Ida Potter
1888 - 1968 (79 years)
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Name Ida Potter Birth 25 Dec 1888 Helenwood, Scott, Tennessee, United States 
- Source = delayed birth certificate.
Birth Certificate: Ida Potter b.1886 p.01 Gender Female Death 8 Dec 1968 Back Valley, Coalfield, Morgan, Tennessee, United States Burial Potter Cemetery, Huntsville, Scott, Tennessee, United States 
Siblings4 Siblings Person ID I11235 Main Tree Last Modified 4 Feb 2018
Father William Henry Potter, b. 22 Jul 1851, Scott, Tennessee, United States d. 31 May 1935, Huntsville, Scott, Tennessee, United States (Age 83 years) Mother Charnottie Chambers, b. 26 Nov 1853 d. 14 Jan 1913, Scott, Tennessee, United States (Age 59 years) Marriage 1 Jan 1874 Scott, Tennessee, United States Photos 
Potter, Jim
Place, date and time are unknown. Also unknown is the lady in the photo.Family ID F4414 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family John Sexton, b. 9 Oct 1877, Scott, Tennessee, United States d. 11 Mar 1968, Back Valley, Coalfield, Morgan, Tennessee, United States (Age 90 years) Marriage 11 Feb 1907 Scott, Tennessee, United States - Ida taught 3 or 6 terms of 5months each before she and John Sextonwere married on February 11, 1907. They were married in Harriett'sbedroom (later Dad and Mom's bedroom). The door was shut. I don'tknow how long they were married before Granddpa (Potter) found out.Dad bought 2 licenses. The first in Campbell Co. Mother wouldn't gowith him to Campbell County. It wasn't legal (the license) in Scottco. so he bought another. After Grandpa found out, their bedroom wasupstairs over DaDad and Mother's dining room in later years. One nightDad blew out the kerosene light. It caught firel. He had gone to bed.He got up, brabbed a quilt off the bed and smothered it out. Thescorched wall was still there when I stayed with Harriet and when Ruthbought the place (in the 1970s or 1980s).
Another source lists marriage date as February 10, 1907 per Ancestry.com Family Trees. No documentation attached.
John and Ida Potter Sexton lived in Buffalo at one time--before they moved into Judge Potter's home in Huntsville after his death. The land they lived on was part of the property of Thomas Chambers, one of the first settlers of Scott County, who walked across the mountain from Campbell County with his wife, Margaret, and her father, Isham Sharp. According to Ida and John Sexton's oldest daughter, May Sexton McGlothin, the land was later purchased by Judge William Henry Potter. This has not been proven, however. May McGlothin said Judge Potter gave each of his children, 4 daughters and one son, a piece of property when they got married.
In the very late 1970s, Judy Kesterson Smith Spradlin was a reporter for the Harriman Record in Harriman, Tennessee. A member of the Harriman Republican party asked her if she would like to go to him with the Rockwood (Morgan County) airport t to pick up Howard Baker. He was coming to Roane County to address the Republicans. I (Judy) was thrilled. We rode to the Rockwood airport and picked up Howard Baker and his pilot, Ron. I can't remember Ron's last name. Ron and I rode in the back seat and Howard and the man who I came with (I can't remember his name) rode in front. I was sitting behind Howard Baker and asked him some of the usual reporter questions. He was rude, asked the driver why I was there, and eventually told me he got car sick on the curves down Rockwood mountain trying to turn around and talk to me.
Ron tried to soothe it over by striking up a conversation with me. He was very nice. I told him about my great-grandfather, John Sexton, living in Scott County. He asked me which John? I asked what he meant. He said there was many John Sexton's in Huntsville so they were given nicknames. He asked about several, but when he asked about Honey John, it struck a cord--not because I'd ever heard the name before but because I knew that my great-grandpa John Sexton raised bees.
As soon as I had a chance, I called Grandma McGlothin and asked if Great-grandpa Sexton had a nickname and what was it. She said, "Honey John". What a thrill it was for me to hear that tidbit of information!
Later, I learned from reading great-grandma Sexton's journal of settling the estate of her father that the Bakers "raped" the estate, charging for this and that and more this and more that until they took all the money that Judge Potter had. I think it was some sort of vendetta against Judge Potter, who had passed the bar and got his license to practice as an attorney without going to law school. That was allowed back in his day.
Marriage Record: Sexton, John and Potter, Ida m.1907 Children 1. Nona Grace Sexton 2. Hazel Sexton 3. Ruth Sexton 4. May Sexton, b. 27 Dec 1907, Huntsville, Scott, Tennessee, United States d. 13 Dec 2002, Coalfield, Morgan, Tennessee, United States (Age 94 years)5. Willard Sexton, b. 7 Sep 1914, Buffalo, Scott, Tennessee, United States d. 6 Aug 2000, Oak Ridge, Anderson, Tennessee, United States (Age 85 years)Photos 
Sexton Family 1931
The Sexton family of Scott Co TN posed for a photo in 1931. They were living in Buffalo (Scott Co) at that time on the farm that was part of Thomas Chambers' homeplace. Thomas was the first Chambers in Scott Co, which was not Scott Co at the time he crossed the mountain from what is now Campbell Co. in the 1700s. In the photo is (front from…Albums Sexton (0)
Descendants of the Sexton line of Scott County, TN, with relatives in Coalfield, TNLast Modified 20 May 2015 Family ID F4201 Group Sheet | Family Chart
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Event Map 
Birth - 25 Dec 1888 - Helenwood, Scott, Tennessee, United States 
Marriage - 11 Feb 1907 - Scott, Tennessee, United States 
Death - 8 Dec 1968 - Back Valley, Coalfield, Morgan, Tennessee, United States 
Burial - - Potter Cemetery, Huntsville, Scott, Tennessee, United States = Link to Google Earth
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Photos Place: Buffalo School, Scott County, Tennessee 
Obituary W.H. Potter
Obituary of William Henry Potter
Documents Marriage Record: Sexton, John and Potter, Ida m.1907
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Notes - Birth date based on family information from her daughter (my grandmother) May Sexton Mcglothin, and 1900 census. Judy Solis 06-23-09
At some point in her life, Grandma Sexton (Ida Potter Sexton) had what is believed to be polio. One of her feet was curved inward on both sides, making a hollow in the center of the bottom of her foot. I can remember seeing it once, but I am n not sure when or where. She limped when she walked. Grandma Sexton was about 5'2" or 5'4" and Grandpa Sexton was about 6'4". He was tall, lanky, and had arms that hung down his side long, like a monkey. He always wore overalls and I remember that he sometimes wore a suit jacket or blazer with his overalls.
While Grandma Sexton was bedridden at Grandma McGlothin's house in about 1968, Grandpa Sexton would always talk to her and call her "Mrs. Sexton." He would talk to her as if she were awake and able to talk to him. He sat by her bed and held her hand and talked to her. He was extraordinarily respectful of her and always seemed to talk to her as if they had just fallen in love.
During this time, Uncle Fred Hamby spent a lot of time with Grandpa Sexton. I always thought of it as Uncle Fred doing everyone of us a favor by paying attention and listening to Grandpa talk. But Uncle Fred told me years and years later thahat he learned so much from Grandpa Sexton! Grandpa told him tales about WWI and WWII. Some of them I don't think were true, but that is the manner of men in those days---they told tall tales. I can remember bits and pieces of some of them I'd heard.
Every evening, Uncle Fred would come to Grandma McGlothin's and sit in a chair next to Grandpa Sexton and talk to him. Uncle Fred had been to the mailbox down the steps and across the road from Grandma McGlothin's house and he delivered the day's mail to Grandma McGlothin. We knew Uncle Fred and great-grandpa John Sexton were talking, but at 17, I didn't find it interesting and didn't listen. Oh how I wish now I had recorded every word!!!
Grandma Sexton couldn't speak and was bedridden after her stroke on Christmas Day. At times she would yell out Hell, Hell. Someone finally realized she was calling for her daughter, Hazel, but couldn't speak the name clearly. That was about the only decipherable word she spoke during the years that Grandma McGlothin took care of her.
I just hope they recognized how much their daughter, May, my precious grandmother, sacrificed to take care of her parents. Grandma Sexton had her stroke just after Christmas while Grandma May was visiting. Grandma May tried to lift Grandma Sexton and could not, injuring her own back. An ambulance took Grandma Sexton to the Oneida Hospital, where she did not improve. Grandma McGlothin brought her home to Coalfield (Back Valley Road) to take care of her. That she did until Grandma Sexton died in late 1968 or early 1969.
June McGlothin Kesterson inherited her mother's (May McGlothin) devotion to her parents. While June was dying with cancer and barely able to care for herself, she moved May into her house and tried to take care of her. She finally had to move May back to May's own house, just a half mile away. Madge and June took care of her and hired Ruth Kesterson Lackey, June's sister-in-law, to take care of May. Ruth stayed for several years, but quit after June died.
SEXTON, IDA POTTER died 8 Dec 1968
Ida Potter Sexton, 81, retired teacher, passed away Dec. 8, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Mae McGlothin, of Oliver Springs, after an illness of two years. She was the daughter of the late W. H. Potter and the late Charmittie Chambers Potter. Mrs. Sexton was the wife of the late John Sexton and a member of the First Baptist Church of Huntsville. She was very active in the Church in Huntsville and the New River Baptist Church for many years. Mrs. Sexton is also survived by three daughters, Mrs. Hazel Pennington and Mrs. Grace Long, both of Huntsville, and Mrs. Ruth West, of Winfield; one son, Willard Sexton of Jellico, Tennessee; one sister, Mrs. Laura Fine, of Newport, Kentucky; four grandchildren and thirteen grandchildren. Funeral services were conducted from the First Baptist Church in Huntsville at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 1968, with the Rev. John Stalens officiating. Burial followed in the Potter Cemetery. West Funeral Home in charge of arrangements. (Source: The Scott County News, 13 Dec 1968, p1)
Ida Potter Sexton
- Birth date based on family information from her daughter (my grandmother) May Sexton Mcglothin, and 1900 census. Judy Solis 06-23-09