Robert Porter (abt. 1380 - aft. 1420)

Born about 1380 in Scotland

Ancestors

Descendants

Died after 1420 after about age 40 in Scotland

Biography

This profile is part of the Porterfield Name Study.

Robert is presumed to be the son of Stephen de Porter. His name is written in Latin as Robertus Porter dominus de Porterfield. In 1399, he confirms a mortification by his father. ^[1]

Only one son, John Porterfield, is known.

From A General Description of the Shire of Renfrew (1818) we have the following on Robert:

To Stephen succeeded Robert his son and heir Which Robert out of his charity to the church and poor according to the opinion of those times that they did a very agreeable service to God Almighty to be liberal to the church and clergy mortified to the Monastery of Pasly "pro salute animae suae patris & matris ejus & pro salute omnium antecessorum & successorum annuum reditum sex decem denariorum de Burgagio Johannis Walker in Renfrew in liberam puram & perpetuam eleemosinam ad duos anni terminos per aequales portiones viz ad Festum Pentecostes & Festum Sancti Martini & insuper Egopraefatus Robertus Porter Dominus de Porterfield ratifico approbo & hac praesenti Charta mea confirmo illam donationem & concessionem quam Ste phanus Porter quondam pater meus fecit Deo & Beatae Virgini Mariae & Beato Jacobo & Beato Mirino Confessori de Pasletto & Monachis ibidem Deo servientibus"^[2]

The above Latin text translates to English (by way of Google translate) as:

And his mother's father, and for the salvation of his own soul, for the salvation of all my ancestors and successors, an annual income of six and ten pence of the Burgage of John Walker in the Renfrew, in free, pure and perpetual alms, by equal portions at the two terms of the year, at the feasts of Pentecost and the feast of Saint Martin and it has already Egopraefatus (?) Robert Porter Lord of Porterfield, ratify, approve and confirm it in this paper is my gift and my father once made a concession to Ste hygrophanous Porter God and the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. James & St. Mirino Confessor of Pasletto and the monks there serving God.

'Origines Parochiales Scotiae: Diocese of Glasgow' states in 1361 Robert granted the Abbey at Paisley half a merk and in 1399 gave the monks a small annual rent and confirmed a "former grant from his father Stephen Portar". The land of Porterfield are described as "a forty shilling land of old extant"^[3]

'Kilmacolm: a Parish History, 1100-1898' (1898) indicates he is found in two deeds. One offers an annual amount of 12 pennies and another he offers 16 pennies by one account.^[4]

Research Notes

Many on-line biographies mention a last name of Porter. This seems derived from The Porterfields (1947).^[5] While the earlier A General Description of the Shire of Renfrew (1818) cites the name as Robert Porterfield, while quoting an earlier text in Latin that names him Robertus Porter Dominus de Porterfield, which translates to Robert Porter, Laird (or Lord) of Porterfield. The name is left as Robert Porter with an alternate last name of Porterfield. Lenover-1 12:15, 9 August 2014 (EDT)

Sources

1. ↑ William Hamilton, Descriptions of the Sheriffdoms of Lanark and Renfrew (1878), p.95; scanned image, Google Books (http://books.google.com/books?id=F-M-AAAAYAAJ).
2. ↑ George Crawfurd, A General Description of the Shire of Renfrew (1818), p. 62; scanned image, (http://books.google.com/books?id=bpnmAAAAMAAJ),
3. ↑ Anderson, William (1850) Origines Parochiales Scotiae: Diocese of Glasgow Edinburgh, Scotland: W. H. Lizars pp. 77, https://books.google.com/books?id=0GTlAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 2011-08-05
4. ↑ James Murray, Kilmacolm: a Parish History, 1100-1898 (1898), p. 240; scanned image, Open Library (https://archive.org/stream/kilmacolmparishh00murr).
5. ↑ Frank Burke Porterfield, The Porterfields (Roanoke, Virginia: Multiprint Inc, 1947), p. 7, digital images, https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89066246737;view=1up;seq=15. Hathi Trust Digital Library (https://babel.hathitrust.org: accessed 29 April 2019).

See also:

• William Playfair, British Baronetage: Volume III (1811), pp. 120-121; scanned image, Open Library (https://archive.org/stream/britishbaronetag31play#page/n3/mode/2up).