FYI I looked this couple up in Arnold's Vr and came up empty. I also looked in the Gardiners of Narragansett and had nothing there. Potter and Gardiner are 2 of my major lines but this couple was a first for me. Hopefully someone else on the list has run across them. Donna Potter ---- K E <kenofnocal@yahoo.com> wrote: > Greetings. I am trying to determine the parentage of > one William Gard(i)ner and Betsy (or Elizabeth) Potter > - both apparently of one of the RI Kingstowns. > > The information I have about this couple comes > exclusively from a death record for one of their > daughters - Am(e)y (Gard[i]ner) Clark - who died in > Attleboro, MA in January of 1880. Her death record > lists her as the daughter of William Gardner and Betsy > Potter of South Kingstown, Rhode Island, and suggests > she was born about 1806/07. > > I should probably say in advance that I am not > entirely positive that the Amy Clark represented in > this death record is my 4th great-grandmother, but > she is likeliest candidate. > > Here is what we know: > > According to census records and other sources, my 3rd > great-grandmother Susan Clark was born in 1838/39 in > the Smithfield/Central Falls/Pawtucket/North > Providence area of Rhode Island. We have yet to locate > a birth record for her, but she married Ephraim Hunt > Tappan (Toppan) - son of Abraham Tappan and Sarah > Stockman of Newburyport, MA - in 1856, and settled > with him in Attleboro, MA. They had three children > (who survived): Charles, William, and Ella. > > Susan Clark had a sister named Lydia (b abt 1835-37), > and although we have yet to find a birth record for > her either, we know that she married Albert Briggs > (the business partner of Ephraim Hunt Tappan - Susan's > husband), and settled with him in Attleboro as well. > According to birth records for the children of Albert > Briggs and Lydia Clark she was born in South > Kingstown, RI, suggesting that the family had lived > there before moving to the Smithfield area. > > Susan Clark's obituary (from the Attleboro Sun, > January, 1912) indicates she was the daughter of Lyman > Clark (b in Pawtucket). Her death record states that > she was the daughter of Lyman Clark and Amy Gardner > (of one of the Kingstowns). We have yet to locate a > birth record for either Lyman Clark or Amy Gardner, > but an entry from the 1850 census for an Amey Clark > (age about 44) household in Smithfield, RI with two > daughters (Susan, 12 and Lydia, 15) suggests she may > have been widowed by 1850. Her approximate date of > birth would be the same as the Amy Clark who died in > Attleboro in 1880, and the fact that her two daughters > were living there at the time is at least > circumstantial evidence that this is our Am(e)y > Gard(i)ner. (There was another Amey Easton Gardiner > born to Samuel Eldred Gardiner and Mary Carpenter in > March of 1807 but the Attleboro link for the Amy > Gardner, d of William Gardiner and Betsy Potter > strikes me as a more likely fit). > > There do seem to be multiple William Gard(i)ners and > Betsy (which is often short for Elizabeth) Potters in > the Washington County area at the time of Amy's birth, > but I have yet to be able to connect any two of them > by a marriage record. They seem both likely to have > been born between 1765 and 1788, and married perhaps > sometime between the early 1780s and 1806. > > Thank you for any help you might be able to provide. > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com > > > ==== RIGENWEB Mailing List ==== > Bristol County RIGenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~ribristo/ > RI Cemeteries Index http://www.rootsweb.com/~rigenweb/cemetery/ >