Last updated: August 12, 2021
Person
Titus Potamia
Quick Facts
Significance:
Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill
Place of Birth:
Stoneham, Massachusetts(?)
Date of Birth:
Circa 1718
The following is from the 2004 National Park Service study Patriots of Color researched and prepared by George Quintal:
Titus Potamia was born circa 1718.I A reconstructed military roll lists him as a ‘Black sutler.’II
From Stoneham (MA), he joined the eight month’s service on 31 May 1775 in the company of Capt. Ebenezer Bancroft, in Col. Ebenezer Bridge’s regiment.III He signed a receipt for advance pay on 24 July 1775.IV On 4 November 1775, he was listed on an ‘order for bounty coat or its equivalent in money.’V
It is most probably the same man who married Hannah Hammond on 5 January 1744 in Medford (MA).VI They had at least one son:
- Job: b. 12 December 1746 in Medford,VI bpt. 16 July 1749 in Stoneham,VII mint. to Hannah Barjonah in Stoneham (MA) on 16 March 1774IX
It is also most probably the same man who married, probably second, Peg _____ in Reading (MA) on 23 November 1758.X
Footnotes:
- Birth date backwardly-computed, based on average age of marriage of 26 (per study of compiler).
- Muster and Pay Rolls of the War of the American Revolution 1775-1783. Collections of the New-York Historical Society for the Year 1914 (1916), 171. His name is listed as ‘Silus Potamea.’
- Secretary of Commonwealth. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War (1896-1908), 12:615, listed as ‘Potami.’ Also 2-CD Family Tree MakerTM set “Military Records: Revolutionary War.”
- Ibid 11:998, listed as ‘Patamia.’
- Ibid 12:615, listed as ‘Potamia.’
- Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, Medford, Marriages; both are listed as ‘Free Negroes;’ Titus’ last name is given as ‘Patavia;’ referencing a Congregational Church record.
- Ibid, Medford, Births, 173; listed under “NEGROES, ETC.,” referencing a Congregational Church record.
- Ibid, Stoneham, Births, 75; listed under ‘NEGROES.’
- Ibid, Stoneham, Marriages, 158; listed under ‘NEGROES.’
- Ibid, Reading, Marriages, 486; also listed in Vital Records to 1850. Births, Marriages and Deaths. Vols for most Massachusetts towns, Stoneham, Marriages, 158.