My father, Keith Porter, tells me that we came from Virginia after Washington's victory over Cornwallis at Yorktown in (I believe) 1781. The were two Porters who arrived in the Jamestown colony in the early 1620's named Peter and Abraham or Abram. They appear on census lists in 1623 and 1624. This was during or shortly after the Pocahontas period, very very early.

The Porters appear to have been prolific and active on both sides of every great event. Porters supported both the revolutionaries and the British. My family came to Canada after the revolution as supporters of England. Now in Ontario there are a large number of us. My father tels me that of those who stayed in the United States, some were to be found on both sides of the civil war. It is his understanding (based on oral tradition in our family), that some of the virginian porters moved north to New England and served as officers in the Union army. One of them hetells me was a general on the staff of Ulysses S Grant and was at Appomattox during Lee's surrender. I found that there was such a man, but cannot prove he is in our lineal ancestry. Of course there was also Admiral David Porter of the federal navy who work with Grant during the seige of Vicksburg on the Mississipi in 1863. Again I cannot prove a direct link.

If we do descend from the Virginia Porters then we are almost certainly relatives.

I was born in 1945 in eastern Ontario and for many years now have operated my own practice as a Chartered Accountant in Toronto, Ontario.

I hope the Jamestown aspect proves helpful. I would be very pleased to learn what you know or find out.

Gary Porter