Father's side: Gilby Pott (father), Halcho Pott AKA the Old Pott (paternal grandfather), Sarah Woodenspoon (paternal grandmother)

Mother's side: Borla Bambuss (mother), Bumbo Bambuss (maternal grandfather), Darla Maplefoot (maternal grandmother)

Born on October first, 1315 in Pott Manor on the White Downs to Gilby and Borla Pott, Filby was raised with a good education to be an upstanding hobbit of good character and fair judgement, and to carry on the family business of pottery. Gilby and Borla had two more sons: Twilby, born in 1317, and Balcho, born in 1320. Filby was a close friend of both Mako Whitfoot and Iago Grubb, influential hobbits of their time. When he was in his late tweens Filby fell head over heels in love with Miss Dana Grubb, Iago's cousin. After courting her for some five years the two were finally married in the Michel Delving town hole by Mayor Weldo Bunce.

Shortly after Filby was married Twilby married Lindora Diggle from Dwaling. The marriage produced two children: Drago, born in 1386, and Dandelion, born in 1387. Balcho married Thrimidge Proudfoot, the daughter of the well-known Odo Proudfoot. These two had only one child: Odobrus Bongo Pott, most often simply known as Bongo to differentiate between himself and his cousin Bodobrus Took.

Filby's and Dana's marriage was very happy, and Dana gave birth to a son, Wilby in 1376, and two daughters, Marla in 1380 and Sigina in 1385. Wilby was his father's pride and joy, and quickly took a liking to pottery, painting, and mercantry. Marla fell in love with Mister Matt Prudhomme, a publicity managar for the Shire Chronicle newspaper, and Filby made a good deal of money off his son-in-law's business. Sigina on the other hand married Dollo Underhill, a wealthy baker from Haysend, and moved in with his family; this of course made Filby happy, for it provided his business with a link to potential customers in Buckland.

Dana died from a heart attack in 1402, deeply saddening Filby and the rest of their family. Filby persevered though, and continued to build up his family's fortune. While Wilby brought in money through pottery, journalism, and mercantile, Filby managed the Pott business empire from Pott Manor. Money kept rolling in from the Chronicle and Buckland, and all seemed well. When the Vedo Underhill incident occured, however, Dollo was forced to close shop for good, and Filby's link to the wealthy Brandybucks, Goldworthys, and Longpuddings was severed.

In the summer of 1420 tragedy once again struck. After returning from the annual hunt in the Tower Hills, Wilby took a wrong turn near Stonebows and was lost. When his son failed to return, Filby was overcome with grief. His mind snapped, and the family business was given over to the capable hands of Filby's nephew Odobrus, a merchant with ties to some of the wealthier pipeweed magnates in the Southfarthing. Filby was moved to the Marish Home for Bewildered Hobbits in Stock.

A few months passed, and Filby was sent back home to Michel Delving. On a cold Winterfilth morning the impossible happened: the young ladyhobbit Timpany Goldworthy, the secret lover of Filby's son Wilby, came to Pott Manor and succeeded in restoring Filby's memory, thus returning him to the Shire upper crust society. Filby and Timpany got to work on a funeral for Wilby, with the aid of Dollo Underhill and merchant Reginald Bolger.

While still working toward his son's funeral, Filby's mind began to wander once again. Taking control of Pott Enterprises from Odobrus, Filby started production of pottery once again. It was then that he hired J.T. Sackville as his personal accountant, a decision that he might regret in the future. The next summer he entered the annual Cherryblossom Parade in Bucklebury, hoping to win the prize of thirty silver dimes. Filby won, but it is said by some that he bribed the judges with ale and sandwiches, and this somewhat tarnished his reputation as a gentlehobbit. After this, Filby opened the Pott Inn on Wheels Company, a subsidiary of Pott Enterprises, to profit on this novel idea of selling food from a moving vehicle.

It was shortly after this that Filby attended the birthday party of Berredan Took, hoping to set up good relations with his wealthy family. While Filby was unsuccesful in convincing the flighty Berredan, it was here that the old hobbit met those two hobbits who would become his archnemeses: Clodo Baggins and Firobrus Clayhanger.

Clodo was a staunch supporter of the Shire Patriots' Party, an organisation devoted to severing the Shire's ties with dwarves and men and assimilating Bucklanders into Shire society, a notion that Filby abhorred (much of his trade was with dwarves of Erebor and the Blue Mountains). Firobrus, on the other hand, was a supporter of the Dwarf Peace Party, the S.P.P.'s rival society. While Filby too supported the D.P.P., Firobrus was not at all to his liking. He was a radical who believed that dwarves and Bucklanders would only recieve acceptance in society through struggle, and this clashed with Filby's conservative views.

In early 1421 Filby did something no one anticipated. On a visit to the meetingplace of the Overhill Ladies' Club, another organisation that Filby supported, in a conversation with matrons Caramella Chubb, Sapphire Took, and Frinella Boffin, as well as the honourable Lord Mayor Will Whitfoot, Filby announced that he would run for Mayor in the next year's elections.

The public was something less than shocked. It was nothing new for Potts to run for Mayor, and there were already many other candidates. Berredan Took had been campaigning for months, beng supported by the Eligible Bachelors' Society of Bywater. The Private Girls' Club in Hardbottle had Miss Lillyfoot Lightfoot, and the O.L.C. was supporting Sapphire Took's daughter Willemina Took. The S.P.P. and D.P.P. had their champions in Clodo and Firobrus.

Given his dislike for alcohol and other worldly pleasures, it was natural for Filby to go 'Grandma' Boffin and the Nobottle Temperance League for sponsorship. Unfortunately, the N.T.L. was not at all liked by the general populace due to its frequent rallying against inns and other public places. This only hurt Filby's reputation.

Early on in his campaign, Filby's attention was caught by a most unusual visitor in the Lockholes of Michel Delving: a dwarf. Not just any dwarf, but Jorin Ashbeard, the Thane of Clan Bundazanul in Erebor, the Lonely Mountain. Filby took pity on the dwarf upon learning that he had been falsely accused of a crime, and tried to give Jorin and his entourage a fair trial, but this had to be canceled when the great Gimli son of Gloin came to Jorin's rescue and brought him back to the mountain. After this event, Filby was moved to join the D.P.P., despite Firobrus' involvement in the organisation.

At last, the next summer, Filby was able to hold a service for his deceased son. All his family (an Timpany, of course) attended, as well as his lawyer Wiligar Took, Berredan Took, and Shirriff Lodinar Took. There, at the Hobbiton graveyard, Filby unveiled his sons monument, a stone pillar carved by an aquaintance of his, Thelor of the Blue Mountains, and his friend Adam Hornblower, the Hobbiton blacksmith. At last, Wilby's memory had been put to rest.

With his concience clear and his money reserves dwindling, Filby made the decision to enter the growing field of pipeweed trade. While he did not smoke tobacco, Filby realized that selling the weed could generate a good amount of profit, and, so, he went straight for the home of one of the Shire's leading pipeweed magnates: Lobelia Sackville-Baggins.

Filby couldn't find Lobelia, but he did find the next best thing: her darling son, Lotho. The old Pott took an instant liking to the younger Sackville-Baggins, sensing that the two had much in common. While the feeling may not have been mutual, Filby considered Lotho a close friend.

It was a while before Filby realized that which most hobbits feared more than death: he was not respectable. Approaching a friend of his, Filby asked what to do. When he was told he must leave the N.T.L. and the D.P.P. to regain respectability, Filby was saddened, but took the bad news and resigned from both these organizations. From here on in, he was alone in the elections.

Tragedy struck once again as Filby attended the Biannual Boffin Beefeaters' Ball at Nobottle. Unaware that dancing was a requirement at this event, Filby was quite literally sweeped off his feet by the aged Frinella Boffin, a matron who seemed to want desperately to dance with him. When he tried to get away from the hobbitlady, Filby fell backward into a table and borke his hip. When he was brought to the Frogmorton healing house, he was told that he would never walk again.

But this did not stop the enterprising halfling, now way, no how. Wheeling himself to Greenfields in the Northfarthing, Filby planned to attend the Spring Festival, but when he was presented with the Goblin Hat (an ugly hat given to anyone at the festival not wearing green), he was outraged. He left the scene at once, with the hat.

Fleeing southward, Filby neared the Shire's southern border, and the home of a mysterious man from the south known in the Shire as Manan Mac Nanlyr. Pott took this as an opportunity to make some money, and so, Goblin Hat concealed beneath his clothes, Filby sneaked into the house, left the hat, and sneaked out.

Unfortunately, Manan found out. When he learned that the Goblin Hat was left to humiliate him, the man went on a bloody rampage through the Shire. As soon as Filby learned that the Man-Man was on the loose, he fled home to Michel Delving and locked himself away in Pott Manor, as he knew that Manan would come for him, and that when he did it would not be pleasant.