R382
Husband: William Porter Sr.
Born: About 1707 in Ireland, York Pa., or Virginia
Died: 1782 in Goshen, Rockbridge County, Va. Will [R920] drawn
in 1780
Father: Unknown, but many sources say Benjamin Porter of Orange
County Va., b. in Ulster, Northern Ireland
Mother: Ann Campbell, b. in Wales
other sources say his parents were Nicholas Porter and Elizabeth
Mitchell
Wife: Jane or Jean (Gean) (Mackey) Porter (the spelling is Gean in
her husband's will)
Born: 1711 in Virginia
Died: After 1782
Married: About 1727
Children:
John Porter [R381], 1730-before 1804
Jane Rebecca Porter (Gean in her father's will), b. 1731 Augusta Co.
Va., d. 1814, m. 1749 Samuel Black, b. 1725-35 in Londonderry
County Down, Ireland, d. Dec 26, 1782. Note: Blacksburg Va. was
named for William Black, s. of Samuel and Jane, who gave the land
and established the town.
Margaret Porter, b. 1733 in Augusta Co. Va., d. 1795 in Rockbridge
Co. Va., m. 1755 John Mitchell Jr., 1716-1789
William Porter Jr. b. 1735-1740 in Augusta or Botetourt Co. Va., d.
May 10, 1804 in Rockbridge Co. (soldier in Continental Army),
m. 1763 Mary Bowen, b. 1748 Augusta Co. Va., d. 1820 in Lincoln
Co. Tenn.
Mary Porter, b. 1736 in Augusta or Botetourt Co. Va., d. 1813 in
Rockbridge Co. Va.,
m. first John Mackey, b. 1703 in Scotland, d.
1773 in Augusta Co.,Va. (buried Timber Ridge cemetery,
Rockbridge Co.); m. second Joseph Little, 1785
(Others?)
(2013) The name of William Porter is first seen in August 1742 in land records of Orange County, (now part of Rockbridge County). The deed says that he purchased land located at a spring by Middle Creek, in the Kerr's Creek district of the county (an early frontier settlement, see [R515]), two miles west of Rockbridge Baths. Porter also acquired at least three other nearby tracts of land by 1754. He erected a log house on his 1742 property in 1755. It was a two-story house with large stone fireplaces at each end. This house was his home until his death in 1782, when ownership passed to his son, William Porter, Jr., whose executor sold it in 1811 to Frederick Snider. The building, still sound, appeared as in Fig. R382a in 1936.
The log house, long unoccupied, was bought in 1954 by a Texas contractor and builder who tore it down, carefully placing a label on each piece, even the stones of the chimney, and removed it to San Antonio, Tex. Additional stone from the original site was also used to rebuild the fireplaces. The exterior was preserved as nearly as possible like the original house would have been when it was built. Even some of the old fashioned roses and other flowers were removed to help maintain the original look. This home has been featured in several articles in San Antonio newspapers.
