Teenie (Ramey) Potter


Mary Christine was born in 1803 and died shortly after the end of the Civil War. For more than 150 years she lay in an umarked grave in the Elkhorn City Cemetery, forgotten and alone. How could this have happened to one who had been so loved? Sadly this was a result of the families support for the Confederacy and the reversal of social position that many Southern families were forced to face after the war ended. Many lost family lands as they could not afford to pay the taxes on them, Richard and Teenie appear to have avoided this fate as we have found no evidence that they lost any of the large land holdings they owed. Money was in short supply however, and the simple fact is when Teenie died the family simply could not afford the luxury of purchasing a momument to mark her grave site.

The end of the war brought retribution and harassment to those that had supported the Lost Cause and to be sure Teenie was a staunch supporter. Her roots lay deep in the South and sense of family was instilled in every fiber of her soul. She had been told stories of her ancestor the immigrant, Didier Ramey, and his flight from persecution. States Rights was not a meaningless phrase to Teenie, for her family knew well what oppressors could do given a free hand.

Mary Christine "Teenie" Ramey, was the daughter of William Ramey and Anna Samlins. On 20 Jan 1825 Teenie married Richard Potter in Pike County, Kentucky. Richard was the son of Abraham Potter, the Revolutionary War solider. The Potter family also traced their roots back to the deep South and Abraham, the Patriot, had also seen first hand the oppression that a tryant could adminster without appearing to give a thought to those that were the object of their oppression. It is little wonder that at the outbreak of the Civil War they cast their lot with the South, family was there and they held a strong belief in States Rights.

This was a good marriage for both families and from all accounts it was filled with love. The greatest testament to the person Teenie was lay in her children. Family accounts, proven in census records, show she had eleven children and they all survived to adulthood and each had large families. To be sure rearing eleven children was not an easy task - no antibotics, no doctor for miles, and the area she and Richard lived in could be as deadly as it was beautiful. The children's play ground were towering cliffs that I am sure each of her sons knew well. This knowledge of the land would serve each of them well during their service in the 10th Kentucky Calvary, CSA. Not one son was lost during the war but, Teenie and Richard did mourn the loss of their son-in-law David Stapleton, who was killed by a Yankee sniper while on a scouting mission in the area of the Eel Flats. He was buried in the Elkhorn City Cemetery with only a sandstone rock to mark his final resting place. The John P. McGuire SCV Camp in Pikeville assisted with getting and setting David a proper marker.

Upon the death of her father William Ramey, Teenie received a large section of land, this combined with the land that Richard owned gave them in excess of 10,000 acres located in both Kentucky and Virginia. Their place in local society at that time was of promience, their support for the Confederacy would cost them and cost them dearly, for no longer would they be viewed as they had been. This fall from grace must have been hard to endure but endure they did. Richard's father, Abraham Potter, was among the earliest settlers in in Eastern Kentucky yet not one mention is to be found of him in any of the histories of the area. There are those that say "The Civil War has yet to end in many areas of Eastern Kentucky", I tend to agree with them, for retribution still seems to be measured out in these small disparities.

Before his death in 1886 Richard gave land to each of his children. Our ancestor Andrew was given the land which is now known as the Potter Flats. At one time no one but Andrew's descendants lived there. Anna Judy was given land that includes the High Narrows and she lived there in a log cabin until she moved with her husband Andrew Ramey to Minnesota at the end of the war. The remaining children each received a portion of land on which they raised their families and many are buried on this land.

In 2001 a wrong was corrected for Mary Christine (Ramey) Potter's family purchased a marker that is befitting her. No longer will her final resting place be devoid of a momument that shows she was loved in life and respected in death.

.

Richard Potter and Mary Christine "Teenie" Ramey had the following children:

child John

child Andrew

child Mary "Polly"

child Henry

child George Washington

child Anna "Judy"

child Tamaree

child Malinda

child James Harvey "Harve"

child Didema "Gal"

child Noah

Home Return to Table of Contents