Elizabeth (Jennings) Porteus (1694 - 1754)

Born 1694 in York County, Virginia

Ancestors

Wife of Robert Porteus Sr. — married 1712 in America

Died 20 Jan 1754 at about age 60 in England

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Fred Sheffield [send private message] and Christina Halfhill [send private message]

Biography

Elizabeth (Jennings) Porteus was born in Colonial Virginia.

Elizabeth Jennings, daughter of Edmund Jennings, Esq. and his wife Frances Corbin (daughter of Henry Corbin),^[1] was born about 1694^[2] in York County, Virginia.^[1]

Elizabeth married Colonel Robert Porteus^[1] "of New Bottle, Gloucester county"^[3] as his second wife^[4] and "afterwards removed to England, where she became the mother of Beilby Porteus, Bishop of London".^[3]

Elizabeth Porteus died 20 January 1754 at age 60 and was buried at St Martin's, Coney St't, York^[2] (Coney Street church, York, North Yorkshire, England).^[5]

Elizabeth is the 1st cousin of Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia.^[6]

Children

Named: Beilby Porteus (born 18 May 1731), who became Bishop of Chester and, "after 1787, of London"^[2][7]

18 Others: Beilby, "born in 1731, last but one of nineteen children", was born in York, England;^[8] in 1720 Robert had relocated to England "[i]n order to procure a better education for his children, and on account of ill-health".^[7]

Research Notes

Birth: 1694^[2] Birth "by 23 February 1693/4", was based on the will of Edward Portheus, written that date (proved 1700), which names his sister Elizabeth.^[9] However, that Elizabeth may not be this one. Richardson names five children of Edmund and Francis (Corbin) Jennings: two sons (Edmund and William) and three daughters (Elizabeth, Frances, and Anne).^[1] The will - of Edward (not Edmund) - names brothers John and Robert, sisters Mary (wife of Thomas Lowny), Isabel, Elizabeth, and Christian, and son Robert. The will also mentions "my fathers estate in Newbottle, Scotland",^[9] so while I think that Edward (died c1700) is a relative, I do not think he's this Elizabeth's brother.

Note: The will also names three other women as "wife of" (just before it names his sisters). Their husbands: John Gardner, Thomas Buckner, and David Alexander. The will's executor was Captain John Smith,^[10] and it was witnessed by Sarah Buckner and Richard Bradshaw.^[9] The profile for Thomas Buckner discusses Edward's will:

"With his [Thomas Buckner's] unnamed wife, he was also a legatee in the will of Edward Porteous written 23 February 1693/4. "Sarah Buckner" also signed it as a witness, possibly his wife, though perhaps someone else due to the inability of a legatee to witness a will (note that this would usually void only the legacy, not the entire will).[7] Tradition identifies his wife as Sarah Morgan, and virtually all commentators have agreed since Crozier's time,[8] due to voluminous circumstantial evidence in support of it."^[11]

"Thomas' brother in law, David Alexander, and his wife received exactly the same legacy from Porteous (10 pounds) as Thomas and his wife, so presumably they were legatees as daughters of Francis Morgan. This may imply that Porteous was related to them, perhaps their grandfather or an uncle."^[11]

Marriage: 1712^[4]

• conflicts with WikiTree's dates for the death of Robert's first wife and the birth of one of his children by his first wife^[4]
• if they had 19 children, with Beilby the 18th, born in 1731, then they had 18 children in 19 years (1712-1731), with the 19th born after 1731.^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, II:465 JENNINGS 18.i.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Withington, "Virginia Gleanings", page 96:
   
   

   Eliz: ux: Robt. Porteus of York Gt. Ob. 20 Jany 1754 aet 60, bur'd in St Martin's Coney St't York M.S. (Mother of Beilby Porteus, B'p of Chester) [and, after 1787, of London]
   
   

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Lyon Gordon Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, entry for Edmund Jenings (accessed 7 August 2019).
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} See Robert's profile.
5. ↑ Pinterest (acessed 7 August 2019).
6. ↑ https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:Relationship&action=calculate&person1Name=Jennings-1605&person2Name=Lee-535
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 46, Beilby Porteus, by John Henry Overton ‎(wikisource for Beilby's Wikipedia article, accessed 7 August 2019).
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Wikipedia: Beilby Porteus (accessed 7 August 2019).
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2} Withington, "Virginia Gleanings", page 143.
10. ↑ Probably the John Smith, father of Robert Porteus's first wife, Mildred Smith.
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} From Thomas Buckner's profile, accessed 7 August 2019. Citations:
    • [7] "Virginia Gleanings in England (Continued)." The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 13, no. 3 (1906): 303-12. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4242748.
    • [8] W.A. Crozier, W.D. Buckner, and H.R. Bayne, The Buckners of Virginia and the Allied Families of Strother and Ashby, Genealogical Association, 1907, p. 153, Google Books

• Richardson, Douglas. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. 2nd edition. Salt Lake City: the author, 2011. See also WikiTree's source page for Magna Carta Ancestry.
• Withington, Lothrop. "Virginia Gleanings in England: Abstracts of 17th and 18th-century English Wills and Administrations Relating to Virginia and Virginians : a Consolidation of Articles from The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography" (Google Book, accessed 7 August 2019). See pages 94-96, 142-144.

See also:

• Wikipedia: Edmund Jenings
• Elizabeth Jenings, Early Colonial Settlers of Southern Maryland and Virginia's Northern Neck Counties (accessed 7 August 2019).

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Christina Halfhill for creating WikiTree profile Jennings-2083 through the import of Halfhill.ged on Oct 8, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Christina and others.