John Porter Sr.

An ancestor with a lot of records which include him...as well as some famous descendants! 

John Porter Sr.
1563–1625

BIRTH 21 FEB 1563 • Felstead, Essex, England
DEATH AUGUST 1625 • Felsted, Uttlesford District, Essex, England
my 11 times great-grandfather

John is listed as a yeoman through various Ancestry sites.  A Yeoman was a member of "a social stratum of commoners below the landed gentry, but above the husbandmen. Wikipedia.

He married Sybil Vessey (1561-1625) They apparently (according to Ancestry listings) had 10 children. 

Several of their children immigrated to the American Colonies...as various New England genealogical records show. John Porter Jr. was well known in Windsor, CT, and I've posted about him and his wife Anna HERE.

Anna (Mrs. John Jr.) White Porter was sister of three other New England emigrants: John White, Elizabeth (White) Goodwin. & Mary (White) Loomis.

Anna and John Porter Jr. had eleven known children. (The Parish records of Shalford & Messing, Essex, England) 

John Jr. was a Puritan and a prosperous cloth trader, as well as served in many capacities to help the early towns of Stratford and Windsor, CT. (where I lived in the 1960s)

Sarah Porter Judson was the third child of the 11 siblings...and was among those who came with her parents to the New England Colony in 1638. They settled in Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut. She married in 1640 or 1644 to Lt. Joseph Judson, The Judson family came first to Massachusetts colony, then settled in Stratford CT.

Anna Rosanna White Porter

Repost from 2018...

 Happy birthday to Anna Rosanna White Porter 

BIRTH 13 JULY 1600 • Shalford, Essex, England 

DEATH 11 MAY 1647 • Windsor, Hartford, Conn

She was the mother of Sarah Porter Judson and great grandmother of Anna Curtiss, wife of  Zachariah Booth, Emigrant to American Colonies.

Daughter of Robert & Bridget (Allgar) White. Sister of three other New England emigrants: John White, Elizabeth (White) Goodwin. & Mary (White) Loomis.

She and John Porter had eleven known children. The Parish records of Shalford & Messing, Essex, England list Anne Whighte baptised July 13, 1600 in Shalford, daughter of Robert Weight. SOURCE: American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI) vol 138, Pg. 460.

And she's one of the few of my ancestors that has a birth date (actually her baptism date) for a great times 10 grandmother!

And I must mention the fact that I lived in Windsor Connecticut in the 1960s, where the Porter family had lived and Anna and her husband died.  I admit I didn't walk the same paths that she did, but I probably drove the same roads that were part of her life.  Just 320 years later!  I must mention that my husband had grown up in the Hartford, Connecticut area in the 1950s and attended a "prep school" named Loomis.  I'm sure it was founded by the same family.

It's fun to look back at any of the New England ancestors, especially those who were in leadership positions, because there are so many records about them, and if they came from a family in England (which most of them did!) who had church records about birth/baptism, marriage and death, then there are lots of records to check.  However, when all the records say a man was married at 4 years of age, and another record at least lets him get to be 27 before marrying, which one am I to believe?  So at this juncture, I've been looking at John Porter's father, and finding some of the dates of his death are based upon a written text (thank heavens I could find and read it) where it says, "John Porter a boy."  So I doubt that this is our ancestor.  I can only do this research for about a half hour at a time, because it really gives me a headache.  

And in honor of Anna (Rosanna) White Porter, the records that I have give her birth, her marriage, and a whole list of children's names.

Burke's American Families with British Ancestry (pg. 2869) says her husband,

John Porter of Windsor Conn, born 1590; emigrated to America from Felsted, Essex, England ca. 1637, to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, later moving to Windsor in 1639; married Anna (who d. 1647) dau. of Robert White, and d, 1648, leaving issue, 1. Samuel, 2. Nathaniel, 3. Eleazar Porter, 4, William Porter (physician.)

Her father, Robert White, left a will, which gives a lot of information about the family in England.  I won't go into his life here, because I might want to feature him in a separate blog sometime.

Anna Rosanna married John Porter of Windsor Connecticut,  and she was the 6th of 8 children of Robert and his wife Brydgette Algar. Source: Descendants of Joseph Loomis in America, and his antecedents in the Old World, pg 104 in Loomis Genealogy.

Anna and John Porter had their first 9 children born in England.  They are listed in records of their baptisms from 1621 to 1637.  One son, Samuel, died at 2 months of age.  This is interesting because the Burke's publication quoted above has him continuing to live, and being the head of a family.  Yes, having lost the first Samuel in 1632, the Porters named another son Samuel who was born in 1635. Source: English Origins of New England Families, Second Series Vol. III, pg. 736.

In the same source, page 732, Anna White Porter and her sister, Mary White Loomis, are described living in homes next to each other in Windsor, CT.

And on page 731, same source, Anna White of Messing (England) is married to John Porter of Felsted on 18 Oct 1620.  That same page talks of Anna's death (as John Porter's wife, in 1647) and her husband's will, when he died in 1648.

Much of the same information is repeated in "Families of Ancient Windsor," under John Porter, Sr.

Though there was a date of death in Windsor CT for Mrs. Porter (her given name wasn't mentioned), her burial is unknown.  Her third child was Sara Porter, who married Joseph Judson, and they were my 9 times great grandparents.  But their story will be for another day.

This post belongs to the Barbara Booth Rogers Family Tree. Photo shows Mataley Mozelle Rogers, and her mother Mozelle Booth Miller, and my sister Mary Beth Rogers.

In honor of Spencer Clack's death, July 9, 1832

 Repost from 2018

Ada & George Rogers Sr. and granddaughters Mary Elizabeth and Barbara Booth Rogers 1948 Houston TX. I'm adding this photo to posts in the George Rogers Family Tree.

I recently saw a post on one of my more famous (there aren't that many!) ancestors, Spencer Clack of Sevierville, TN.  The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) chapter is named after him there.  So Lieutenant Clack must have been pretty important in that area.  Anyway, the new post had a document about a "Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files Page 10 - Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant."

 Original marker standing (broken) and Revolutionary soldier honorary marker for Spencer Clack

Carved likeness of Spencer Clack on his grave marker. before it was broken.

Recently added document

But it was completely illegible.  I copied the photo, cropped it, enlarged it, enhanced the contrast and brightness, but it was all gibberish. So I was glad that the original source, Page 10, was cited, and when I went back there, I could read about John Alvey's pension request by his widow, Francis, or maybe her survivors as to whether she could have received pensions for the last days of her life, written in 1857.  Who is he? Who is she?

The Ancestry tree I have doesn't have any John Alvey, or even Francis Alvey on it, especially related to Spencer Clack.  I wonder who they were? And how they are related to Lt. Spencer Clack.  When I asked, the person who's tree it was added to said he/she hadn't been working on that part of her/his tree lately, and didn't know who it referred to either.

Here's the best I was able to do with my limited photo skills.  More will be coming I'm sure.

I located a pretty good summary of Spencer Clack's life, HERE. 
I'm copying it below, in case you want to know more about him.

Spencer Clack (1746-1832) 

by Miss Tommie Clack, Abilene, Texas; and J. A. Sharp, Sevierville, Tenn.

Spencer Clack, Revolutionary soldier, settled in Sevier County, Tennessee, in 1788 or 1789. Little is known of his military service except that he was a lieutenant of a Virginia (Henry County) militia company in 1782-83; Captain Tully Choice was company commander. He was born, March 28,1746. His obituary gave his birthplace as Loudoun County, Virginia, but this could not be accurate for Loudoun County was not partitioned from Fairfax County until 1757, and no Clack records, as early as Spencer's birth, were found in either of these counties. 

Spencer Clack did, however, live in Loudoun County, and witnessed there, in 1770, the will of Thomas Beavers; also, Loudoun County was probably where he married Mary Beavers about 1766. He sold his lands in Loudoun County in 1777 and moved southward to Henry County, Virginia about 1778, when he purchased land in the latter county. In 1786, when Franklin County, Virginia, was formed from parts of Henry and Bedford Counties, he became one of the first justices of the new county, and in 1787 he sold his Franklin County lands, just before his westward trek to Sevier County, Tennessee. 

No conclusive proof of the parentage of Spencer Clack has been offered, although various attempts to do so have been made by descendents and genealogists. It does seem certain, however, that he descended from Rev. James Clack, English-born rector of Ware Parish, Gloucester County, Virginia, from 1679 to 1723. 

The Spencer Clack home in Sevier County was located on the right bank of Little Pigeon River, immediately below the junction of the East Fork and West Fork of that river. Here, in 1808, Spencer obtained an occupant grant from Tennessee for 442 acres; most of this land was on the north bank of East Fork directly opposite to the town of Sevierville, or the Forks-of-Little Pigeon, as this frontier settlement was known. The Chandlers and Walkers, Clack descendents, later owned the same place and the old Clack home was located on the same site as the later Chandler-Walker home. Near his home Spencer operated one of Sevierville's first mills, also a cotton gin and wool-carding machine. 

Spencer Clack was prominent in the affairs of the Forks-of-Little Pigeon (Sevierville) Baptist Church from the time of its formation in 1789 until his death. For many years he served as church clerk. In addition to his church activities he was interested in education and politics. He was an early trustee of Nancy Academy, Sevier County's first school and gave money for its support. He was one of the five Sevier County delegates to the Knoxville convention of 1796, which drafted and adopted Tennessee's first constitution and he was a signer of that document. He also represented Sevier County in the lower house of the first three Tennessee legislatures, 1796-1802, and in 1801 he served on the legislative committee "to prepare a device and motto" for the Great Seal of Tennessee. 

Neither the Spence Clack Bible record nor the Spence Clack will have been found; therefore, the writers will list only those who were unquestionably children of Spencer and Mary Beavers Clack. Perhaps, in this way, the confusion and error of other Clack descendents and genealogists may be avoided. Good proof exists for the following Clack children: Martha, Rawleigh (Rolly) (b. 1772), Rhoda (b. 1776), Catherine (b. 1778), Frances (b. c1783), Mary (b. 1785) and Malvina. 

Martha Clack's marriage to Josiah Rogers occurred in Franklin County, Virginia, in 1786; they apparently came to Sevier County with the Clacks. Rawleigh Clack was married (1) to Mary Randles in 1791, and after her death he was married (2) to Martha Kerr in 1816; this marriage took place in Sevier County. Sixteen children resulted and about 1820 Rawleigh and family moved down the Tennessee River to Rhea County, Tennessee, where he died in 1842. Rhoda Clack married James Randles in 1791; they raised a family of twelve on Boyd's Creek in Sevier County. Randles died in 1816, while on a trip to Virginia for salt, and was buried somewhere in Washington County, Virginia. Catherine Clack was married, in 1794, to Rev. Elijah Rogers, early and well known Baptist minister in East Tennessee; they raised five sons and five daughters at their Sevier County home near the mouth of the Little Pigeon, on the French Broad River. Mary Clack married William Miller; they left Sevier County at an early date and settled in Meigs County, Tennessee, where she died in 1860. Frances Clack was married (1) to Mordecai Gist; after his death she married (2) John Mynatt of Knox County, Tennessee. Malvina Clack married Major Beavers; they left Sevier County for Talladega County, Alabama, soon after the War of 1812. 

There were doubtless other Clack children, but the writers do not believe that Spencer Clack, Jr. John Clack and Nancy Clack were children of Spencer and Mary Beavers Clack, as some published accounts claim. However, there is a well established tradition that there was a son, Micajah Clack, who was "killed by lighting." And there may have been a daughter named Rebecca Clack, but again we must rely only upon tradition for proof. Also, in 1789, one Sarah Clack (b. c1773) married William Henderson in the "Forks of Little Pigeon," as shown by bounty land papers in the National Archives; they migrated to St. Louis County, Missouri, about 1840. We believe that this Sarah Clack, heretofore unknown to present generations of Clack descendents, was another daughter of Spencer and Mary. 

Spencer Clack's death occurred, July 9, 1832 and he was buried in the old Baptist Cemetery at Sevierville; the original flat limestone rock with the unique carving of Spencer's face and the initials, "S.C.", still marks his grave. Mary Beavers Clack died, August 14, 1840, and was buried by the side of her husband. At the time of his death a contemporary described Spencer Clack as a "pious… worthy Christian, kind and affectionate. . .an excellent neighbor, remarkably even and unruffled in temper."

I highlighted Catherine Clack and Rev. Elijah Rogers, my great times 4 grandparents.

If you know who the Alvey's were, please leave a comment below! Thanks.