LAURENCE MANN/ MORTER
So far so good, having only started my research in April`03, in a few months I seemed to have made strides! At the onset, I subscribed to a new monthly Ancestry magazine, which had a reader’s section called ‘Seeking` in it. I sent in an email explaining my research; it appeared in the 2nd edition. About a month later, I received an email from Laurence Mann. Apparently, he had a great-great-great grandfather ‘John Morter` b 1783, whose daughter Mary was married to a Richard Mann from Hethersett, near Norwich!
He wanted to know if this agreed with my records. It certainly did, not only that; in their next email, Laurence goes on to say, and I quote:
“I would love to have more detail – it would also explain my father’s hitherto unsupported insistence that some part of his family had Huguenot roots…As most Huguenots left France around 1685, it is possible that your earliest Philip Morter is either a son, or maybe even a 1st generation Exile.”
So Laurence’s father agreed with my father! We have two major breakthroughs here:
1. A further confirmation of our line, as indeed Laurence is my 4th Cousin,
2. And perhaps more importantly, an independent reference to “ The French Connection” outside of my immediate family!
Also the date 1685, ties up perfectly, with the parentage question marks, regarding Philip & Dorothy and Philip & Catherine!
Since then, I have been in regular contact with Laurence, who has been doing the research. Regarding their Family Line, from the 64-page Dossier, Mary Morter was one of 6 children of John b1782-3 & Elizabeth (Wells) Morter, Mary married a Richard Mann on 27th Aug 1859 in the Parish Church at Hethersett.
He has also created a special ‘morterandmann` Email Yahoo Group Inman@cix.co.uk where data can be exchanged.