JEREMIAH POTE.
William Pote was in Marblehead as early as 1688. He married Hannah Greenfield. His second wife was Ann Hooper, whom he married in 1689. His son William was born at Marblehead, 1690, who married, June 2, 1718, Dorothy Getchell.
Jeremiah Pote, son of the aforesaid, was born at Marblehead, Jan. 18, 1724. His father removed to Falmouth, now Portland, and died there. Jeremiah Pote became one of the principal merchants of the town, he owned and occupied one of the two principal wharves in that town previous to the Revolution. He transacted a large business and filled offices of trust and honor. In his testimony before the Claim Commission[271] "Claimt says He is a native of America. Lived at Falmouth, Casco Bay, when trouble broke out. He did everything in his power against the measure of the Rebels. He happened to be one of the selectmen at Falmouth, whose business it was to give notice of Town Meetings. Claimt refused to notify the meetings desired by the Rebels. In consequence of this he was persecuted. Was imprisoned several times. Had his things taken from him by force, so that he was forced to quit home, got to Nova Scotia, went in open boat. Went from Halifax to New York in 1778. Was employed by Admiral Gambin to pilot a vessel to New Hampshire, which was going with Sir Henry Clinton, Manisfestoes. The vessel was seized and the whole crew made prisoners and kept in prison during the winter. Went to Penobscot in 1780 to St. Andrews in the beginning of 1784."
In 1774 a public meeting was called to consider the state of public affairs, which he attended, but he desired that his dissent might be entered against a resolution relative to the Ministry and East India Company, which was introduced and passed.
In 1775, during the trouble with Captain Mowatt, which resulted in the burning of the town, in which he lost £1,000, he brought upon himself the vengeance of the Revolutionists, who under Thompson, assumed the government, and organized themselves into a board of war, and required him to contribute money and provisions, and to give a bond of £2,000 to appear at the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, and give an account of his conduct. In 1778 he was proscribed and banished. After the peace he settled at St. Andrews at the mouth of the St. Croix river, the boundary line between Maine and New Brunswick, where he died November 23, 1796, aged seventy-one years. His son Robert, deceased at the same place November 8, 1794, at the age of twenty-five, and his daughter, Joanna, married Thomas Wyer, Jr., his widow Elizabeth Berry of Kittery, died December 24, 1809, aged seventy-nine.