Your Freestone County Museum is very privileged to house several very historic buildings. The one highlighted today is the Potter Watson Log Cabin which is thought to have been built around 1850. The history of the Potter family goes way back to the early years of Texas, even prior to Limestone and Freestone County’s formations. The rich heritage emanates from its thick log walls.
In 1846, Daniel Potter (b. 1816 in TN) was already located in this region, according to the1893 book The Lone Star State, page 402, “A History of Navarro, Henderson, Anderson, Limestone, Freestone and Leon Counties”. He was involved with the settlement of Troy, along with his father-in-law, John N. Claypool (b. 1792 in NC). His father-in-law was a founder of Limestone and Freestone County as well as Fairfield. They were both listed on the 1846 Republic of Texas Poll List and were awarded neighboring Third Class Mercer Colony Headright grant certificates of 640 acres each on June 4, 1850.
Daniel Potter married Elizabeth B. Claypool (born 1821 in MO) around 1839-40 possibly in Arkansas. The 1850 Census list the following children: John C. (b. 1840 in AR), Hannah (b. 1842 in MO), and Lucinda A. (b. 1844 in MO). According to these records they lived in Arkansas and Missouri prior to coming to Freestone. If Lucinda was born in Missouri in 1844 that means that they must have moved to Texas after she was born. Lucinda Ann was their only child to survive to adulthood.
Daniel built his cabin in the vicinity of Cottonwood Creek, a few miles south of the Stewards Mill Community. Today the location could be found near the intersection of Freestone County Roads 110 and 120 off of FM 2547. In later years it became the Ed Watson home. Although the cabin was donated to the museum, the old frame house and property is still used by Watson family descendants today.
Daniel’s 1st wife, Elizabeth must have died around 1854-55 (she is reported to be buried in the Claypool Cemetery); as he married again in 1855 to Rosana Moore in Freestone County. She too must have died young. Life was hard in those days and many women died in childbirth. In 1857 he married his last wife Cynthia Ann Hennigan. Their oldest son, Hillary D., was born in 1858 and William Ambrose “Bud” was born a few years later in 1863.
Daniel’s daughter by his first wife, Lucinda Ann Potter, married Isaac R. Awalt on Aug 2, 1860 in Freestone County. Shortly after they married, the Civil War broke out and Isaac joined up with the 12th TX Infantry (Young’s Regiment). He was then transferred to Co. D of the 10th TX Infantry (Nelson’s Regiment.) His military records show he served through April 1864 in special duty in Miss. department, possibly in transport. Isaac must have died not too long after the war because Lucinda then married Edward Hawkins Rogers.
In Daniel Potter’s will, he leaves a small portion of his estate to his grandson, Walter Potter Rogers of California. Lucinda died in 1871 about a month after their son Walter was born. She is buried some-where in California. The following information was recorded in a biography written by Edward Hawkins Rogers:
“returned to the prairies again [after Civil War about 1866] to my old home in Denton County. The next winter camped in Elm Bottom and while there Matilda died. I then removed up above Sandtown. Bought an improvement from Bill Pate [possibly Wm. Pate that owned land near Troy/Pine Bluff in Freestone County]. Lived there over a year and married Lucinda Awalt, a widow. Her maiden name was Potter, daughter of Daniel Potter of Freestone County. Removed to El Monte [CA] in 1870. The next summer Lucinda gave birth of a boy on the 12th of June [1871] and on the 17th of July she died. About Christmas I removed to Compton. Tempy Rogers – A. W. Rogers’ wife, had taken my baby whom we called Walter.”
[from Zela Smith: “Rogers Family” by James Edward Shelton & Keith Shelton]
Daniel and Cynthia Ann’s son, Hillary D. Potter, married Cornelia “Lina” Eveline Smith on Nov 10, 1878. Son, W. A. “Bud” Potter married Telitha Matilda “Lithia” Willard on March 26, 1885—all in Freestone County. Bud and Lithia had at least five children, while Hillary and Lina were not able to have children.
The October 1894 Probate minutes show that Daniel Potter had a very modest estate at the time of his death with 1 horse, 3 head of cattle, 4 hogs, 1 buggy, 1 gun, and $100 in hand. He also left two 320 acre tracts and one 42 acre tract.
Daniel Potter (June 20, 1816 – Apr. 13, 1894) and his wife Cynthia Ann Hennigan (Oct. 11, 1828 – March 29, 1915) are buried in the Steward’s Mill Cemetery; as well as their son Hillary and his wife, Cornelia. W.A. Potter and his wife are buried at Rosenburg, Texas.
The following article was written about 1969 by Elizabeth (Watson) Daugherty, who was born in this cabin, and tells the history of the cabin during the 20th century. Most of the information that we have on the Potter family comes from interviews that she did in 1965-67 with Mr. and Mrs. Jim York. Mr. York was age 94 at the time.
Old Watson Log Cabin On Display At Museum
The one room log cabin on the grounds of the Freestone County Museum was donated in the name of the Ed. M. Watson family of Stewards Mill by Edward M. Watson, Jr., who inherited this cabin from his father’s estate on Dec 23, 1966.
The log room was the “family room” of a six room house which had been deeded to Ed Watson by his father, A. T. (Taz) Watson on January 1, 1910. Ed had been living in the house since his marriage to Grace Beauchamp of Dew on Thanksgiving Day 1904. Edward and his two older sisters, Dorothy Bragg and Elizabeth Daugherty, were born in this log room.
Taz Watson owned and operated the Stewards Mill Store when he bought the property from W. A. (Bud) Potter (son of Daniel Potter and Cynthia Ann) for $3,000 on Dec 4, 1901. Bud had built the additions to the log room when he married Tilthy Willard possibly in 1885. Taz tried to persuade them to remain in the county but promised to resell to Bud at the same price if he returned within the year.
Bud’s father, Daniel Potter, had built the log room when he first came to Texas. Deed records show that Daniel’s patent specified the land to be in “Robertson District, according to the best patent attorneys an inventor аррlуіng for a utіlіtу раtеnt muѕt рrоvе thаt thе іnvеntіоn іѕ uѕеful. Thе invention muѕt hаvе some bеnеfісіаl use аnd must bе operable. A mасhіnе thаt will nоt ореrаtе to реrfоrm іtѕ intended purpose wоuld nоt be саllеd useful, аnd thеrеfоrе wоuld nоt bе grаntеd a patent.
Freestone County, on Cottonwood Creek about 5 miles N 30 AM of Fairfield by virtue of Certificate No. 999 issued by the Commissioners of Mercers Colony on the 4th day of June 1850.” Actual deed was signed by J. H. Bell, Governor of the State of Texas on June 13, 1852.
Mr. Jim York of Fairfield who was born in 1873, spent his childhood on land adjacent to the Potter Place and he and Mrs. York lived with the Potters for some time helping care for “old man” Potter. Mr. York says that Mr. Potter was an Englishman who came to Texas from Arkansas to round up and tame wild horses. He told Mr. York many times that he paid $50.00 in gold for the section of land on which the house was built.
There was no little timber on the land where the house was built. Just big trees and grass so high that you could only see the head of the deer. Logs to build the cabin were cut from timber on Tehuacana Creek by slave labor. It was built without nails. The walls were hewn to fit. Willie Earl Canady, who helped move the cabin to the Museum, said he was surprised the way the cabin was put together as the logs almost locked together.
The roof for the cabin was made from logs covered with split boards with holes drilled where they could be stacked on top of each other and secured with wooden pegs. These slant boards turned the rain. The floor was of cedar logs cut in half. The logs were split with one slave on the ground and another in a pit dug into the ground for him to stand in. There was a rock chimney in the east wall.
You can now visit the ‘Watson Cabin’ at the museum while it is being restored. It was possibly built in 1851 or 1852 and has seen much Texas history. It was built during Indian days for Mr. York said that Mr. Potter told him of a party of 30 Indians riding out of the creek bottom towards him one Sunday morning as he was feeding hogs. How one old Indian dropped behind indicating he wanted corn. Mr. Potter gave him an arm load after which he muttered “UG” and rode after the others. The two volume diary kept by Mr. and Mrs. Ed Watson tell of visitors from the Teacher’s Institute in Fairfield, birthday parties, church affairs, cattle drives, and other daily happenings. The log cabin was a home for many years. It is now yours to enjoy.
Not much is known of the Potter and Claypool families in modern times and sadly most of their history has been lost. Only this wonderful cabin on the museum grounds remains to tell their story. Please stop by and revisit this treasure and remember what our founding fathers went through to make this great state of Texas happen.
Currently the cabin is undergoing restoration of the cedar shingles which is sponsored by the Operation Round-up Program through the Navarro County Electric Coop. The Museum Board is very appreciative of their support. The Home Improvement General Contractors Company owned by Steve Grecu is in charge of the repairs. Upkeep of the museum grounds is very expensive and as always donations are greatly appreciated.
