Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

Originally this road, found off Chemin Travor, a misspelling of Traver, was once known as Woodard Road; however, when the Martin family purchased property in the area, it changed to Martin road.  Mrs. Martin, née Lillian Rose Heath (1883-1974), was a descendant of Potton's original Heath family.  She and her husband William T. Martin (1872-1944) are interred in the Mansonville Cemetery.

Here it is appropriate to give a short biographical sketch of the names of the Heath and Woodard families, both old names in Potton.

The original settler of the Woodard family was Ford P. Woodward (1797-1878), “who moved into Potton Township, Canada East (from Peachum, Vt.) as a young man when the clearings were first being made and the settlers' log houses were much in evidence.  He belonged to that worthy class of pioneers composed of the sons of New England like the Perkins, Blanchard, Peabody and Elkins families, who were attracted to strike roots in the rich intervals of the Missisquoi River.  He married in 1819 Charlotte Blanchard, the daughter of David and Azuba (Heath) Blanchard, a family that had been pioneering in Potton since 1800”^[1].  “They raised a family of 10 children.  Though many of these eventually moved westward, Ford Woodard and his son, John F. Woodard, chose to remain in Potton – each owning land to the north of Mansonville in the Missisquoi River Valley.”  Ford Woodward's name appeared, with four in his household, on the census of Potton, 1881 (see appendix in Potton d'antan, Yesterdays of Potton).  Many descendants of the Woodard family still live in Potton.  Note that over the years the Woodward name was spelled as Woodard.  They are one and the same.

The Heath family roots are of equal length in Potton – Jonathan Heath, Sr. and his son, being a first settler: in reference to Meigs' Corner, Cyrus Thomas tells us “The first settlers in this place came from Sanbornton, N.H.  These were Jacob Garland and his son-in-law, Jonathan Heath.  They came in November 1798, (…) built a log shanty and partly covered it with split basswood.  The following March, they brought their families.  The discomforts of the first night spent in Potton were long remembered by the mothers and children of these families.  A snow-storm coming on during the night, the latter were put under the bed for shelter.”  Both Jonathan Heath, Sr. and son were officers in the American Revolution.  “The first male child born in Potton was Ruiter Heath, son of Jonathan Heath, Jr. (…) born in 1799 (…) named by Col. Ruiter (…) who gave him a lot of land (…) just east of Mansonville.”^[2]