The Porter's came to America from Great Britain and settled in Virginia Colony in the 1600's. In 1715, Charles Porter received a King's Grant of 135 acres on the bank of the Nottoway River, Isle of Wight County of the Colony of Virginia. That was followed with an additional grant of 285 acres in 1724 and 275 acres in 1728. In 1749, Southampton County was carved out of Isle of Wight County.

After the United States was formed, the entire states of West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois, and portions of Ohio and Western Pennsylvania were all later created from the territory encompassed earlier by the Colony of Virginia.

John Porter was born about 1740 and died in 1777 in Southampton, Virginia. He was married to Rebecca and they had five children: Thomas, John, Benjamin, Jesse and Tabitha. Since family farms generally were passed down to the eldest sons, younger siblings began to move west to the new Southwest Territory (most of which is the present day Tennessee).

Pre-statehood settlers of Tennessee generally came from Virginia and the Carolinas by way of the Cumberland Gap, over a trail, which had been blazed by Daniel Boone.

John and Rebecca's second son, John, was born about 1767 and was one of those settlers who moved westward. He married Lucy Hopkins on January 7, 1797 in Williamson County, Tennessee. They had five children: James Hopkins Porter, Thomas Brantley Porter, Joseph Moody Porter, Mary J. Porter and Amanda F. Porter.

Thomas Brantley Porter, who was born on November 2, 1804 in Franklin, Williamson County, Tennessee, married Mary Covington in Murphreesboro, Rutherford County, Tennessee on December 3, 1827. About 1836, they moved west to Arkansas.

Thomas and Mary had nine children: Jane E. Porter, Amanda Thomas Porter, Mary Eliza Porter, Joseph Bartlett Porter, James Columbus Porter, Thomas Brantley Porter, William F. (Callie) Porter, Edmond Lafayette (Fate) Porter and John W. Porter. The first four children were born in Tennessee and the last five were born in Arkansas.

Edmond Lafayette (Fate) Porter was born in 1854 in Harmony, Johnson County, Arkansas. On July 8, 1877, he married Alice Mintora Harris in Harmony and they had five children: George William Porter, Edward Calvin Porter, Maude Derthula Porter, James O. Porter and Thomas Arthur Porter.

George William Porter, who was born January 26, 1883 in Weatherford, Palo Pinto, Texas (we don't know why they had moved to Texas) married Emma Florence Maines on November 25, 1915. They had two daughters: Florence Helen Porter and Mildred Porter.

Florence Helen Porter married Frederick William Wrightson, Jr on July 1, 1939 in Fresno, California. They had three sons: Frederick William Wrightson, III, William Don Wrightson and Dale James Wrightson.

Mildred Porter married Raymond Denham in 1942 in Fort Bragg, NC. They had two daughters: Marsha Denham and Cheryl Denham.

You can go directly to the data base and check the Porter entries.