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Tracing Family Tree - Paul Harris from Oz (5th May 2006 - 04:46:43) Hi, I'd like your help if possible. We have come to a dead-end with tracing one of my desendants, a Charles Potter who was born in Liphook in 1857. We have tried census and birth records which only reveal his birth year and town and offer no detail of his parents/family. Is there a local research resource that I can use to uncover the details of his parents or family. Parish records for example. Or are there any Potters still residing in Liphook that may help. Thanks for any help. Regards, Paul Harris from Oz

Re: Tracing Family Tree - Heather (19th May 2006 - 15:18:46) Hi Paul, I see you have already checked all the census records etc, but as I am interested in genealogy, I had a quick look for Charles Potter myself. I noticed that there is no Charles Potter born 1857 in Liphook listed in the 1888 census (although there is one in Landport, Hampshire, which is in Portsmouth). In 1901, I found a Charles Potter living in Farnham, Surrey (not very far from Liphook) aged 44 (which would make his birth year 1857). His place of birth is given as Lynhook, which I presume is a misspelling of Liphook. He was a general labourer. I couldn't find any trace of a Charles Potter born locally in the Free BMD records, so he is obviously not going to be easy to trace. Bear in mind that unfortunately for local genealogists, Liphook has two confusing problems: 1. It is right on the boundaries of both Surrey and W. Sussex, and some places that we tend to think of today as part of Hampshire, Forest Mere for example, were listed as part of Sussex in official records a few years ago. 2. Liphook was only a small off-shoot of Bramshott until the coming of the Railway, when it out grew its parent Parish, so many addresses in old records are given as, for example...... Headley Road, BRAMSHOTT. To confuse matters even more, Bramshott has a variety of spellings, so keep your searches unspecific! There are numerous local archives, maintained by the Bramshott and Liphook Preservation Society, but as far as I am aware, they do not have any records specific to Family research. I have had a quick flick through some of the publications and books that I have, but did not spot any Potters mentioned. There are a number of names that have been known in this area for centuries, but I don't think Potter is one of them, so again that's not much help to you. It may be that your ancestor's family (I'm sure you meant 'ancestor' and not 'descendant' in your post!) was only here a short while. However there are any number of reasons why his details are missing from online records and there is no real substitute for a visit to the County Record Office, (which would obviously be slightly expensive and time consuming for you!), but try this website which gives details of all the records held in Hampshire..... http://www.familia.org.uk/services/england/hampshire.html See item 3 in the Libraries index.....they have a limited look up service which may be of use. Sorry I can't be of any more help. I'd love to be proved wrong about your difficult task and read a follow up post to this from a Potter who knows their family history and can make a connection for you! Good luck with your research! Heather

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