Simeon Potter

Simeon Potter (1720-1806) was a slave trader.  His brother-in-law, Mark Anthony DeWolf was the father of the infamous DeWolf brothers. In 1740, he married Ann Bragg. In 1754, he married Hannah Paine. In 1765, a newspaper reported that a “Negro Fellow belonging to Simeon Potter” drowned after falling from a ship. Simeon served in the Bristol Militia before the Revolution and commanded Rhode Island’s militia as major general when the war began. In 1774, as part of a town-wide effort, he sent a sum of seven pounds, four shillings to support the people of Boston (that city’s port having been recently closed by the British). He was the main Bristolian responsible for negotiating with Captain James Wallace before the bombardment of Bristol. He owned privateer ships, on which multiple of his nephews sailed.