Rabick, Susan J.

William Pote, Jr., was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, in 1689, the son of William Pote and Ann Hooper. He worked as a ship captain in Falmouth, Massachusetts, and spent two years in captivity after being imprisoned by French privateers in 1745. On June 2, 1715, he married Dorothy Gatchell, and they had nine children: Ann, William (1718-1755), Gamaliel, Jeremiah, Elisha, Increase, Samuel (1731-1789), Thomas, and Greenfield (1736-1797). Greenfield Pote also went to sea, and owned the schooner Shark . He became acquainted with the Shaker movement through his brother Thomas, and assisted in the group's 1784 pilgrimage to the home of Mother Ann Lee in Watervliet, New York. He married Jane Grant (1742-1786) in 1758.

Greenfield and Jane's son William (1766-1847) worked for his father and made frequent trading voyages to the West Indies, to Europe, and along the Atlantic Coast. Following his father's death, William Pote repaired seagoing vessels, traded in rum and sugar, and worked on his farm. Among his ships were the Leopard and Allegator . He and his wife, Dorcus Merrill (1772-1842), married in 1788 and had 11 children: Jane (1791-1867; m. Charles Rogers), Mary Ann (b. 1793; m. Hugh Nevens), Robert (1795-1814), Joanna (1796-1807), Miriam (b. 1798), Eliza (1801-1875; m. Benjamin Lufkin), William, Jr. (1803-1831), Dorcus (1805-1889), Eleanor (1807-1871; m. Joshua Thompson and Timothy Kennard), Joanna (1809-1884), and Sophia Merrill (1811-1877; m. Horatio Kendall and Samuel Dennison).

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