Toponymie | Canton de Potton | Place Names

This abandoned burial ground holding five stones is found in a wooded area on the North side of Chemin Rodrigue, after its junction with Chemin Colgan.  In 1797, Moses Elkins and his wife Ruth Leavensworth (1765-1825) arrived in Potton from Craftsbury, Vermont.  They settled a mile north of the border alongside the Missisquoi River. 

“The August following the arrival of Mr. Elkins, Abel Skinner, also from Vt., came to this township, and settled on the lot south of that owned by Elkins.  He cleared this lot, and lived here till he died.  The second or third year of his residence in Potton was marked by a most melancholy event.  Two of his sons, young men, took a canoe and went together to Col. Ruiter's habitation, a few miles below.  It was in the spring and the water was very high.  In returning, when they had nearly reached home, their boat was accidentally overturned and both were drowned.”^[1]  Their names were Abel and Josiah.  Abel was born in 1776, Josiah in 1777.  Both died on June 10, 1799.^[2]

Inscriptions on the gravestones of Jemima Skinner, Abel Sr.'s wife (1754-1833); the township's first nurse, Jemima Green (1778-1857); Ruth Leavensworth (1765-1825), wife of Capt. Moses Elkins and their son, Samuel Elkins (1785-1835), brother of Moses, Jr. may still be read. 

Potton Heritage often receives inquiries about the genealogy of settlers here and sometimes these contain information of interest for our own records.  Such was the case recently.  The following excerpt is from an undated document relating to the Skinner Cemetery, recently received from a researcher.  Twenty three names of persons buried in the Skinner Cemetery are included on the document: “The Skinner Burial Ground, which time has placed beyond deciphering (…) interred on a little elevation on the old Elkins Place, opposite Skinner's home, lie probably, upwards of thirty bodies.  Uncared for and in ruins; cattle graze above the dead.”