John
Peters first appears in the parish records of Portslade in 1778
when he married Susannah Cheeseman. This marriage was by
license and is recorded in the Transcripts of the village and
also appears in the Boyd’s Marriage Directory. The
two witnesses were William Cheeseman and Thomas Trussler.
There
has not been any proof from which village John came from and at
the moment there are at least three possibilities – there is
the Steyning connection where there are records of a John Peters
being baptized in 1754 to a John and Mary Peters. This source
comes from the vital records index but when checked against the
parish records it would appear that the record for John Peters in
1754 in a burial one. The only connection to this area is
that Harriet Butcher who married John’s son William in 1804
also came from Steyning. The other records show that a John
Peters was baptized in Henfield, which is the closest parish to
Portslade in 1750. Again when the parish records are consulted
there is evidence of this John Peters being married and raising a
family in the same parish - so it would rule him out as a
possible contender. Also there is one in Lewes and one in
Slaugham all around the early 1750’s. As yet no
positive links have been found to single out any of them as a
potential candidate.
The first connection appears to be with coal merchant and farmer Thomas Mitchell who leased land to John Peters in the late 1770’s. In 1794 Court Rolls record him as owning a piece of land – piece of waste on west side of King’s High Road Portslade and this was sold in 1798. In 1812 the piece of land re-appears and is now owned by Francis Peters who is the youngest son of John. Francis has become heir because of “Custom of the Manor – Borough English” which is a custom practiced in the southern counties of England whereby the youngest son inherits. (see link for Will of Francis Peters)
One very interesting point that does emerge when looking at the parish records for the Peters and Cheesemans is that there appeared to be some intermarrying (see time line of events link). It seems that in 1816 when old William Chesseman died his daughter Susannah was married to Thomas Peters and his other daughter Mary was married to Francis Peters - thus both brothers were married to first cousins on their Mother's side. This may have been how the Mill was inherited. This Windmill used to stand in North Street Portslade. Thomas Peters was there from 1820 until around 1832, then William and Francis ran it together until around 1870 when Edwin Peters joined the firm and he and Francis were partners until about 1880. Edwin continued to run it on his own until 1882 when the mill was found to be unsafe and demolished. There is also the Peters connection with Portslade pubs. In 1841 William Peters ran the Bull Inn (this could be Thomas' son ). In 1852 George Peters was in the George, in 1887 Thomas Peters was at the Southern Cross while Martin Peters was a beer retailer in lower Portslade.
It is difficult to say who was the most successful of the four surviving Peters sons of John and Susannah but documentary evidence would suggest that Thomas and Francis fared well (see links). The least successful son appears to be William. He is listed in parish records as being a millers man possibly working at the windmill for his brother. By 1841 his occupation is listed as a victualler - again possibly working for a member of the Peters family in one of the Pubs - the Bull Inn perhaps. His son Arthur was the first to leave the village for London in the early 1850's and sadly William's wife Harriet died in the workhouse at Old Shoreham. One interesting note is that both William's son Arthur and his daughter Harriott married into the Standing family from Pulborough namely James and Ester (or Hester) whose father James Standing had moved to Montpelier Rd in Brighton and was listed as a gardener. See also Clive Henly's web pages. www.henly.f9.co.uk