Potter Cemetery

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Potter Cemetery, out in eastern Dallas County. Now settle in, because this one starts the way a lot of Texas stories do: with a family, a piece of land, and the kind of timing that makes you hold your breath. John P.

Potter and his wife Martha, née Oden, were pioneer citizens of the Republic of Texas. John born in 1827, Martha in 1835. In 1860, they bought a farm near the Haught's Store community; nearly a thousand acres would eventually fall under John's landholdings, but none of that was promised yet.

Then July of 1861 arrives, and it brings two things at once. Their son William L. Potter died that month; the very first soul laid to rest on what would become the family cemetery.

And in that same month, John Potter enlisted in the Confederate Army. Think about what that July held for that man. A son in the ground and a war to march toward.

After the war, John came back. He served as justice of the peace. He built something lasting on that land.

Martha, though, didn't see all of it; she passed in 1872, at thirty-six years old. John carried on until 1899. Together they'd had nine children, and most of them are buried right there on that same ground where William was the first, back in 1861.

The last recorded burial was in 1947, nearly a century after the Potters first put down roots. And when someone went out and counted in 1997, they found sixteen possible graves; some of them worn past certain identification, the way time works on things it means to keep quiet. The Potter Cemetery, the marker tells us, remains a record of the settlers who shaped eastern Dallas County.

Sixteen possible graves. Eighty-six years of burying. One family's July that changed everything.

What the marker says

John P. (1827-1899) and Martha (Oden) (1835-1872) Potter, pioneer citizens of the Republic of Texas, bought a farm near the Haught's Store community in 1860. When their son William L. Potter died in July 1861 he was the first to be buried on this site; John Potter enlisted in the Confederate Army in the same month. After the war he served as justice of the peace; his landholdings included almost 1,000 acres. Most of the Potters' nine children are interred here. The last recorded burial was in 1947. A 1997 count revealed 16 possible graves. The Potter Cemetery remains a record of the settlers who shaped eastern Dallas County. (1998)