Richard Potter by John Hodgson

Hey everyone.  I hope you are all healthy and well.  This is a very weird time.  Please reach out if you need someone to listen. 

I watched an actor portray Richard Potter in Sturbridge Village two Christmases ago.  I've always been fascinated by slight of hand.  I'm too clumsy and shaky to do it myself though.  Potter was our pre-dinner entertainment.  I loved it. 

Fast forward a bit and this biography appeared as a suggestion from our book vendor Follett. Of course I bought it.  I took it out to read Friday during what was supposed to be a two week shutdown.  If we only knew then...I digress.

Richard Potter was born circa 1783 in Hopkinton, MA.  His mother Dinah was a black household slave to a wealthy tax collector.  His paternity is still questionable, either his mother's master Charles Frankland, a family relative Henry Cromwell, or a local pastor George Stimson/Simpson/Stimpson.  He often told people Frankland, frequently misheard as Franklin, which Potter played up as a relation to Benjamin Franklin. 

Potter claimed to be West Indian, often dressing in fancy robes and adornments, to hide his ethnicity, especially when touring in the South.  He was famous all up and down the East Coast and in England and served as a Mason in all African Lodge. 

So why had I never heard of him until that Christmas in Sturbridge? How did I not know about this local celebrity?  Why is he excluded from history?  A better question might be what are doing now to make sure he is?

Follow me on Twitter @RamblingsLMS
All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.