I've known about this ancestor since long before I started blogging, and have delayed posting about him. But honesty compels me to share the stories of all the ancestors I can locate, "the good, the bad, and the ugly". William's story will get pretty ugly, although it starts out much as that of many of our ancestors of this time period.
William was the son of William and Ann or Hannah Langford and was born at Lewes, Sussex, England, on or before August 28, 1608, his baptismal date. (His parents had married on October 6, 1607). He was the oldest of at least four children born to the couple, but sadly, his father died just 11 years later. We know little of William's early upbringing, but his father is listed as a "houskeeper" in the burial records. My best guess, which is still just a guess, is that he was a head servant in the house of a gentrymen or merchant's family. One could choose to say he ran some sort of inn, or that he was a lighthouse keeper, but those seem a bit of a stretch. Ann/Hanna remarried within just a few months, to John Beecher, and William had two step-brothers and then two half brothers.
One site I looked at said William was a Quaker, but it seems pretty clear to me that he was a Puritan. We don't know the name of his wife, although it is frequently given as Frances Child or Childe (with no documentation). We know they were married by 1635, when William, Frances, and a 20 week old child came to America on the ship Abigail. Some say that the family first went to Boston, which is possible, but if so, they didn't stay there long. When Rev. John Davenport went to what became New Haven, Connecticut in 1637, John Beecher, William's step-father, and perhaps his mother were with Davenport. (Again, it's possible that Ann/Hannah stayed in the Boston area with William until 1638, when they all apparently went to New Haven.)
William and Frances had at least six children and it appears that the family lived together if not happily, at least with little known discord. William received land and gradually moved "forward" in the church pews (assigned seating based on status and perceived spirituality). The only office that we know of that he held was that of fence-viewer, which was one that required a certain degree of tact. He advised in court proceedings that he was well-educated, and could read. Through both dividends and purchases, he acquired several parcels of land, which were used in his occupation as "husbandman"-small farmer who owned land, basically.
He was called into court at least once, to explain his handling of his niece's inheritance. Potter had kept some animals that were to be the niece's, and he agreed to continue to raise the animals but to pay his niece a fee annually until she set up housekeeping and needed the animals.
Something serious happened in the Potter household by 1660. From this distance, it appears that the family was totally dysfunctional, and Joseph, the oldest son, backed up by his mother, made charges of bestiality against his father. After some time, William "confessed". It may be that the charges were based on fact and that William did the right thing in acknowledging them, even knowing that this would lead to the loss of his life. It may also be that he had become a pariah of some sort, because bestiality was a crime that men on the fringes of society were charged with, similar to the witchcraft charges against women who were not witches at all. Or it could be that it was a plot by Frances and Joseph, to acquire William's property and to rid themselves of a man they didn't care for. Some readers have suggested that William was mentally ill and under duress when he "confessed", and that he just wanted his misery to be over.
He was convicted, by his own words, and was hanged after the assortment of animals that he "admitted to" were hanged in front of his eyes, on June 6, 1662. He wrote a will but it was not honored, at least not initially. Frances took charge of the money and paid Joseph more than he was given in the will, and paid others money that was intended for William's other children. There were more court cases to get the will properly executed, and it looks like eventually the children did get their inheritance.
It's not our job to ascertain blame in this sad case, but simply to acknowledge that we may not know the whole story. (At least one set of neighbors spoke against the charges, but when a man confessed, what was the court to do?) We can't relate to the charge, but we can understand that there were some sad dynamics at work in this family. None of the Potter children named any of their children William-or Frances.
The line of descent is
William Potter-Frances
Hope Potter-Daniel Robinson (Robbins)
Joseph Robins-Hannah Pack
Bethiah Robins-John Nations
Christopher Nation-Elizabeth possibly Swaim
Joseph Nation-Jerretta Vickery
Elizabeth Nation-Christopher Myers
Phoebe Myers-Adam Brown
Phoebe Brown-Fremont Holbrook
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Another line you share with my husband on his mother's side. His grandmother was a Nation.
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