Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

Traver Road is the traditional name for this road that led originally to the Traver Farm.  Unfortunately, the road sign is misspelled at Route 243.

A fairly complete genealogy of the Traver family appears in Taylor's History of Brome County.  Pictures of the original log cabin home belonging to Jacob Traver and his wife, Hannah Teel, are found in Volume II.  “The old log house was eighteen feet by twenty-two feet.  In this building, erected by Jacob Traver in the forest in Potton, about the year 1850, Jacob Traver's six stalwart sons grew up.”^[1] Jacob Traver was born in 1799, his wife, Hannah, in 1807.  The homestead is situated at 103, Traver Road, property now belonging to Ralf Bushenbaum.

“Jacob Traver was a pioneer famer and weaver.  He and his sons year by year enlarged their clearing until now it is a large and well kept dairy farm.  Only one son, Orrin, lived and died on the place.  George Traver, a son of Orrin, with his son-in-law Ernest Bradley, now own and occupy this fine large farm (…).”^[2]  Jacob (1799-1884) and Hannah Teel Traver (1807-1884) repose in the Mansonville Cemetery.

Ernest Bradley (1895-1973) married Mildred A. Traver (1898-1986), who was George Traver's daughter.  He continued to operate the farm and began Potton's first dairy.  For a few years in the 1950's and early 60's, Traverland Dairy supplied and delivered bottled milk and cream to the local stores and restaurants in Potton, including to Jewett's in Vale Perkins.  I well remember Ernest Bradley and his helper, a young Abel Rodrigue from Highwater.  When Traverland Dairy ceased operation, Abel Rodrigue came to be the local milkman under Magog Dairy.  Abel's son, Claude Rodrigue, continues the tradition under the name of C. Rodrigue Le Laitier Inc., selling milk to stores in the Magog and outlying areas, while retaining the original routes locally established by Ernest Bradley of Traverland Dairy on the pioneer farm of Jacob Traver. 

Many of the Traver family are interred in the Mansonville Cemetery, including Hiram Traver and his wife Evlina Ruiter; and Orrin and Elvira Woodbury Traver.

The Orford Mountain Railway (OMR) extended in 1906 from Potton Springs to Mansonville, crossed Traver Road at a point still discernible today.  It was at this intersection of road and railway that McNeil's Crossing was located.  Around 1907, George Willard constructed a factory specialized in the manufacture of shoe lasts, among other wooden items.  Plate # 89 in Potton d'antan, Yesterdays of Potton (available in digital form on our website www.pottonheritage.org) shows this business, circa 1907.

Another whistle-stop on the OMR line existed at Peabody Road.

According to legend, a skirmish between the Abenaki and Rogers' Rangers took place in 1759 at a location corresponding roughly to the intersection of what is now Traver Road and Schoolcraft, more amply described under the heading of Chemin Schoolcraft herein.  In 1994, Potton Heritage Association published Légendes amérindiennes du Canton de Potton, authored by Gérard Leduc, in which more may be read of this event.