Job Potamia

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

Medford, Massachusetts

Date of Birth:

December 12, 1746

The following is from the 2004 National Park Service study Patriots of Color researched and prepared by George Quintal:

Job Potamia was born in Medford (MA) on 12 December 1746,^I the son of Titus and Hannah (Hammond) Potamia.^II He was baptized in Stoneham (MA) 16 July 1749.^III

From Stoneham, he joined the eight month’s service on 4 May 1775 in the company of Capt. Benjamin Locke, in Col. Thomas Gardner’s regiment. This unit was at the Battle of Bunker Hill, where his Colonel was mortally wounded. An October 1775 descriptive roll^IV at Prospect Hill describes him as follows:

age: 28
stature: 5 ft. 10 in.

On 1 December 1775, he was listed on an ‘order for bounty coat or its equivalent in money dated Prospect Hill.’^V He received his final payment for 1775 service on 1 January 1776.^VI

There is no record of 1776 service.

By 1777, he was part of the 1^st Middlesex County [MA] Regiment. From this unit, he joined the Continental Army in Col. Thomas Marshall’s regiment in November.^VII He resided in Cambridge and was engaged for that town.^VIII

On 1 January 1780, while residing in Boston, he enlisted in Capt. John Fuller’s company, in Col. Gamaliel Bradford’s regiment. On 19 March 1782, he was reported ‘as having deserted.’^IX

His intention to marry Hannah Barjonah was recorded in Stoneham (MA) on 16 March 1774.^X There is no known marriage record and no record of any children.

Footnotes:

1. Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, Medford, Births, 173; listed under “NEGROES, ETC.,” referencing a Congregational Church record.
2. Marriage of parents in: Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, Medford, Marriages, 237; listed as “Free Negroes,” referencing a Congregational Church record.
3. Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, Stoneham, Births, 75; listed under ‘NEGROES.’
4. Secretary of Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908), 12:615, listed as ‘Potanna.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree Maker^TM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
5. Ibid, listed as ‘Potamya.’
6. Ibid, listed as ‘Potamy.’
7. Ibid, listed as ‘Potamea.’
8. Ibid, listed as ‘Potana.’
9. Ibid 12:617, listed as ‘Potamia.’
10. Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, Stoneham, Marriages, 158; listed under ‘NEGROES.’

Learn more about Quintal's study.