Sacred Ground: Potter Cemetery
There are several cemeteries in the vicinity of downtown Huntsville — “old Huntsville,” as it has been called at times — that help tell the storied past of this town and the characters who have called it home through the years. The oldest of those is the Huntsville Cemetery, which dates back to the days of the American Civil War. And the largest of them is the nearby Potter Cemetery.
Located next-door to the old First Baptist Church of Huntsville, the Potter Cemetery dates back to 1902. That’s nearly 40 years after the Huntsville Cemetery was established. But it has since grown to be nearly twice the size of the Huntsville Cemetery, with more than 160 people buried there since its inception. (By contrast, there are just over 100 people buried at Huntsville Cemetery.)
There is nothing more than a short walk through an open field that separates Potter Cemetery and Huntsville Cemetery. In fact, there are actually four different cemeteries on this small flat that once marked the east side of town. In between Huntsville Cemetery and Potter Cemetery is the Chambers Cemetery, separated from Huntsville Cemetery by only a side street. And next to the Chambers Cemetery is the Rector Cemetery — though the two could easily be mistaken as a single cemetery.
If that seems a bit confusing, it actually becomes moreso when you consider that Potter Cemetery itself could be considered three separate cemeteries. As historian Tim West notes on his website, there are three different family plots within this cemetery: the Potters, the Phillips and the Fosters. Indeed, obituary records through the years make reference to all three.
The first burial
The first person buried at Potter Cemetery was an infant boy who was born and died on Aug. 29, 1902.
The child’s headstone denotes that he was the son of “S.S. & H.P. Sexton.”
The Sexton family was one of Scott County’s largest at the time. There were more than 200 men, women and children living in Scott County with the surname Sexton when the 1900 census was taken, almost all of them descended from Revolutionary War veteran Timothy Sexton.
This particular Sexton was also tied into Huntsville’s expansive Potter family — which is why he was buried on the Potter family plot on the edge of town. S.S. and H.P. were Simeon Sexton and Hattie Potter.
Hattie was the daughter of Judge William Henry “W.H.” Potter and Charnattie Chambers. She married Sim Sexton in November 1901. But their marriage was mired by tragedy. Their first-born died in infancy in 1902. Just seven years later, Sim Sexton was shot and killed at the age of 26.
According to a newspaper account written at the time, Sexton was an innocent bystander to a drunken fight at the Odd Fellows Hall in Huntsville on April 24, 1909. Buster Reed had gotten into an argument with a Phillips man, and later began shooting his pistol. As the crowd scattered, it was discovered that Sexton had been shot through the heart and killed. He was buried at the Potter Cemetery.
Simeon Sexton is not to be confused with another Simeon Sexton who lived in Scott County at about the same time (though they were almost certainly related, perhaps as nephew and uncle). The other Simeon Sexton is buried at Helenwood Cut Cemetery. He was born in 1879 or 1880. An entry on the genealogy website WikiTree states that he “passed away from a gunshot wound on April 24, 1909 at Huntsville.” However, that entry is confusing the two Simeon Sextons.
Most records state that the Simeon Sexton buried at Helenwood Cut died on April 24, 1909 — again confusing him with the Simeon Sexton buried at Potter Cemetery. In actuality, the headstone for Helenwood Cut’s Simeon Sexton does not denote a birth year or death year.
It’s not clear what became of Simeon Sexton of Helenwood, or when he died. He was not found in the Scott County census after 1880. He apparently married Sarah Keeton. However, she had married Scott Foster by 1911. So the Helenwood Simeon Sexton may have died around the same time as the Huntsville Simeon Sexton.
In any event, Huntsville’s Simeon Sexton had four more children with Hattie Potter before he was killed in 1909. There was Floyd, born in 1904; Floyd, born in 1906, Mattie, born in 1907; and Simeon, born in 1909. Hattie later remarried to Lacy Chambers and had several more children.
Hattie had a sister, Ida, who married John Sexton. John and Simeon may have been brothers.
The Potter family
Huntsville’s Potter family dates back to John Potter (1828-1914). A blacksmith by trade, he was the son of John Potter and Polly Griffith. His parents were originally from North Carolina, and settled in the Wolf Creek area that would become southern Scott County. That’s where John Potter was born on Christmas Day in 1828.
John Potter married Jane Buttram, the daughter of William Buttram and Rachel Reed. Her parents are believed to have been buried at the Hurtt Cemetery in New River.
Potter served in the Union army during the Civil War. He and Jane only had two children: William Henry Potter (1851-1935) and Julian Frazier Potter (1853-1943).
Julian Potter married Nancy Chambers, the daughter of Scott County official John Riley Chambers and granddaughter of Revolutionary War veteran Thomas Chambers, who is buried at Winona Cemetery.
William Potter — or W.H., as he was known — was one of the most popular citizens of Scott County in the early 20th century. He was a farmer, businessman, teacher, justice of the peace, and a lawyer. He was first elected as county court clerk, and was later elected twice as county judge. Still later, he was elected to the State Senate.
W.H. Potter was first elected county judge in 1894, replacing Bransford L. Riseden. He served two terms before being replaced by Beaty Cecil in 1902. He and Cecil became well-known political rivals, delivering fiery stump speeches that attracted large audiences. Potter succeeded Beaty as county judge in 1910, and was re-elected in 1914. He was the only county judge at the time to serve in the office on two separate occasions. He again ran for county judge in 1926, narrowly losing a three-way race to Mitt J. Robbins. He contested the outcome of the election in court, but the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled against him.
Potter married Charnatty Chambers in 1874. Charnatty was the daughter of John Riley Chambers — a sister to Nancy, who married Potter’s brother, Julian. Charnatty died in 1914 and was buried at Potter Cemetery. Judge Potter remarried to Bettie Ross in 1921.
In addition to Ida and Hattie, the Potters had two more daughters and a son. There was Laura Malaurd, who moved to Cincinnati, and Nevada Harrison, who moved to Kentucky. Their son was Ben Potter (1888-1956), who is buried at Potter Cemetery.
Julian and Nancy Potter had six children: Lillie, Joseph Ray, Henry Cleveland, Ollie Dora, Roy Lawrence, and Myrtle.
Lillie married James Phillips and, following his death in 1907, she married Francis Marion Jeffers in 1910. She and her second husband are both buried at Potter Cemetery.
Joseph Ray married Emaline Jeffers, and later married Cordia Rector. Huntsville’s current generation of Potters that most are familiar with descended from Joseph Ray and Cordia Rector Potter. Their son Jim was a long-time Baptist preacher known for erecting large roadside crosses like the one that stands at Interstate 75’s Exit 141 in Caryville, and was buried at Potter Cemetery in 2020. His brother, George, was a long-time mayor of Huntsville. George’s daughter, Paula, owns Four Oaks Funeral Home. His sons, Joe and Dewayne, own construction businesses in Huntsville. Jim’s son, Mike, currently serves as Scott County’s clerk and master.
Jim and George had a brother, Samuel Frazier, who is buried at Riverview Cemetery at Smoky Junction. He had an infant daughter, Cordie, who is buried at Potter Cemetery.
Henry Cleveland Potter married Minnie Jeffers and was buried at Potter Cemetery in 1946. They had nine children, several of whom were buried at Potter Cemetery.
Ollie Potter married Ewell Phillips.
Roy Potter married Etha Griffith. Following her death in 1926, he married Mary Florence. The family moved to Ohio following Etha’s death.
Finally, Myrtle married Granville Sexton, and moved to Illinois.
The Jeffers family
Following the death of her first husband, Lillie Potter — daughter of Julian and Nancy Potter — married Francis Marion Jeffers. He was the son of Samuel Jeffers and Mary Boshears, and was buried at Potter Cemetery in 1963. Lillie died in 1921, at the age of 41, and was buried at Potter Cemetery.
Several other members of the Jeffers family are buried together on the south side of the cemetery. The first of those to be buried at Potter Cemetery was John Daniel Jeffers, who died in July 1935 at the age of 26. He was the son of Leonard Jeffers and Irene Pemberton, and married Virginia Jeffers. They had one son, Leonard. Neither his wife or son were buried in Tennessee.
However, John’s parents, Leonard and Irene, were both buried at Potter Cemetery. Leonard Jeffers served as Huntsville’s postmaster in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
In addition to John Daniel, they had several other children buried at the cemetery: Edmund in 1948, Hubert in 1948, Ralph in 1954, and Mark William in 1959. All are buried together with matching headstones.
Leonard Jeffers and Francis Marion Jeffers were not closely related.
The Sharp family
Directly west of the Jeffers grave, also buried together, are several members of the Sharp family that has long defined Huntsville.
The first member of the family to be buried at Potter Cemetery was Joseph Jonathan Sharp, who died in 1933. He was a son of “Uncle Billy” Sharp, who is buried at the nearby Huntsville Cemetery and was one of the most popular merchants and most colorful characters in Old Huntsville. His mother was Laudica Hamon.
Joseph Sharp married Caroline Lewallen. She was a granddaughter of Scott County’s first sheriff, John Lewallen.
Joseph and Carolina had seven children, one of whom was the historian Esther Sharp Sanderson, a schoolteacher who wrote County Scott and Its Mountain Folk and other books. Sanderson was buried at Potter Cemetery when she died in 1979. Her second husband, Fred Sanderson, was also buried at Potter Cemetery.
Another of the Sharp daughters, Cassie Lee Sharp McLean, is buried at Potter Cemetery, along with her son, Joseph Kenneth McLean.
Yet another daughter, Martha Ellen Sharp, was buried at Potter Cemetery in 1966, as was her son, Joseph Garland Sharp, and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Chambers.
Caroline Sharp was buried at the cemetery in 1944.
The Phillips family
Remember the beginning of the story: The Potter Cemetery has also been known as the Phillips Cemetery and the Foster Cemetery.
The first member of the Phillips family to be buried there was Riley Phillips in 1910. He was the son of Jehu Phillips, who is buried at the nearby Huntsville Cemetery. He married Elizabeth “Bettie” Chitwood, the great-granddaughter of Revolutionary War veteran James Chitwood, and they operated a boarding house that was located about where the gazebo now stands on the courthouse mall.
Bettie Phillips was later buried at Potter Cemetery in 1940.
One-year-old Edith Phillips was buried at the cemetery in 1914, infant William Phillips was buried there in 1915, and one-year-old Mason Chapman Phillips was buried there in 1917.
Another Phillips child, seven-year-old Fred “Mikey,” was buried at the cemetery in 1933.
James Phillips, one of the sons of Riley and Bettie Phillips, was buried at Potter Cemetery in 1928. So were several of his siblings: Martha Shoopman in 1963, Victoria Norrod in 1972, Elizabeth Toomey in 1910, and William Phillips in 1944.
James’ wife, Lucy Clark, was buried at the cemetery in 1938.
The Foster family
The first member of the Foster family to be buried at the cemetery was Sanders Foster in 1912. Age 37 at the time of his death, he was the son of James Foster and Lucy Ellis, both of whom would be buried at the cemetery later.
Sanders married Elzina McDonald, who is buried at the cemetery. They had four children, and two of them are buried at the cemetery. Paul Edwin Foster was lost at sea in World War II. He died at age 33 when the boat he was working on was sunk by a submarine off the coast of New York. Theodore Foster was buried at the cemetery when he died at age 52 in 1953. His wife, Anna Marie Foster, was buried at the cemetery two years earlier.
In 1917, one-year-old Ruth Foster died amid the Spanish Flu pandemic and was buried at the cemetery. She was the daughter of E.G. Foster. Another Foster child, two-year-old Willie, was buried at the cemetery in 1923.
Three doctors from the family are buried at the cemetery. James Irdel Foster was buried there in 1944 and his wife, Orlena Caldwell, would later be buried there, as well. His son, Luke Foster, was buried there four years earlier when he died at age 32. Luke’s sister, Florence Foster, also received her doctorate and was later buried at the cemetery, as well. She began a teaching career at Huntsville School, and later taught at Florida State University.
Dr. James I. Foster was the son of James Foster and Lucy Ellis, and a brother to Sanders Foster. He had a brother, Simon Sylvester Foster, who likewise earned a doctorate.
Another of James and Lucy’s children, daughter Hulda, was buried at the cemetery in 1947.
The Toomey family
Some of the most elaborate headstones from early 20th century Scott County can be found at Potter Cemetery. One of those is James L. Foster. Another is the headstone of his son, Sanders Foster. Another is the headstone of Simeon Sexton, and another is the shared headstone of John and Jane Potter.
But perhaps the most elaborate headstone of all is that of John and Bettie Toomey.
Bettie Toomey, remember, was the daughter of Riley Phillips and Bettie Chitwood. She died in childbirth in 1910 at the age of 36, and was the second member of the Phillips family to be buried here. Her father had died just five months earlier.
There is no record of what became of her child that was born prematurely in 1910, though it would seem likely that the baby would have also been buried at Potter Cemetery. But she had four other children: Edison Lafayette Toomey, Viola Toomey Baker, Fred Barthell Toomey and Herbert Megis Toomey. None of them were buried at Potter Cemetery.
Bettie married John Samuel Toomey in 1895. He was the son of John Toomey and Margaret Linehan, both of whom were natives of Ireland, and did quite well in the logging business before being elected to the state senate. His mother was buried at Potter Cemetery in 1918.
Perhaps John S. Toomey’s greatest legacy was his activism that helped create the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. He served as the official timber estimator when the federal government acquired the lands for the establishment of the national park. He died in 1949 and was buried at Potter Cemetery beside his wife.
The oldest of the Toomey children, Edson, died in World War I in France, at the age of 22. He is buried at the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial there.
Viola Toomey married James Washington Baker in 1924. He was an uncle of U.S. Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr., a brother to Congressman Howard H. Baker Sr. He served as the head of Plateau Electric Cooperative.
James and Viola had two children: James Toomey Baker and Betty Baker. James Toomey Baker married Irene Sobodoski, who was the founder of the Scott County Historical Society. Her parents were Polish nationals who migrated to the U.S.
The cemetery today
There are 165 burials at Potter Cemetery. The most recent was Margaret Laxton Potter, who died just two weeks ago. She was the widow of Jim Potter. Prior to that, the most recent burial was Leela Byrd Cross in 2021. Her husband, Herstle L. Cross, was previously buried at the cemetery.
Cemetery census
POTTER CEMETERY
GPS Coordinates: 36.41093, -84.48823
First Burial: 1902
Last Burial: 2024
Lonzo Blankenship, 1895 – 1940
George Boshears, 1920 – 1920
Belle Jeffers Byrd, 1912 – 1974
Elvin Byrd Sr., 1908 – 1967
Katie Carson, 1897 – 1921
Shoemaker Chambers, N/A – 1908
Theodore Chambers, N/A – 1910
Virgel Chambers, 1901 – 1903
Harriet Childers, 1857 – 1933
Alonzo Cross, 1913 – 1946
Gary Cross, 1959 – 2018
Herstle Cross Sr., 1925 – 2014
Leela Byrd Cross, 1924 – 2021
Millard Cross, 1917 – 1945
Nona Sexton Trammell, 1909 – 2004
Anna Foster, 1898 – 1951
Elvin Foster, 1881 – 1921
Elzina McDonald Foster, 1875 – 1955
Florence Foster, 1911 – 1975
Hulda Foster, 1883 – 1947
James Foster, 1873 – 1944
James Foster, 1843 – 1915
Lucy Ellis Foster, 1849 – 1924
Luke Foster, 1907 – 1940
Orlena Caldwell Foster, 1874 – 1964
Paul Foster, 1908 – 1942
Ruth Foster, 1915 – 1917
Sanders Foster, 1875 – 1912
Theodore Foster, 1901 – 1953
Willie Foster, 1921 – 1923
Tinah Strunk Gattler, 1911 – 2004
Mary Gill, 1933 – 1933
John Goad, 1860 – 1933
Gayson Griffith, 1906 – 1922
James Griffith, 1874 – 1923
Leuonia Creekmore Griffith, 1876 – 1966
Virginia McQuigg Hurley, 1898 – 1983
Edmund Jeffers, 1903 – 1948
Francis Jeffers, 1879 – 1963
Hubert Jeffers, 1905 – 1948
Irene Pemberton Jeffers, 1876 – 1964
James Jeffers, 1918 – 1946
John Jeffers, 1908 – 1935
Leonard Jeffers, 1872 – 1946
Lillie Potter Jeffers, 1880 – 1921
Marion Jeffers, 1879 – 1963
Mark Jeffers, 1911 – 1959
Ralph Jeffers, 1911 – 1954
Ruby Pennycuff Jeffers, 1914 – 1981
Seigal Jeffers, 1912 – 1987
William Jeffers, 1915 – 1952
Katherine Carson Johnson, 1918 – 2005
Theadore Keeton, 1914 – 1918
Alvin Krahn, 1924 – 2007
Rose Veer Krahn, 1927 – 2018
Charles Lewallen, 1865 – 1927
Emma Galloway Lewallen, 1886 – 1970
Fred Long, 1901 – 1981
Robert McGee, 1929 – 2000
Cassie McLean, 1963 – 1980
Cassie Sharp McLean, 1893 – 1952
Joseph McLean, 1920 – 2001
Virginia Phillips McLean, 1924 – 1975
Lucille Millard, 1918 – 1923
Angie Tooney Noble, 1857 – 1940
Harry Noble, 1882 – 1940
Albert Norrod, 1876 – 1945
Victoria Phillips Norrod, 1880 – 1972
George Parnell Jr., 1925 – 1925
George Parnell Sr., 1885 – 1967
Martha Strunk Parnell, 1891 – 1977
Milford Pennington, 1905 – 1973
Hazel Sexton Yancey, 1911 – 2003
Bessie Parker Phillips, 1888 – 1956
Denzil Phillips Sr., 1939 – 2015
Edith Phillips, 1912 – 1914
Elizabeth Chitwood Phillips, 1851 – 1940
Mikey Phillips, 1926 – 1933
Harrison Phillips, 1872 – 1954
James Phillips, 1870 – 1928
Lucy Clark Phillips, 1871 – 1938
Mason Phillips, 1916 – 1917
Riley Phillips, 1843 – 1910
Virgil Phillips, N/A – N/A
William J Phillips, 1915 – 1915
William Phillips, 1888 – 1944
Benjamin Potter, 1888 – 1956
Billy Potter, 1964 – 1988
Carley Potter, 1881 – 1961
Charnatty Chambers Potter, 1853 – 1914
Cora Potter, 1887 – 1940
Cordia Rector Potter, 1899 – 1969
Cordie Potter, 1972 – 1972
Dillon Potter, 1904 – 1955
Florence Potter, 1881 – 1928
Gay Potter, 1949 – 1949
Henry Potter Jr., 1922 – 1945
Henry Potter Sr., 1885 – 1946
Herbert Potter, N/A – N/A
James A Potter, 1858 – 1931
James Potter, 1952 – 1978
James Potter, 1937 – 2020
Jane Buttram Potter, 1831 – 1916
John Potter Sr., 1828 – 1914
Joseph Potter, 1881 – 1946
Joy Potter, 1950 – 2005
Julian Potter, 1853 – 1943
Kenneth Potter, 1937 – 2001
Leon Potter, 1917 – 1974
Margaret Chambers Potter, 1856 – 1929
Margaret Newport Potter, 1920 – 2010
Margaret Laxton Potter, 1940 – 2024
Minnie Jeffers Potter, 1890 – 1958
Nancy Chambers Potter, 1856 – 1924
Paul Potter, 1919 – 1921
Poleate Potter, 1913 – 1914
Robert Potter, 1954 – 1954
Roy Potter, 1911 – 1937
William Potter, 1954 – 1973
William Potter, 1954 – 1973
William Potter, 1928 – 1929
William Potter, 1851 – 1935
Bettie Robbins, 1935 – 1935
John Robbins, 1937 – 1938
William Robbins, 1908 – 1914
Joel Robinson, 1857 – 1945
Myrtle Robinson, 1890 – 1989
Thursa Harmon Robinson, 1871 – 1961
Ester Sharp Sanderson, 1896 – 1979
Fred Sanderson, 1890 – 1970
Rusty Sanderson, N/A – N/A
Billy R. Sexton, 1966 – 2024
Brenda Lane Sexton, 1946 – 2016
Ida Potter Sexton, 1886 – 1968
Infant Sexton, 1902 – 1902
Jimmy Sexton, 1941 – 2011
Joe Sexton Sr., 1938 – 2012
John Sexton, 1877 – 1968
Sibyl Robbins Sexton, 1898 – 1979
Simeon Sexton, 1882 – 1909
Caroline Lewallen Sharp, 1872 – 1944
Joseph Sharp, 1916 – 1998
Joseph Sharp, 1856 – 1933
Martha Sharp, 1898 – 1966
Mary Chambers Sharp, 1918 – 2004
Rhoda Shoemaker, 1855 – 1904
Martha Phillips Shoopman, 1879 – 1963
Infant Silcox, 1921 – 1921
Infant Silcox, 1923 – 1923
Nancy Chambers Strunk, 1877 – 1964
Thomas Strunk, 1881 – 1922
Elizabeth Phillips Toomey, 1874 – 1910
Emma Toomey, 1865 – 1915
John Toomey, 1861 – 1949
June Toomey, 1875 – 1920
Margaret Linehan Toomey, 1827 – 1918
Thelma Lewallen Walker, 1910 – 1982
Dorothy Cross West, 1931 – 2018
Millard West, 1913 – 1961
Ruth Sexton West, 1916 – 1990
Charles Wright, 1920 – 1920
Lillie Jeffers Wright, 1888 – 1968
Matilda Clairborne Wright, 1857 – 1930
Matthew Wright, 1884 – 1968
Ella Jeffers York, 1876 – 1967
William York, 1872 – 1959
This story is part of the Scott County Cemetery Project.