Person Page 697

Sarah Porter

Facts and Notes

• Birth: UNKNOWN
• Name:
• Anecdote: See person note below¹
• Marriage: 12 May 1700; Benjamin Woodson^1,2

• Note: Henry Morton Woodson wrote the following in the Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons and Their Connections:
  "The English Porters are all descended from William de la Grande, who came over with William the Conqueror. His son Roger or Ralph, was Grand Porteur to Henry 1, whence comes the name. Lands were awarded to William de la Grande by the Conqueror, in Kenilworth near Warwick. In succeeding centuries they spread to various parts of England, and in the seventeenth century joined the adventurous nobles emigrating to America." (Amer. Heraldica.) "The first emigration of the Porters to America were the descendants of John Porter, born 1519, at Wraxhall Abbey, in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England. John Porter, the first in America, founded Windsor, Connecticut. His son, Samuel Porter, with his wife and sister, Mary Porter, settled in Massachusetts. Mary Porter was married in 1658 to Samuel Grant, ascendant of Gen'l U. S. Grant of the United States army and President of the United States.
  "From Samuel Porter came Col. John Porter of the Revolution, who married Abigail Buell. Their son, Peter Buell Porter, became a distinguished man; was member of congress from New York, major general in the War of 1812, appointed chief of the army by President Madison but declined, was secretary of state of New York, was secretary of war of the United States 1828-1829, died in 1844.
  "The Virginia branch of the Porters, William and John, were large patentees of land in Henrico and Cumberland counties, and some of their descendants were found in Lower Norfolk. They intermarried with the Willoughbys, the Kemps, and through them, with the Herberts and Curtises. Captain Thomas Porter, son of Thomas Porter and Mary Kemp, married Elizabeth Dutoit, daughter of Pierre Dutoit and Barbara Bonnet (Huguenots). Their son, Captain John Porter, Gent., lived and died in Cumberland county (the title 'Gent.' indicating that they were of the nobility). Their daughter, Ann Porter, married Charles Sampson, son of Stephen Sampson and Mary Woodson. This leads to the inference that Sarah Porter, who married Benjamin Woodson, was of this family of Porters." (Americans of Gentle Birth, Vol. I, pg. 354)."

Citations

1. [S454] Woodson, Henry Morton, Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons and Their Connections, Woodson, Henry Morton. Historical Genealogy of the Woodsons and Their Connections. Memphis, Tennessee: H.M. Woodson, 1915.
   
   A copy of this book is available on Ancestry.com (see http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=15304), openlibrary.org (see https://openlibrary.org/books/OL1758627M/Historical_genealogy_of_the_Woodsons_and_their_connections), and Google Books (see http://books.google.com/books/about/Historical_genealogy_of_the_Woodsons_and.html?id=GuhfAAAAMAAJ)., Page 26
2. [S821] Beamis, Joan M. and William E. Pullen, Background of a Bandit: The Ancestry of Jesse James, pg 49