The Disappearance of the Potters

John Potter of 'The Hill' died finally on the 15th April, 1802, aged eighty-five, passing on his estates to his daughters, including Rose Nevin and Elizabeth Carson, later to pass at least some of her lands to her first cousin, Maria West.

Blackwood also notes that in his will, John also left legacies to John Johnston Potter, and David Johnston Potter. Blackwood clearly could not uncover exactly how John Johnston or David Johnston were related to John, and opened a new page for this branch. 

Copied from a Liverpool Irish website. The unique Liverpool identity,
and accent derive from Ireland, rather than England.
The slogan in the photo was coined at the time of the
1916 Easter Rebellion.

It is interesting to observe that like Godfrey West, these two Potters also left County Down for good, and made their way to Liverpool, there to make fresh starts in life. For whatever reason, all was not well for them in Downpatrick. 

Blackwood records six children for John Johnston Potter. Two of these children were apparently tinsmiths in Liverpool and Tranmere respectively. Of David Johnston Potter's four children, two became mariners.

It is said that probably three-quarters of Liverpool's population has Irish descent, with two major periods of influx taking place during the period of the great famine of the 1840s, and, earlier, at the time of the 1798 United Irish rebellion. And certainly it was around this time that both these two Potters along with Godfrey West arrived in the city.

There are a number of other Potters listed on the County Down website of Ros Davies, some no doubt relatives of John Potter, but again there are no clear-cut connections.

As we have learned though, the John Potter who married Maria Hadzor was a highly successful entrepreneur, and the man who was responsible for Harriett Wombwell inheriting her portfolio of County Down lands. The majority of his holdings and wealth passed to his daughters after his death. Whatever legacies he passed on to John Johnston and David Johnston Potter seem to have gone little way to securing for them the life of luxury that John and Maria must have enjoyed in Downpatrick.