The Town of Potter and Its Records
Potter was formed from more than half of the original town of
Middlesex in 1832, and included the eighth township in the second range
of Phelps & Gorham's Purchase. It was named for Arnold Potter, who
with his father William was the original proprietor, having bought the
entire enormous tract from the Massachusetts syndicate in 1789. The town
developed in two halves, the southeastern being settled largely by the
Potters' fellow Rhode Islanders, many of whom came to New York with the
Universal Friends' Society; and the northwestern by Massachusetts
natives centered around the hamlet of Federal Hollow, now the village of
Rushville. In 1856 the deep valley in Middlesex's southeast corner was
annexed to Potter, because the terrain made it so much more accessible
from that town.
The two halves of the town were separated by the fabulous Potter
Swamp, a wetland famous among other things for the variety of birdlife
that nested there, until it was drained in the 1950s for muckland
farming. Potter is the only town in Yates County with no lake frontage.
Agriculture is its largest business. The village of Rushville lies
partially in the town, and provides its only commercial center.
The town hall is in the hamlet of Potter Center, at 1226 Phelps
Road.
RECORDS ON MICROFILM
The following records have been filmed, and except for the
vital records may be viewed by the public at the town hall, at the
County Historian's office in Penn Yan, and at the State Library in
Albany.
ASSESSMENT ROLLS
1868-1972 (missing 1892, 1913)
MINUTE BOOKS
1832 - 1958; 1959 - 1992
VITAL RECORDS REGISTERS
Births, deaths and marriages 1874-1914 [INDEX], Marriages 1908-1963, Births 1914-1923
and deaths 1914-1929, Births 1924-1929, Births 1930-1963 and deaths
1930-1964, Marriages 1964-1993, Births 1965-1966 and deaths 1964-1967,
Births 1977-1993 and deaths 1968-1993, Marriage licenses 1993
HIGHWAY SURVEYS
Minute Books, 1833 - 1958, includes minutes of Highway Commissioners;
and Highway Commissioners' books 1810-1888 [INDEX], 1876-1906 and 1884-1900
CHATTEL MORTGAGES AND CONDITIONAL SALES INDEXES
Chattel
Mortgages, Notes, Bills of Sale, Contracts Etc. 1879-1897; Chattel
Mortgages 1910-1915; 1915-1929; 1929-1936; 1936-1955; 1956-1964;
Conditional Sales 1936-1962; 1962-1964
JUSTICE DOCKETS
Justice Herrick 1891-1896; Huie and Haviland
(civil) 1896-1909; Hobart 1900-1906; Boardman (civil) 1911; Boardman
(criminal) 1911; Haviland and Miller (civil) 1913-1941; Haviland
(criminal) 1914-1923; Simmons (civil) 1925-1951; Simmons (criminal)
1925-1951; Bailey (civil) 1928-1929; Bailey (criminal) 1928-1931; Carson
and Carr (criminal) 1932-1972; Carson (civil) 1942-1972; Justice Simmons
(civil) 1953-1976; Simmons (criminal) 1964-1977; Kennedy, Rice, Collins
and Clark (criminal) 1973-1982; Rice and Collins (civil) 1975-1982;
Clark (criminal) 1983-1991; Clark and Shay (civil) 1984-1991
DISTRICT SCHOOL RECORDS
School commissioners' minute book
1860-1884; Petition laying out district boundaries, undated; Minutes
approving Seneca-Gorham district 1930; District tax lists and assessment
papers 1925-1949; Town officials' oath of office book 1923-1952;
1952-1981; 1981-1995
OATHS OF OFFICE AND MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS
[see under District School Records above]