Good afternoon
Sorry for the delay in my reply things are rather hectic here at work and also I am getting married on Saturday, so lots of final bits and pieces to sort.
I am marrying a lovely Scottish Lass in Bannockburn, so mixing Scots in to the Potter line now.
Thank you for the links and the information , its given me a massive insight in to my family from this area and was fascinating reading, answered some off the many questions I have. I will outline my connection and line very briefly here , but I promise once back off my Wedding/Holiday I will add more detail and the link to my Ancestry.co site which has documents attached.
As for the clan gathering that would be amazing, so definitely something that’s needs to happen at some stage.
I think in my mail I said David was my Great Great Uncle, sorry for misleading, looking at my family tree he is my Great , Great , Great Uncle.
David Potters father is John Potter born 1786 In Worth Sussex.
John Potter’s father is William Potter born 1749 in Worth Sussex.
Charles Potter is my Great Great grandfather and brother to David Potter born in 1833 in Worth Sussex and appears to have taken over the family business- Blacksmiths/farriers ( Horse Shoers). He died 5 April 1898 and is buried in Crawley Down at All Saints Church Plot A-201.
Charles and David’s mother was Ann Potter ( Dolton) Born 1789 in Worth and was married to John Potter 26th May 1807 also of Worth, Census of 1861 she is shown as head of house as Farmer/Blacksmith of 15 Acres, there are 4 of Charles and David’s older siblings still living at home and they are shown as being deaf and dumb from birth. Charles Is living next door with his family ( Including my great Grandfather John Potter).
My Great Grandfather John Potter moved away a few miles to Blindley Heath in Surrey it appears ,to work as a farm labourer, this where he met and married Mary Jane Shirley and lived in a cottage on the Common ( Shirley family is well know in the village) and by 1901 he is a Carter at Blue Anchor Farm Blindley Heath
My Grandfather Edward was born a few miles away at his Grand mothers ( Shirley family) in Yew Tree Cottage in 1904 ,he died in 1968, his mother Mary Jane Potter ( Shirley ) died in 1906 and the family was split up and he was then bought up with family and lived in 16 the Blocks ( Now called Cottenhams) Blindley Heath. He then married Florence Seymour and went on to live and bring his family up in 16 The Blocks.
My Grandfather was a keen Cricketer and played for the local side including playing for Captain Woolf Barnato in the late 1920’s Barnato who lived on the edge of Blindley Heath in a house called Ardenrun Place which was destroyed by fire in the 30’s . Woolf Barnato owed the Bentley Motor company and was 3 times LeMan 24hrs winner 1928,1929, 1930 and Barnato’s helped found the Kimberley Diamond mines in South Africa.
My father Donald was born in 1931 at 16 The Blocks and moved away to Lingfield with his family shortly before WWII some 3 miles away, after a spell in the RAF my Dad met my Mum got married and moved back to Blindley Heath and in to the nearly built houses which occupied the site of the Blocks ( they were condemned and demolished several years before) now called Cottenhams , in fact moved in to number 16 and we have overlaid the plans and it appears the house my Dad was born in was mostly in our front garden.
Both my brother and myself were born and bought up in 16 Cottenhams and my brother still owns the house now .
There is an article in a local history society that shows John Potter ( David’s Father) owning land along with various other bits of family information – I have attached the extract on a word doc.
Below is screen shot form my Ancestry tree, there is a lot more in formation attached to this, as I said I will mail the link.
Hope this has helped make this side of the Potter family a bit clearer. Any questions please ask
Kind Regards
Rob
Subject: From Robert Potter
Nice to hear from you, cousin. There is a great deal written about the “Potter Dynasty” of Penwyllt, including a Thesis of UCW Swansea. Our mutual cousins, the historian Stuart Davies and the author Tony Hibbert can tell you a lot about them. I have written up all the information that I know in volume one of my autobiography just published with Authors Online. Tony Hibbert wrote “Fresh Flowers for M’Lady” about Adelina Patti of Craig y Nos Castle. A preprint of it is is available in the blue box on the home page of www.aias.us. My great great grandfather and your great great uncle David Potter married into a Royal Celtic Line represented by Rachel Morgan, who was descended from the Princes and Normans. All the genealogy is posted in great detail on www.aias.us. I would be most interested in his genealogy recounted by yourself here. David Potter’s diary is in Brecon Museum, and he was by all accounts a fine singer with a good grasp of English and probably also Welsh. I attach my descent from Brychan Brycheiniog (fifth century), which shows the line back from Rachel Potter, your great great aunt. Rachel’s Uncle, Morgan Morgan, was a well known industrialist known as “The Squire”, although in fact he was not an Armiger. Morgan Morgan sold the Castle in 1878 to the very famous Adelina Patti, later Baroness Cederstrom. If you are in this area we can have a clan gathering at the Castle. Vey few survive a Potter clan gathering from what I hear. Rachel was also descended from my great great great great great grandmother Elizabeth Portrey of the Ynys Cedwyn Hall Gentry. We recently discovered a document that proves this definitively (attached). She married her distant cousin Morgan ap Thomas y Garth.
Myron Evans
Prof. M. W. Evans, Armiger (Squire or Gentleman)
Civil List Scientist
www.aias.us
In a message dated 14/08/2012 18:28:16 GMT Daylight Times:
Dr Evans,
I came across your blog with references to David Potter, he was my Great Great Uncle. Charles Potter was my Great Great Grandfather and brother to David Potter. I have been researching my family which originates in Worth in Sussex and have gone back as far as approx. 1749 with a William Potter ( My 4 times great Grandfather and David Potters Great Grandfather) . I was born in Blindley Heath Surrey only a few miles away from the Worth area, my brother still living in Blindley Heath which from my research shows an almost continuous line of Potters living in this area from at least 1749 – present.
I am very interested to hear all about the Potters from Penwyllt and was very excited to see that his diary and letters still exist in Brecon museum( A visit I must make) some of which were written to my 3 times Great grandmother I believe . I had no idea when about a year ago when I discovered that a member of the family had moved all those years ago so many miles to make a new life in the Welsh valleys, that I would uncover so much detail and information.
I will be making a visit to the area sometime soon to take a look around and see the places mentioned for myself, as you can see form my works email/address I now myself live in Wales working in Newport and living in Pontypool.
I would like to apologise for the sudden email out of the blue from what would seem a complete stranger, but maybe as you can tell I am quite excited about all this, I am very proud to be a Potter and loosing my own father some years ago now at the age of 24 and never knowing my grandfather who died 1969 2 years before my birth in 1971, made me then realise how little I really knew of my family’s history and of all the questions I still had and maybe would never know the answers to so many years later i decided to research as much as I could find out about the Potters…
Any information on the Potters you can pass on would be very gratefully received.
Kind Regards
Rob Potter
