was a new name to me. So she is probably on his father's side. In fact, although I have not yet found her exact relationship, she was Cecelia (Griffin) Burgmaster, and her mother was ?Marner? Potter (see her marriage record at search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=7921&path=Welland.1911.275). Her 1921 re-entry to the US (search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=7921&path=Welland.1911.275) shows that she had resided as Enniskilen, Ontario, adding to the evidence that this was a center of this branch of the Potter family.
-- First a printer, then a sheet metal worker, later a laborer and a painter ... Alexander earned his living in many ways.
The arrival card is only one of three related records created at Niagara Falls that day of 8 Feb 1909. The manifest of all arrivals shows that he arrived with Bertha Butson:
search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1075&path=New+York.Niagara+Falls.Manifests.1909.02.17
And she also has an individual arrival card. Her father was Robert Butson, whose brother Henry Butson was the father of Alexander's mother Susannah Butson. So Alexander and Bertha were first cousins, one generation removed. Both are shown as single on the manifest and on the individual cards.
However, the following year, they are shown in the 1910 Buffalo Census as married and having been married for 4 years. This is apparently a mistake, since I can find no marriage record for them, either in Ontario or in New York, and the 1909 record showed them as single, and his 1916 and 1918 World War I records show him as single. [I will be writing a separate research note on Bertha Lucinda Butson, since she presents this and other research problems that require clarification.]
So to recap what I have found about the second murky period ...
- 1906 - Alexander comes to Buffalo, NY, for 3 months and then returns to Canada - his cousin Bertha Butson may have been with him in Buffalo for one of those months
- 1909 - Alexander again comes to Buffalo, this time with Bertha Butson - both single
- 1910 - Alexander and Bertha are living together in Buffalo, shown as married for 4 years
- 1912 - Alexander's relatives William Tolley and Louis Fitze are debarred from entering the US to visit him at Buffalo
- 1916 - Alexander is back in Toronto for his World War I Attestation
1916 and 1918 World War I Records - Toronto
Both military records created for Alexander in World War I place him in his parents' home in Toronto.
The 2-page 1916 Attestation paper shows him residing with his mother at 506 Parliament Street (just 500 meters from where she and her husband would eventually be buried at St. James Cemetery):
search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1086&path=Potter.410
search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1086&path=Potter.411
The 1918 Recruit paper shows him residing with his father at 146 Shumach Street in Toronto:
search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1086&path=Potter.412
1925 Debarred from Entry into United States - Port Huron, MI
The final record that I have for him is the 8 Sep 1925 rejection of his attempt to cross back into the United States at Port Huron, Michigan (across from Sarnia, Ontario, which was the most-used crossing point for Butson family members). He was debarred from entry, with a source given that appears to read "paid inf" which could be "paid information" or "paid informant", which in either case appears to mean that Alexander had somewhat of a reputation.
His destination was to visit an unnamed person at 2201 5th Street in Detroit. I have not yet identified who lived at that address in 1925. I find no 5th Street in Detroit. But 2201 5th Avenue appears to have been a restaurant. In 1920, chef Joseph Peterson is listed there. In 1923, waitress Mrs. Zeleda Burger is listed there.
The record image for his arrival card is at:
search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=1070&path=1925.P.1424
I have no further records on him. This last record continues to show him as single, so that he apparently never married and thus probably has no descendants.
The Eastern Ontario Alexander Potters - NOT Him
In researching Alexander Potter, I found three other Alexander Potters, all born about the same time and all living in southern Ontario. Three of those were in extreme eastern Ontario - two at Renfrew and one at Ottawa. This section documents these three, so that they will NOT be confused with the Alexander Potter who was born in Darlington Township. Note that Renfrew is both a town and the county in which that town is located. I have not attempted to discriminate between them, since these Alexander Potters are not relevant to my research, other than to avoid confusing them with the Alexander Potter who was born in Darlington Township in Durham County, well to the west of the other three.
Renfrew: Alexander Potter, husband of Tena Genz
+ Marriage - search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=7921&path=Renfrew.1905.54
+ Birth of son Allan 21 Mar 1908 - search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=8838&path=Renfrew.1908.106
+ Birth of son Wilfrid 27 Aug 1910 - search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=8838&path=Renfrew.1910.99
Renfrew: Alexander Potter, husband of Lydia Zummach
+ Marriage - search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=7921&path=Renfrew.1906.110
Ottawa: Scotland-born Alexander Potter, husband of Catherine
+ Birth of child - search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=8838&path=Carleton.1911.308
+ Birth of child - search.ancestry.com/Browse/view.aspx?dbid=8838&path=Carleton.1913.316
I also found a cemetery web page that lists him (buried in Ottawa), but I did not capture the URL.