RootsChat.Com

Good morning,

I have been away from this site for several months because of a life threatening illness in my family (my wife - she is now well on the road to recovery) and have therefore only just begun to catch up with posts.

I am researching the Potter name in relation to my grandfather.  The father's name on my father's birth certificate is Philip Daniel Potter and his occupation is given as a butler.  My grandmother was living at Tisbury Wiltshire at the time of the birth.  Census checks etc have revealed no Philip Daniel Potters but there was a Philip Henry Potter from Devon in the censuses.  My grandmother was, not to put too fine a point on it, wayward.  She had a goodly number of relationships and a number of illegitimate children.  All of the birth certificates have a father shown although in two cases the father denies paternity (in divorce proceedings in 1901).

The one thing one can say about my granny is that she always put a name for the fathers of her children and those people did exist.  I am therefore trying with absolutely no success at all to research the Philip Henry Potter from the census.  Perhaps he was employed in the Tisbury area of Wiltshire around the turn of that century I don't know.

If one assumes(I know one never should) that Philip Henry is my grandfather then he is the son of John Potter of Sticklepath, Devon.  Philip's siblings were George, Andrew, Maria and Emily.  John in turn had 2 siblings Frances and William H.  William H was born about 1831.

I have "played around" with these names but have so far been unable to prove any connection with my grandmother however tenuous.

As a shot in the dark is there any possible connection between my William H Potter (living at Ellacombe, Torquay at 1891 census) and your William Potter.

Regards

Alan

I have used that very machine or one which is a lookalike in the same room at the same records office.  Mind you that was before Ancestry et al.  Then you could actually read from the parish registers - what a joy!  You were touching the same page that your ancesters had touched!

Regards

Alan

No that is very true.  Anyway I feel sure that the programme researchers could have suggested that someone involved somewhere could have had a brass-rubbing kit handy.  It was just my very feeble attempt at a jest!!!!

Regards

Alan

I agree with the posters in relation to photgraphs etc.  Of course we only see the edited and finished product but I feel sure that the subjects record something of their search or it is done for them and handed over later.  I really cannot believe that they would not.

regards

Alan