Question

Seeking verification of wife and children of my 5x g-grandfather Col. William Porter - B: 1756 Lancaster, PA   D: 1817 Rutherford, North Carolina. Wife may have been Mary Gilkey - B: 1765 in Pennsylvania  D: 1846 Pennsylvania. I have verified their son, my 4x grandfather, William D. Porter B: 1786, Rutherford, NC  D: 1852 Rutherford, NC  but there is conflicting info on his siblings

Answer 1

Hello!
I don't have the information first-hand, but I think I know someone who might. If you haven't already, I recommend reaching out to Marian Presswood of FindAGrave. Having placed the history of Col. William Porter on the website (along with an "in memory of" plaque), she seems like a good place to start. Good luck!

FindAGrave profile of William Porter:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/71762049/william-porter
FindAGrave member profile of Marian Presswood:
https://www.findagrave.com/user/profile/47361548

Comments

Thank you for answering

Answer 2

Hello Kim, I searched online and came up with on familysearch.org, https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/GZD2-WTW/col.-william-porter-1746-1817. It does say that Colonel; William Porter was born in about 1746, Lancaster, PA  and died in 1817 and married twice (2) Mary Gilkey (1765-1846), which and (1) Margaret Steele (b. 1760). Col William Porter had one child James Porter with Margaret Steele, he was born in 1783 and died in 1854. ( I am assuming that Margaret Steele is Col. William Porter's first wife because of the birthdate of James Porter being his earliest child, and the rest of his children (10) were born about 1784- later than 1802). This of course is unsourced information on familysearch.org, and there are only two records associated with Col. William Porter that can be viewed which are census records. 

I also found an interesting read on this website http://orwm.org/assets/WilliamPorter2.pdf, this one is titled SAR Compatriot: Eric Paul Salbeda-William Porter, Lieutenant Colonel, Rutherford Militia (1776-1782), This document states that he married Mary Jane Gilkey (daughter of Captain Robert Gilkey, veteran of the Revolutionary War) and their first child was William D. Porter born in 1782. William and Mary were granted 50 acres of land at French Broad River. And soon to be followed were 6 boys and 2 girls. (This indicates that there is possibly a file at the Sons of the American Revolution they have a genealogy section https://www.sar.org/genealogy/, maybe you can find further information on your ancestor(s), including an online copy of record.                                                                                                                                                          I hope this helps you a bit,

Best Regards,

Wendy Quick

Comments

This does help. Thank you for answering.