William Potter, of Lewes

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Patricia Law Hatcher, "English Origin of the Potter and Beecher Families of New Haven, Connecticut," The American Genealogist 79 (2004):28-33. Hatcher has definitively settled a problem which was tentatively resolved nearly half a century ago by Donald Lines Jacobus. References to a widow Beecher and a widow Potter in early New Haven have been thought by some to refer to two women, while others (including Jacobus) have thought these records referred to one woman. Hatcher has found English records for this family in Lewes, Sussex, where William Potter married Ann Langford on 6 October 1607. This couple had four children, two of whom, sons William and John, survived and accompanied their mother to New England in the late 1630s. William Potter died in 1619 and his widow married John Beecher early in the following year. They had two children, one of whom, son Isaac, also made the migration to New England.

GEDCOM Note

Biography

Research published in 2004 identifies the father of the immigrants Potter-137|William and Potter-146|John Potter as William (not Potter-6592|John) Potter.<ref name=TAG79>Hatcher, Patricia Law. "English Origin of the Potter and Beecher Families of New Haven, Connecticut," in The American Genealogist 79(2004):28, citing St. Thomas parish records, and register of wills, Lewes, Chichester. (Online database AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) Volume 79, Pages 28-32.</ref> This is new research and profile has had amerge mixup and incorrect parents attached.
William was born about 1582, based on his marriage date. The names of his parents are not known.<ref name=TAG79 /> He married 6 Oct 1607 in St. Thomas, Cliffe, Lewes, Sussex England Ann(later Hannah) Langford.<ref name=TAG79 /><ref> "England Marriages, 1538–1973 ," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NK4Z-7V9 : 10 February 2018), William Potter and Ann Langford,06 Oct 1607; citing Saint Thomas, Lewes, Sussex, England, reference ,index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,067,241.</ref> William Potter, housekeeper, was buried there 14 August 1619,<ref name=TAG79 /><ref>Parish registers and poor law records for St. Thomas-in-the-Cliffe General register (baptisms, marriages, burials), 1606-1744; Baptisms, 1713-1881; Marriages and burials, 1738-1812; Marriages and banns, 1755-1812; Marriages, 1813-1837. image 20</ref> and his widow married second John Beecher January 1620. By 1635, his widow, along with her Potter and Beecher sons, emigrated to New England, settling in New Haven, Connecticut.<ref name=TAG79 /> Children: bpt. St. Thomas-in-the-Cliffs, Lewes, Sussex, England<ref name=TAG79 />#William Potter, bpt 28 Aug 1608;<ref>"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J7ZD-8P8 : 10 February 2018, William Potter, ); citing St. Thomas-in-the-Cliffs, Lewes, Sussex, England, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,067,241. image</ref> m. say 1633 in England, Frances ____; went to New England.#John Potter bp 18 Feb 1609[/10]<ref>"England Births and Christenings,1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NDZV-1ZZ : 10 February 2018, John Potter, ); citing St. Thomas-in-the-Cliffs, Lewes, Sussex, England, index based upon data collectedby the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,067,241. image</ref>; m. say 1635, prob. in England Elizabeth _____; went to New England. #Mary Potter bpt 21 Mar 1611[/2].<ref>"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N1Y3-6JH : 11 February 2018, Mary Potter, 21 Mar 1611); citingSt Thomas-in-the-Cliffs, Lewes, Sussex, England, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,067,241.</ref> No further record#Steven Potter bpt 1 Aug 1614.<ref>"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NDZV-TL7 : 10 February 2018, Steven Poter, ); citing St. Thomas-in-the-Cliffs, Lewes, Sussex, England, index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 1,067,241.</ref> No further record.

Sources

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See also:* James Shepard, "The New Haven (Conn.) Potters, 1639," in NEHGR 54(1900):20-26. This is the source that claims that Isaac Beecher was step-son, not son, of Ann/Hannah (Langford) Potter Beecher; but Hatcher disagrees and makes the case for Isaac being son of Ann/Hannah.* Donald Lines Jacobus, Families of Ancient New Haven, (9 vols., 1922-32), 1(1922):162-63; 6(1926):1459-61. It is this work that suggested that John Potter was he who married Elizabeth Wood in Chesham, Berkinghamshire, in 1630. Hatcher found this lead to be a dead end and does not support it.

• Mary Walton Ferris, Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines, 2:671-3* Edward Atwater, History of the City of New Haven to the Present Timewith Biographies, New York (1887), 83* Donald Lines Jacobus, "The Widow Potter-Beecher of New Haven," in TAG, 34(1958):218-20.* Robert Charles Anderson, "New Haven Proprietors," in Great MigrationNewsletter, 13 (2004):9* John Camden Hotten, ed., The Original Lists of Persons of Quality...(London, 1874), 97-98: On 1 July 1635, William Potter, husbandman, 27, Francis Potter, wife, 26, and Joseph Potter, 20 weeks, brought certificates of travel from London on the Abigail.