John
Porter
Born about in Dorchester, Dorset, England
[uncertain]
[uncertain]Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of
Mary (Unknown) Porter
— married
before 1635 in England [uncertain]
Descendants [uncertain] 
Father of
John Porter, Samuel Porter, Joseph Porter, Benjamin Porter, Israel Porter, Mary (Porter) Gardner, Jonathan Porter and Sarah (Porter) Andrews
Died
at about age 80
in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony
Profile managers:
Cathy Champion 
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| Created 20 Oct 2010
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There are disproven, disputed, or competing theories about this person's parents. See the text for details.
| John Porter migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 270) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm |
Contents |
Disambiguation
Note that this John Porter is not the same as John Porter of Rhode Island who married Herodias Long Hicks Gardiner.
Biography
John Porter is known to have been born in England, about 1596 -- in 1669, in a deposition, he gave his age as about 73[1] -- and it is possible that his origins lie in or near Dorchester, in Dorset, where Porters appear in the limited number of existing late 15th and early 16th Century records.[2] He married his wife Mary, whose maiden name is unknown, by 1635, the birth year of the couple's first known child. John is recorded at Hingham by 1637;[3] in the mid-1640s he removed to Salem, where he remained until his death was recorded in 1676: "Porter, John, Sr., Sept. 6, 1676."[4]. He would then have been about age 80.
James Savage, in his "Genealogical Dictionary", offered this thumbnail biography: "Porter, John, Hingham 1635, was rep. 1644, and that yr. rem. to Salem, had Sarah, bapt. there 5 June 1649, had many elder ch. as is shown by his will of 25 Apr. 1673, pro. 26 Sept. 1676, in 20 days aft. his d. aged 80. To his eldest s. John, wh. had been in prison at Boston, 1665, for abuse of his parents (whose case tak. up against the Col. by the royal commrs. that yr. made such a stir among our people), wh. d. 16 Mar. 1684, he gave only L150,he having wasted much (and this is not. a fifteenth part of the f's est.)." The will also mentions sons Joseph, the childless Benjamin, Samuel (deceased), and Israel; and Porter's daughters Mary -- who had married Thomas Gardner -- with her three children, and Sarah, who was evidently unmarried. Porter's wife Mary survived him, dying in February of 1684; Savage notes that "whether she be that Mary, wh. join. the ch. 1639, or in 1644 is not known."[5]
In 1907, Porter descendant Juliet Porter wrote that John Porter "spent his whole life in acquiring land";[6] by the time he died, he was the single largest landowner in Salem Village. Juliet Porter added that her forebear was a friend of Gov. John Endicott -- with whom he built a Salem Village sawmill, and of whose military staff he became a member -- and that he was clearly smart and capable: in addition to effectively managing his own estates, he served Salem as a surveyor and bridge builder. The house he had built on land acquired in 1646 from Elder Samuel Sharp, and which he bequeathed to his son Israel, stood for over two hundred years until destroyed by fire on September 19, 1865.[7]
Porter's prominence in Salem played a role in the emergence of a rivalry between him and another of the town's leading citizens, John Putnam[8]. The ultimate price of this rivalry was high; it established a context of tension between families that set the stage for the later witch-hunt madness... in which descendants of both men became enmeshed, both among the accusers and on the side of some of the victims, and with tragic results. This context was at the core of the PBS 1985 miniseries "Three Sovereigns for Sarah", which laid out how the factionalism in Salem became an impetus for the accusations of witchcraft.
John Porter is buried at modern-day Danvers, which in his time was Salem Village, the smaller sibling to Salem Towne.
Research Notes
Disputed Parents: This great migration immigrant previously had parents attached, a relationship for which there are no sources available. Therefore Samuel Porter and Sarah Porter have been detached. If reliable sources emerge in the future that reestablish the parental relationship, the previously-shown parents may be reattached following discussion with the PGM project.
Dorset Research: An exchange of emails (Nov. 2020) between Porter descendant Christopher Childs and the Dorset Online Parish Clerk for Dorchester & Fordington, Michael Russell, has yielded some information about early Porters in the local records (Fordington was once a separate village, but is now a part of greater Dorchester). Because of the longstanding legend, mentioned by Juliet Porter in 1907, that John Porter's wife was a sister of Massachusetts Bay Gov. John Endecott -- and the related claim that John Endecott and John Porter were friends from childhood -- an effort was also made by Michael Russell to find any trace of an Endecott family in the records; none was located.
There assuredly were Porters in Fordington in the late 16th and early 17th Centuries. However, there is no extant birth or christening record for the John of this profile. There is the 1567 will of a Richard Porter of Fordington who mentions a deceased son John, and makes bequests to John’s offspring Richard, Agnes, and Margaret;[9] if the younger Richard turned out to have a son John — named after his late grandfather (which would follow the classic naming tradition) — whose birth fit any reasonable timing for Porter-401, that would most certainly be of interest… but there is no known surviving set of records that shows us Richard’s children. It may be that some as yet undiscovered record in Massachusetts will be needed as a key to John Porter's origins if they are ever to be revealed.
There is, in fact, a Richard Porter who emigrated from Weymouth, Dorset, in 1635 aboard the ship Marygould; his entry in Anderson's Great Migration Directory reads,
“Porter, Richard: Unknown; 1635 on Marygould; Weymouth [GM 2:5:494-97].” [10]
This Richard would presumably be at least a generation, more likely two, removed from the grandson mentioned in 1567, but Richard's will, cited in the Great Migration, Volume 5, mentions a son John, echoing the 16th-Century naming pattern.[11] Weymouth is the logical departure point for those emigrating from Dorset; this, combined with the absence of any known Dorset records for Richard, son of John, son of Richard, is of sufficient interest to warrant further research: whether the emigrant Richard may have been kin to John of Salem is a question of some import.
Also of interest are Porters recorded in Stratton, about 5 miles NW of Dorchester; e.g., see the 1621/22 marriage record of bachelor John Porter to spinster Christian Squire: "Christian SQUIRE/John PORTER | Marriage | 17 Jan 1621/2 | Dorset | Stratton : St Mary".[12]
Sources
- ↑ A Porter pedigree; being an account of the ancestry and descendants of Samuel and Martha (Perley) Porter of Chester, N.H., who were descendants of John Porter, of Salem, Mass., and of Allan Perley, of Ipswich, Mass; Juliet Porter, Worcester Mass., 1907, p. 20; https://archive.org/stream/porterpedigreebe00port#page/32/mode/2up
- ↑ Exchange of emails between Porter descendant Christopher Childs and Michael Russell, Dorset Online Parish Clerk for Dorchester & Fordington, November 2020
- ↑ “Porter, John: Unknown; 1637; Hingham, Salem [HiBOP 98r; Hingham Hist 3:115; Dudley Wildes 135-38; TAG 30:157-58; Mower Anc 494-500].” -- Excerpt From: Robert Charles Anderson, FASG. “The Great Migration Directory.” iBooks.
- ↑ Essex Institute, Vital records of Salem, Massachusetts to the end of the year 1849 (Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1916-1925),Vol. 6 p. 154
- ↑ A Genealogical Dictionary of The First Settlers of New England, Before 1692, by James Savage, Volume #3, Poor - Portmont, ; http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/newengland/savage/bk3/poor-portmont.htm
- ↑ A Porter pedigree... [as above], Juliet Porter, Worcester Mass., 1907, p. 22; https://archive.org/stream/porterpedigreebe00port#page/36/mode/2up
- ↑ Historical Collections of the Danvers Historical Society, Danvers Historical Society, 1919 - Danvers (Mass.), pp. 104-105; https://books.google.com/books?id=ioslAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA104&lpg=PA104&dq=#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ↑ A Porter pedigree... [as above], Juliet Porter, Worcester Mass., 1907, p. 24; https://archive.org/stream/porterpedigreebe00port#page/40/mode/2up
- ↑ Fordington Index of Wills & Letters of Administration 1401-1955, transcribed by Michael Russell OPC for Fordington August 2007 [last updated October 2020]; http://www.opcdorset.org/fordingtondorset/Files/FordingtonWillsIndex.html#richardporter1567
- ↑ Excerpt From: Robert Charles Anderson, FASG. “The Great Migration Directory.” iBooks.
- ↑ Volume 5, pp. 494-97, Great Migration 1634-1635, M-P. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010.) Originally published as: The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume V, M-P, by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2007; https://www.americanancestors.org/DB401/i/12155/494/23909026
- ↑ FreeReg UK, parish record transcribed by Barrie Guild; https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_queries/5fa613334325a62368f71f5f?locale=en
- See also:
- Death (with image of handwritten transcript): "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG1V-TCCX : 29 November 2018), John Porter, 6 Sep 1676; citing Death, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, United States, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 007011200.
- Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, by George Thomas Little, Vol. 3, New York, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1909, pp. 1175-76; https://books.google.com/books?id=3X-4t4qKo-IC&q=%22John+Porter%22#v=snippet&q=%22John%20Porter%22&f=false
- Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Vol. 2, by William Richard Cutter, A. M, New York, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1908, pp. 1009-10; https://books.google.com/books?id=kFoLBC2TwFYC&q=%22John+Porter%22#v=snippet&q=%22John%20Porter%22&f=false
- Witch-trial references and reference to the 1985 PBS American Playhouse production of "Three Sovereigns for Sarah" (written & produced by Victor Pisano; see https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090164/) from personal knowledge of Christopher Childs (Childs-1516), descendant of John & Mary Porter and of trial victim Susannah (North) Martin, and an actor in the miniseries.
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- John Porter of Hingham & Salem: PGM? Nov 3, 2020.
Rejected matches › John Porter (1607-abt.1670) › John Porter (abt.1580-) › John Porter (abt.1540-) › Samuel Porter (1567-1659) › John Porter (abt.1787-) › John Porter (abt.1847-) › John Waugh Porter (1825-1887) › John Porter › John Porter (abt.1605-abt.1677) › John Porter (bef.1608-aft.1674) › John Porter (1638-1717) › John Porter › John Porter › Matthew John Porter
John is 18 degrees from Emeril Lagasse, 20 degrees from Nigella Lawson, 18 degrees from Maggie Beer, 42 degrees from Mary Hunnings, 27 degrees from Joop Braakhekke, 24 degrees from Michael Chow, 19 degrees from Ree Drummond, 22 degrees from Paul Hollywood, 19 degrees from Matty Matheson, 22 degrees from Martha Stewart, 29 degrees from Danny Trejo and 22 degrees from Molly Yeh on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
Categories: Puritan Great Migration
The Porter Family, Miscellaneous and supplement information, #100. C.M.M. Barrow, of old Sutton Rectory, Blanford, Dorset, England. He reports the following "John Porter 1596-1676 of Dorset England: departed with his wife Mary (nee Endicott, nee Buel) from Weymorth, England Mar 20, 1635 aboard the vessel "Susan and Mary". The vessel was bound for Massachusetts Bay Colony, landed two months later in Hingham, MA. Although no source is listed it's a hint on Mary's LNAB.
edited by Michelle (Gerard) Hartley
I don't think I've seen the Buel suggestion before. If I have, it's long enough ago that I'd forgotten it.
Doesn't look as though the Porter Family supplement is accessible online. Any chance you could send me a scan of the relevant page(s)? I can private-message my email if you don't already have it.
The alleged daughter Rachel (Porter) Goodwin needs to be detached: the argument that her maiden name was Porter, based on a partial coat of arms, specifies that she was the daughter of a John Porter of Warwick; there is no evidence, and no reasoned claim exists that I'm aware of, that the John Porter of this profile was from Warwick: the only county he has ever been associated with is Dorset.
John Porter should be PGM: he is shown in Anderson's Great Migration Directory, based on his appearance in Hingham in 1637; GMD listing:
“Porter, John: Unknown; 1637; Hingham, Salem [HiBOP 98r; Hingham Hist 3:115; Dudley Wildes 135-38; TAG 30:157-58; Mower Anc 494-500].” -- Excerpt From: Robert Charles Anderson, FASG. “The Great Migration Directory.” iBooks.
edited by Christopher Childs
Since there is confusion and mixed understanding of the wife's name, marriage date, and daughter, this profile should be protected.
When the research is completed and the profile update is finished, please comment here, then I (or another leader) will protect it under the Puritan Great Migration project, Thank you, Christopher.
Here is the help link to PPP: [1]
(Let me take one more pass on the wife's profile, and I'll see if that's also ready for PPP.
Cutter, in his "New England Families" (1913), assigns no maiden surname to the wife of John Porter of Hingham and Salem; neither does Juliet Porter in her "Porter Pedigree" (1907); more recently, neither does George McCracken, FASG, in "The Salem Gardners" in TAG 30 (1954), p. 155. Anderson notes John Porter of Hingham and Salem in the Great Migration Directory, but the Directory offers no clue to his origins or family; the main books of the GM series cover only another John Porter (of Roxbury and Rhode Island), but again do not enlighten us as to where the Salem man came from, nor as to the maiden identity of his wife. In short, no real authority seems to exist for naming Mary Endicott/Endecott, an alleged -- but evidently unrecorded -- sister of Gov. John Endecott, as John's wife. Yet the assertion has somehow crept in and is now, predictably, repeated widely across the 'net.
The tradition that John Endecott and John Porter were friends from boyhood in Dorchester, Dorsetshire, seems to have a long but vague history -- notwithstanding that it has been vigorously argued now for about a century that Endecott's boyhood was spent some sixty miles west of Dorchester, at Chagford in Devon. If true, the tradition might at least explain the origin of the suggestion (which was noted by Juliet Porter as longstanding, even in 1907) that Mary Endecott was John Porter's spouse: if the two Johns knew one another from childhood, it would stand to reason that an Endecott sister might wind up marrying her brother's friend. This would carry more weight if anyone could demonstrate that John Endecott in fact _had_ a sister named Mary. But no proof has yet been forthcoming.
In the light of all this, and after a significant research effort, I have now somewhat regretfully proposed that the profile of my alleged ancestress Mary Endicott/Endecott (Endecott, BTW, is the spelling now favored by the Endecott Family Association) be revised so that the spouse of John Porter is shown as Mary (Unknown) Porter.
In A genealogy of the descendants of Richard Porter ... (1878) pg 223, there is an earlier collection of material though not as extensive.
These are two examples.
Why am I interested? He's an ancestor of several persons for whom I looked at their family history, such as Frank A. Gardner, MD.
I am a researcher and descendant of Matthew Stanley (1629?-1686) who was an early immigrant to Massachusetts (1646?) He may be related to the Matthew Standley who was a servant to Edmund Chapman, Esq. of Middlesex in 1640. That Edmund Chapman seems to have a connection to John Porter, cousin of Thomasd Brett, who is Edmund Chapman's father-in-law. I have discovered a cache of documents on Edmund Chapman, Esq., whose servant was a Matthew Stanley in 1640. They are summarized on the British National Archives website:http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/s/res?_q%22Edmund+Chapman%22&_sd1550&_ed=1625
Short title: Chapman v Porter.
Plaintiffs: Edmund Chapman and Anne Chapman his wife, daughter of Thomas Brett.
Defendants: John Porter, Edward