tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90178294611348242472024-03-05T10:42:30.823-08:00Potter Family HistoryHlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.comBlogger82125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-26945959235061098282018-03-01T08:18:00.000-08:002018-10-05T08:22:36.773-07:00Please note that this blog has been moved to http://hlavery.org and continues on there....Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-40363824735333787362018-02-26T01:00:00.000-08:002018-02-26T01:00:00.293-08:00Mail Call: 26 Feb 1936 (George)
"...you don't look like that, altho it may resemble you in some details"Charcoal, Alphonse Bare, 1935see below for artist's details
From George Potter in Cabool, Missouri to his daughter Mary Potter in Washington, DC.
Cabool has a new cash-only grocery store, so the cost of credit built into Fielden's Grocery prices becomes visible. Nothing to be done, George can't get ahead.
The Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-33652401835321053032018-02-10T01:00:00.000-08:002018-02-10T01:00:00.172-08:00Mail Call: 10 Feb 1936 (George)
"...killed by...one of those Bill Hart
gunmen like we have here"
Motion Picture Magazine,
June 1917 cover
Fair use claimed.
From George Potter in Cabool, Missouri to his daughter Mary Potter in Washington DC.
Page 4 excitement: one of Dorothy Potter's beaux is shot in a roadhouse by a "deputy sheriff of the hill bIlly type" ----------------->
Dave gets a suit; some tailoring Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-68853541039243219802018-01-23T01:00:00.000-08:002018-01-23T01:00:00.287-08:00Mail Call: 23 Jan 1936 (George)From George Potter in Cabool, Missouri to his daughter Mary in Washington DC.
"A Mild Diuretic" detail, credit Smithsonian Museum, fair use.
Gladys is taking Doan's Pills, while George has extremely high blood pressure (as he did years before) and is told to "be careful about too much exertion."
"Mrs Brooks" is neighbor Arch Brooks' wife.
The "borrowed" paper is used here rather prodigallyHlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-38352147184276355412018-01-07T01:00:00.000-08:002018-01-07T01:00:00.360-08:00Mail Call: 7 Jan 1936 (George)
Metropolitan Opera Program Cover
From George Potter in Cabool, MO to his daughter Mary Potter in Washington, DC (who was recently visiting New York...and attending the Opera. Wish her letter had survived!)
Gladys is feeling better;
"on the go chasing dirt and knocking over dishes and making lots of noise."
"Eat Waffles...They Fill Your Face" (no electricity...such would Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-6679648441505206282017-12-25T01:00:00.000-08:002017-12-25T01:00:00.326-08:0025 Dec 1926: Christmas Greetings (from Quay, OK)
Christmas Greetings, 1926
from Quay, Oklahoma
Schools
addressed to Mary Potter
An odd, elegiac tone for a Christmas letter, but then
neither the Quay schools
nor even Quay itself
survive.
Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-81248311923675849642017-12-24T07:26:00.000-08:002017-12-24T07:26:00.420-08:00Mail Call: 24 Dec 1935 (George)
Mary Potter, December 1935
From George Potter in Cabool, MO to his daughter Mary in Washington, DC.
Christmas presents for all are appreciated by all; pants for Dave that actually fit, a doll for Marjorie ($1.98 in the Wards' Catalogue) and imported socks, "the snakes' hips", for George...plus cash quickly gone for the most part to the Land Bank.
"Tell Roosevelt that we are for him out here Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-64810957558333851662017-12-05T13:22:00.000-08:002017-12-05T13:22:00.178-08:00Mail Call: 5 Dec 1935 (George)
George, Cow and Dogs in 1930s print
thanks to Doc Pugh.
From George Potter in Cabool, MO to his daughter Mary Potter in Washington, DC
Includes a story of David Potter's troubles driving his sisters to school: the third flat of the day leaves him fixing the tire by the light and heat of a "small bonfire" near Sargent, MO.
Mary is advised to have the boarding house serve her liver twiceHlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-42500810733238672122017-11-21T12:54:00.000-08:002017-11-21T12:54:00.162-08:00Mail Call: 21 Nov 1935 (George)
George Potter , Cow and Dogs (*)
From George Potter in Cabool, MO to his daughter Mary Potter in Washington, DC
Mary takes the hint from a previous letter and sends the tax money.
"Betty Lou" the cow died suddenly, and neighbor Arch Brooks and Arch's mules helped George drag the remains into the woods. There is a more detailed and alarming account of "Betty Cow's" demise in the next Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-6167060293767765292017-11-09T07:52:00.000-08:002017-11-09T07:52:00.232-08:00Mail Call: 9 Nov 1935 (George)George Potter in Cabool, MO to his daughter Mary Potter in Washington DC:
Coat on the way; "try and not see the ghost of the old hen that went to pay the postage"
Follow-up to Gladys' earlier rant about Dorothy gone somewhat wild; she is engaged to a "nice guy" although one much older and frequently married. Nothing comes of this, eventually.
"You never say what you think about helping Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-86038959494456038482017-10-30T07:34:00.000-07:002017-10-30T07:34:00.163-07:00Mail Call: 30 Oct 1935 (Gladys)From Gladys Potter in Cabool to her daughter Mary in Washington, DC.
Dorothy Potter's earlier visit to the big city (St. Louis) has given her ideas and much attitude; she has taken up with an older man with a kid somewhere. Nothing comes of this, of course, but it is a running theme in many of the following letters.
(The original of this letter is in pencil and much faded, this has been Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-51201965025652549022017-10-19T07:31:00.000-07:002017-10-19T07:31:00.174-07:00Mail Call, 19 Oct 1935 (George)"He who laughs last gathers no moss"
Dorothy is boy crazy, the old Buick is terminally ill (David is researching a junkyard Essex).
Marjorie gets to play "Stink Base" at Sargent School. Coach Google tells me that this was an Ozark-specific variant of freeze tag, where those tagged frozen had to run to the aforementioned "stink base" and stay there until tagged free by their team-mates.
AHlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-19732063198504371392017-09-29T17:43:00.000-07:002017-09-29T17:43:00.326-07:00Mail Call: 29 Sep 1935 (Gladys)From Gladys Potter in Cabool to her daughter Mary in Washington DC.
The clock is now broken, with the only time check being from the neighbor's daughter, Mary Brooks, coming over to visit. Otherwise, just guess. Convenient for Dorothy, who is coming in really late (but no-one knows how late, since the clock is dead) Clock has been broken "for over a month."
"I would like a Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-81215929979464214812017-09-19T11:39:00.000-07:002017-09-19T11:39:01.331-07:0019 Sept 1935: Letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission
On September 19, 1935 Mary Potter finally had a permanent job at $1620 per annum.
She worked for the SEC in Washington DC, Philadelphia for almost nine years.
On May 2, 1944 when she enlisted in the WAVES, with orders on June 15, 1944.
Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-7590585833890809862017-09-14T17:00:00.000-07:002017-09-14T17:00:01.133-07:00Mail Call: 14 Sep 1935 (George)
Elaine Potter (21) and Dorothy Potter (19)
in St. Louis, Sept 1935
George Potter in Cabool, MO to his daughter Mary in Washington, DC
The school tuition issue from earlier letters was not resolved in the Potter's favor; Florence ("Flapper") and Dave can go to Cabool High School but Marjorie ("Peg") is stuck in the country school at Sargent. This is financially a problem, as Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-32203683278684716022017-09-01T14:28:00.000-07:002017-09-01T14:28:01.439-07:001 Sep 1935: Mary's big day in New York CityMary Potter saved, among other things, these relics of a quick trip to New York CIty over Labor Day, 1935. Most likely, this was the idea of recent boyfriend Art, who had grown up in Huntington, NY.
The Pennsylvania RR bargain fare is to leave DC just after midnight on Friday (by then, Saturday, Sept 1) and return at noon on Monday (Sept 2), as checked off on the flier at the right. After Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-63779983700531570532017-08-31T13:25:00.000-07:002017-08-31T13:25:05.257-07:00Mail Call: 31 August 1935 (George)From George Potter in Cabool to his daughter Mary in Washington DC.
One of my favorite old letters, this tells the tale of Gladys Potter tangling with the Cabool School Superintendent over a tuition bill which may keep Marjorie in the Sargent school while David and Florence get to ride the bus to school in Cabool. The tale is interrupted by other matters but then continues on Page 4 with Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-89909685600472744602017-08-27T13:24:00.000-07:002017-08-27T13:24:00.214-07:00Mail Call: 27 August 1935 (Gladys)Gladys Potter in Cabool to her daughter Mary in Washington DC.
Lining up a business course for David after high school graduation; Marjorie doesn't want to go to Sargent school...and won't study.
Gladys planning to look into a room in town to avoid the costs of driving to/from the Sargent farm.
Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-4245504628065436992017-08-19T12:12:00.000-07:002017-08-19T12:12:00.886-07:00Mail Call: 19 August 1935 (George)Letter from George Potter in Cabool to his daughter Mary in Washington, DC.
Written on "liberated" Department of Agriculture letterhead which was probably used previously to wrap up the $10.00 contribution from Mary.
Gladys Potter recommends "Bee Brand Powder" for bedbugs in Mary's Washington DC apartment. The old farmhouse in Berryville, Arkansas was similarly afflicted. "Bee Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-83304046986293692982017-07-18T12:10:00.000-07:002017-07-18T12:10:02.822-07:00Mail Call: 18 July 1935 (George)Letter from George Potter in Cabool, MO to his daughter Mary in Washington, DC.
Marjorie Potter is surprised by spin-the-bottle (Ozark version)...page 3.
Note: "Pete" not ID'd
Note: "Gregory" and "Ruby Tayor" and "Overacre" and "Ness Snow" not ID'd.
Note: Oren Kennedy is George's cousin on the Hasbrouck side in PA
Note: Room mate, size of: see Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-8722120522966024622017-06-20T09:49:00.000-07:002017-06-20T09:49:28.398-07:00Mail Call: 20 June 1935 (George)Letter from George Potter in Cabool, MO to his daughter Mary who has just reported to her new job in Washington DC.
The stationery has been "liberated" from The Lee House hotel, where Mary stayed for a night when she first arrived on June 17, 1935. A room there cost $3.00 for the night, $17.50 the week. She started work on June 18 at the Department of Agriculture, Personnel Division.Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-33093804420933224392017-06-18T08:40:00.000-07:002017-06-18T16:00:05.677-07:0018 June 1935: Mary Potter arrives in Washington DCMary Potter kept a set of postcards in an envelope with the label "First Impressions of Washington." For some reason, she never mailed the cards. She stayed the first night in the Lee House hotel, and kept these post cards and some stationery which later was used by George to write a letter. She had already reported for work at the Department of Agriculture.
Card to Dora Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-70886411000062014322017-06-13T06:58:00.000-07:002017-06-13T11:11:08.480-07:0013 June 1817: George's great-grandfather George Valentine, whaler, comes ashore.Two hundred years ago today, third great-grandfather George Claghorn Valentine returned from a ten-month whaling voyage on the brig Sally to the whaling grounds off the coast of Africa (probably south of Maderia). He had signed on at age 18, the youngest member of the crew. He never went whaling again, instead moving to Collins, NY in 1835 with his wife (Mary Green, married 1821) and six Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-57601907393965004202017-06-01T09:12:00.000-07:002017-06-01T13:20:16.342-07:001 June 1875: Truman Potter's Farm, Eden, NY
Mary Jane Valentine Potter, wife of Truman Potter
Photo from jacki Neitzke's collection
In 1875, while grandfather George Potter was being a baby down on his father David "Max" Potter's farm near French Creek, NY, David's father, mother and brothers were living about 70 miles north in Eden, Erie County, NY.
The New York agricultural census of 1875 took place on 1 June in both French Creek Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9017829461134824247.post-15300792568517055482017-05-27T07:50:00.000-07:002017-05-27T07:50:01.691-07:00Mail Call: 27 May 1935 (Telegram from DC)
Telegram from Washington DC to Mary Potter in St. Louis confirming a job offer in Washington, DC on acceptable terms: $1440 per year and at least one year job security.
Telegraph form for response to above offer:
"P.L. Gladmon Chief Appointment Divn. Wash . DC. Will accept appointment. Report June 17. Not married"
Hlaveryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03469188065629315674noreply@blogger.com0