Fitzwatertown, Montgomery County

Since learning of its impending demolition, the Upper Dublin Historical Commission has been working to preserve a building connected with one of the founding families of the area.  The building, on Limekiln Pike, is currently owned by the Lulu Country Club.  Formerly used as a residence for the club groundskeeper the building is vacant and is suffering deterioration from deferred maintenance.

The Fitzwater Homestead

While it is somewhat difficult to say where was the original Fitzwater homestead, yet it is certain that Mrs. Robert E. Potter now lives at one of the old homes of the family.  This is where John Fitzwater lived [who ran the mill at Sandy Run], and on the west side of the turnpike, a short distance from the store _____.  Here is a large smooth _____ with a modern porch.  Though the house has a new appearance, it has only been modernized, the walls being of the olden time.  A large stone barn stands in the rear.  These buildings are on the south side of Sandy Run.  This is part of the very old grant of 1695, made to Matthew Perrin, of 500 acres, and the subsequent history of which is told in the account of the Stont farm.  It is part of these tracts which in 1768 Samuel Noble and Chas. West by deed of partition conveyed to Aquilla Jones and Elizabeth, his wife, parents of Isaac Cooper Jones.  In 1808 Isaac Cooper Jones sold 90 1/2 acres to Thomas Livezey and John Fitzwater.  The latter conveyed his right to Livezey who was a justice of the peace.  At a different time, Livezey conveyed the property to John Whitcomb.  The latter was landlord of the old hotel at Fitzwatertown, standing where the present one stands, and which was on this tract.  In 1832 Whitcomb sold to Robert McAdams, who held the tavern til his death, in 1846.  His daughters, Julia Ann and Jane, came into possesssion in 1852, who that year conveyed to Robert E. Potter, whose wife had been Charlotte, daughter of John Fitzwater.

In September 1898, the Ambler Gazette featured an item about the death of Charlotte (or “Lottie”) Potter’s brother, John Fitzwater of Philadelphia.  The funeral was held at Charlotte Potter’s home (“a large number of friends of the deceased attended the funeral”) and the burial followed in the nearby family plot on Twining Road. The digitized collection of the Ambler Gazette begins in 1886 and is a wonderful resource for those interested in local history.