William Porter and Jane Clark

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Husband William Porter ¹

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           Born: 15 Jun 1739 - Ireland 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 7 Feb 1824 3
         Buried: 

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         Father: [Father] Porter (      -      )
         Mother: 

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       Marriage: 

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   Other Spouse: Martha Ross (1750-1790) 4 - 14 Mar 1770 1

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Wife Jane Clark ⁵

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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         Father: [Father] Clark (      -      )
         Mother: 

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   Other Spouse: William Coulson (      -      ) 5

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Children

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1 F Rebecca Porter ³

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           Born: 4 Sep 1800 - York Co, PA 3
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Samuel Nelson (      -      ) 6

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2 F Martha Porter ³

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           Born: 15 Dec 1803 3
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Samuel Nelson (      -      ) 6

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3 M Joseph Clark Porter ³

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           Born: 14 Oct 1806 - York Co, PA 3
     Christened: 
           Died: 29 Mar 1894 - near Kilbourne, Delaware Co, OH 7
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Margaret McCurdy (      -1898) 7
           Marr: 30 Dec 1834 7

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General Notes: Husband - William Porter

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William and James Porter were the first of the York County branch of the Porter family to come to Pennsylvania. The family had been settled in Donegal and Londonderry counties, Ireland, before arriving in the Colonies. Here they joined members of the same branch who had previously settled in the western parts of York, now Adams County, Pennsylvania. They settled near the present town of Gettysburg, where they remained until the middle of the Revolutionary period. Some time during this period or just prior to it William Porter returned to Ireland and brought back with him to Pennsylvania his father and his younger brother John. He is said to have had a half-brother David. When Col. Thomas Black of the York County Militia removed from the vicinity of Gettysburg to the Monaghan Settlement he was accompanied by William and John Porter, who purchased farms, one on one side of Colonel Black's plantation and one on the opposite side, at a place that came to be known as Porter's School.
James Porter, the third brother, is said to have accompanied Anthony Wayne to the West. After the treaty of Greenville all trace of him was lost.
William Porter served in the York County Militia in 1781. He was appointed second lieutenant of the Hamilton Bans Co. when the militia was ordered to New Jersey. At Trenton, December, 1776, when Cornwallis attempted to out-manoeuver Washington, William Porter was among those left to guard the camp on the Assunpink while Washington led his troops to Morristown. While attempting, with his brother, to rejoin his regiment at Princeton the two took refuge from the rain and sleet under a tree and were standing close together reloading their rifles under the protection of their broad-brimmed hats when a shot from Cornwallis' retreating riflemen pierced his abdomen and rendered him hors de combat.
After his release from the hospital at Princeton he continued to serve in the militia and at the close of the War was a member of Captain Bodine's Company, Colonel Parkinson's Regiment, in 1784. In 1779 he served on the Committee of Elections for York County, and was appointed Assessor the same year. In 1779 John Forsyth, Jacob Bushong, Martin Eichelberger, Adam Doran, Rudolph Spangler and William Porter, all of York County, received certificates in lieu of pay issued to Pennsylvania troops for services rendered to the United States. William Porter was an elder in Monaghan Presbyterian Church and succeeded Colonel Black as precentor.

1 Blanche T. Hartman, Genealogy of the Nesbit, Ross, Porter, Taggart Families of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, PA: Privately printed, 1929), Pg 50.

2 Blanche T. Hartman, Genealogy of the Nesbit, Ross, Porter, Taggart Families of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, PA: Privately printed, 1929), Pg 76.

3 Blanche T. Hartman, Genealogy of the Nesbit, Ross, Porter, Taggart Families of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, PA: Privately printed, 1929), Pg 78.

4 Blanche T. Hartman, Genealogy of the Nesbit, Ross, Porter, Taggart Families of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, PA: Privately printed, 1929), Pg 50, 77.

5 Blanche T. Hartman, Genealogy of the Nesbit, Ross, Porter, Taggart Families of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, PA: Privately printed, 1929), Pg 77.

6 Blanche T. Hartman, Genealogy of the Nesbit, Ross, Porter, Taggart Families of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, PA: Privately printed, 1929), Pg 124.

7 Blanche T. Hartman, Genealogy of the Nesbit, Ross, Porter, Taggart Families of Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, PA: Privately printed, 1929), Pg 125.