>From the book "History of Washington and Kent Counties, Rhode Island" by J.R. Cole, published 1889, New York, W.W. Preston & Company. Beginning on page 543. [xxx] respresents either notes or the page number. JEFFERY W. POTTER, the author and poet, and inventor, was born in Perryville, South Kingstown, R.I., August 12th, 1849, and was the eldest son of Rouse and Dorcas G. Potter. His education was wholly obtained at the district school, and after more mature years he was employed as a farm hand until after the death of his parents, when he purchased their estate and has since lived there alone. Mr. Potter read law in his youth, but his poetic talent was beginning to show more plainly upon the front. Some of his larger works consisted of epic poems; first, a volume in manuscript on the "Discovery of America," "The American Revolution," and several volumes of smaller articles. His attention is now engaged upon the battles of he great Rebellion,, which will consist of many volumes of poetry if completed. The following short sketches are from the pen of Mr. Potter, and will be of interest to our readers: [544] "The Great Spring at Perryville and the Hannah Hazard Spring. – The great spring at Perryville is without a doubt the grandest of all springs within the county of Washington and perhaps the state. There never has been any local pride concerning this remarkable source of water more than that some women have acquired their scouring sand, when such was fashionable, from the brink of this spring, but to stand and look at its boiling and heavings is truly wonderful. It is at times almost calm, and then an upheaving of white sand as large as a cart wheel, and the rolling forth [sic] of water as if something was struggling to raise up and then ‘twill cease from its spasm for a minute only to repeat. A stream of some ten or twelve feet wide flows from it a few inches deep continually, but the leaves and brush fall into it as they died, which keeps part of its outward surface hidden. There seems to be many little springs bubbling up around this great one, and we might term them a nest of springs. An old Indian wigwam ruin stands near by upon the hill and the writer has christened it King Phillip's spring, for undoubtedly King Phillip, while journeying upon the Pequot Path, afterward the Queen's highway leading from Boston to New York (for it was established by Queen Anne in 1702), to visit members of the Narragansett tribe here, undoubtedly drank water from this spring. It lies about one hundred rods south of this old famous route or Indian trail, now the post road leading from Westerly to Newport. "Hannah's Spring, so called, lies about one hundred rods north of the old post road. It came into existence through the effects of a dream by an old Negro lady. She said she dreamed if she dug a few rods north or her house under a certain oak tree she would find water, and she rose the next morning and went with a hoe and dug, and water came forth which she called her ‘clay hole'; but some of her family dug deeper afterward, and it dried away in the summer, and she said that other hands touched it which caused it to dry. It was more remarkable for all the surroundings are very dry and sterile. The Dead Man's Spring, some one hundred rods southeast of the old log tavern, has become choked up by leaves and brush, and but little water escapes from it. The Congdon Mill Pond was raised which flows back upon it by times. It became noted anciently by the finding of a dead man beside its brink, an unknown traveler upon this old ancient thoroughfare before spoken of. [545] "The Great Chimney House, anciently called, was the hosue that George Fox preached in about the years 1680–82. It stands today in a good state of repair. This house was of course among those that were first built in the Rhode Island colony, and was also built by one of the seven purchasers that settled the southwestern part of South Kingstown. Traditional reminiscence states that it was built by the Hull purchaser, for it stand upon where the latter generations can remember of the Hull family living. It stands across the road and south of the old Quaker meeting house at Perryville. "The Log Tavern, that has long gone to decay, is two miles beyond and exactly half way between Westerly and the Narragansett Ferry. It is supposed that Benjamin Franklin has lodged many times in this house on his journeys in earlier life. "The Great Eclipse of June 16th, 1806. – There, perhaps, can be no better evidence furnished of the great eclipse of June 16th, 1806, than from a witness who sat and saw the wonderful phenomenon of nature. At that point literature was scares, and the farming and laboring classes were in fact ignorant of the eclipse that was to be visible. But at ten o'clock, as the farmers were working in the field, the sun was becoming obscured and darkness was fast approaching; so much so that labor was abandoned, and the father of the author of this sketch sat upon a fence some two hours until it was light enough to resume labor. He said that stars were almost as visible as a bright moon shiney [sic] night, and that the roosters crew at the advance of light. "The old Quaker Meeting House at Perryville. – In producing a sketch of this, one of the most ancient of meeting houses in America, we are led back in thought to a period almost a century before out national existence began. If we should speak of the events that have passed since the erection of this building we might quote all the principal head lights of science and of national importance that have transpired toward the wonderful advance of our present Christian civilization. Its existence had its origin in those days when George Fox preache to the colonists, in about 1680, and soon after that his converts to that Christian faith erected this most endurable structure for a place to worship. It now stands a few rods north of the old post road, beyond the brow of a little hill overlooking the wilderness and the ocean below. But this year of 1888 a committee of men purporting themselves to belong unto the Quaker fait, has ordered [546] it town down, evidently for the purpose to take the legacy left by the will of Amy Knowles, for more favored churches. The timber and sills were comparatively in a good state of preservation. James Perry, senior, was instrumental in its building, and also gave three acres of land for a free burial lot upon which this building stands. He died about 1700. "The Two Colored Giants, George Gamby and Sharper Booth. – Giving the public a sketch of the lives of these two most powerful men will be something that no writer has yet ventured to do, with the exception of an allusion once made by the present writer upon the strength of the former giant. It appears that George Gamby was the son of a thorough blooded African that always went by the name of ‘Gamby,' and was famous for his great story telling of what wonderful things there were in Africa. He also said that he was the son of a king. He was short of stature, but strongly built. He married a large woman, from whom George must have inherited his strength. George was born one mile north of Perryville post office, and with his parents and brother Andrew, much smaller than he, was considered the property of Judge Samuel Perry, but soon, however, the Rhode Island slave system was abolished. George's wonderful strength was becoming evident, for he managed everything that he undertook, and wherever he went to work years afterward stories are told of his athletic exploits. He would turn over, for the amusement of a crowd, a cart with nearly a cord of green wood, hold out large oxens' hind feet to be shod, throw anvils over his head and many other great feats of strength. He went away in a vessel to the south, and was never heard of afterward. He was of stature some over six feet, broad shoulders, and not given to corpulence, and never married. "Sharper Booth purported himself from Newport, his youth devoted to the work of a coachman, but he became so strong and heavy that his labors in that direction were discontinued, and he drifted over to the Narragansett country, and finally he married and settled in the northern sections of Perryville. He was employed much by Judge Samuel Perry. He was larger round than George Gamby, but not so tall. It was said that he took a cannon from a boat somewhere that weighed 1900 pounds, and carried it over the bank. His wife died, and I think that he died upon charity. [547] "The Dark Day of June 3d, 1769. – This remarkable phenomenon that appeared in the closing days of our colonial history, gave birth to many vague and ominous ideas concerning its importance, and more especially the unlearnt, that it was something which astronomers could not account for. Such, however, was the testimony of those that I have had the privilege to converse with upon the subject many years ago. Ruhamah Melborne, an Indian lady, out selling baskets, with her son, called at our house and told her name, and said that she was 105 years old, and that she could remember well the ‘dark day,' and told much of its appearance, and that many of the colonists supposed that the end of all things was at hand. Her child that was with her she said was the youngest living, being then over 80 years of age. So little has been written concerning this day or that I have seen, it has in my belief rested as a phenomenon with many. However, a search among a pack of very ancient almanacs that I possess has cleared up in my mind all the presages of evil that those olden people thought it predicted, for I find the following paragraph relating to this day: "On the third day of June will happen a most rare phenomenon which it is probable not any now living will have another opportunity of beholding, for it will not happen again till the 8th of December, 1874; for an accurate observation of which most civilized nations have ordered their astronomers to prepare, at the expense of the public, some important principles in astronomy being thereby to be settled. "The passage of Venus over the disk or face of the sun on the third day of June, 1769, is as follows: It began at 2 o'clock and was off at 8:30. It is supposed of course that the record of foreign observations has secured this wonder in astronomy."