Fortner-Porter Cemetery, Hinds County, Mississippi

It all started in February 2011 when I contacted an individual named Carol Hughes about her post on an Ancestry.com message board.  According to the post, Carol and I were researching the same individual, Anastacia Porter Lawson Porter. Known as "Gracy" to family members, Anastacia was the second wife of William Porter, who died in Hinds County, Mississippi in the 1800s. According to most accounts, William Porter was the son of Landlot Porter and Winnie Palmer Porter. More about the Porter family of Hinds County, Mississippi can be read here. 


Shortly before reading Carol's post on the message board, I had read about a small family cemetery near Raymond, Mississippi that allegedly contained the graves of Gracy, her husband, William, his father, Landlot Porter, and other Porter and Fortner family members. I shared this information in an email to Carol, and was struck with amazement when I received her reply telling me that she lived within a few miles of the cemetery's  location.  Although she had no previous knowledge of the cemetery's existence, Carol readily volunteered to locate it and kindly offered to photograph whatever headstones she might find. As most of us know, family obligations, weather, and life in general often take precedence over family research activities, and almost a year went by before Carol was able to make the trip to the cemetery. Although Carol had actually located the cemetery this past January, she discovered it was located on private property and permission to access the property was needed from the owner. 



But Carol was persistent, and on February 20, 2011, her visit to the cemetery became a reality, albeit a bittersweet one. Although the cemetery is located on privately owned property, it has been vandalized and some of the heavier stones and monuments have been toppled.  Gracy Porter's stone was one of those that had been overturned. Landlot Porter's grave marker is still standing, and with Carol's permission, I have posted a photo of it here today.  

Middleton-Porter Connections

It appears that several Porter-Middleton marriages already had occurred in South Carolina and in Alabama, before descendants of these two families actually arrived in the Mississippi Territory.  In fact, one of these occurred in Adams County almost twenty years before the marriage of my fourth great-grandparents, Mary Middleton and Samuel Porter, who wed in 1825 in Franklin County, Mississippi. That marriage took place on April 21, 1808, in nearby Adams County, Mississippi, when Mary Middleton, daughter of  John G. Middleton and Elizabeth Middleton, married John Porter. (Since Franklin County had been established from a portion of Adams County, it is entirely possible that both marriages could have occurred in the same location.) The earlier marriage was performed by Shadrack Porter, a justice of the peace and the groom's brother, and both men were sons of Lancelot (Landlot) Porter and his wife Winifred Palmer Porter. According to the U. S. Census of 1810, there were two additional Porter males, William and Joseph, who were enumerated as heads of households in Franklin County, Mississippi.  


At this point, it is unknown how William, Joseph, and my fourth great-grandfather, Samuel Porter, were related to Landlot, John, and Shadrack, or to each other. Nor do I know names of the parents of Samuel Porter and Mary Middleton Porter. One thing is certain, however, the Porter and Middleton families had lived in proximity to each other in at least two states for several decades and continued to do so in southwest Mississippi  until newly formed counties opened up for settlement elsewhere. 


It appears that Samuel and Mary Porter remained in Franklin County for at least five years after their marriage, since Samuel was enumerated on the U. S. Census recorded that year as the head of a household that consisted of one female under thirty and two children, a male and a female, under five years old. The next time that Samuel appeared on a census was in 1837, when he was shown on a state census recorded that year that shows him living in Madison County, Mississippi.


Next:  The Porters of Madison and Attala Counties


Source:
Hunting for Bears, comp., Mississippi Marriages, 1776-1935 [database on-line].  Provo, UT, USA:  Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.  Original data:  Mississippi marriage information taken from county courthouse records.  Many of these records were extracted from copies of the original records in microfilm, or book format, located at the Family History Library.


Ancestry.com.  Mississippi State and Territorial Census Collection, 1792-1866 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:  Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.  Original data:  Mississippi State and Territorial Censuses, 1792-1866.  Microfilm V229.  3 rolls.  Heritage Quest.


Ancestry.com.  1830 United States Federal Census [database on-line].  Provo, UT, USA:  Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010.  Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

Landlot Porter's Presence in Mississippi

According to early state and territorial census records, Landlot Porter and four other Porter males, John, Joseph, William, and Shadrack, were residents of Mississippi before statehood. Most researchers agree that William Porter, who married Gracy Lawson in Franklin County, Mississippi, on January 29, 1826, was the son of Landlot Porter and his wife, Winnie Palmer Porter. Since William Porter, who is buried in the Fortson-Porter Cemetery near Siwell in Hinds County, Mississippi, was already the father of adult children when he died in 1834, it is likely that he was born before the Porter Family migration to the Mississippi Territory ever began.  Porter family researchers also seem to agree that Landlot Porter was the son of Edward Sanders Porter and Mary Jeter of Union County, South Carolina.  In fact, Edward Turner Porter, enumerated on the U. S. Census of 1850, son of William and Gracy Porter, was most certainly named for his Porter great-grandfather.


According to U. S. General Land Office Records, Landlot Porter acquired 80.64 acres of land in Hinds County, Mississippi, described as Section 9, Township 5 North, Range 1 West.  This acquisition of land in Hinds County places Landlot Porter near the location where William and Gracy Porter lived during the same time, and also near the location of Fortson-Porter Cemetery where Landlot was later buried.


Sources:
Ancestry.com. Mississippi Marriages, 1826-50 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 1999. Original data: Dodd, Jordan R, et. al.. Early American Marriages: Mississippi; accessed November 30, 2010.


Ancestry.com. U.S. General Land Office Records, 1796-1907 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: United States. Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records. Automated Records Project; Federal Land Patents, State Volumes.http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/. Springfield, Virginia: Bureau of Land Management, Eastern States, 2007; accessed November 30, 2010.

William Porter, Sr. and Gracy Lawson Porter of Hinds County, Mississippi

In recent weeks, I have written posts about descendants of John W. Ragland and Elizabeth Smith Ragland who lived in Hinds County, Mississippi during the mid 1800s.  Included among those posts were several about the family of Robert W. Ragland, one of the couple's sons, who married Sarah Jane Porter.  A review of the U. S. Census of 1850 recorded in Hinds County, Mississippi, showed that Sarah Jane (Porter) "Raglin" was the 21 year old wife of "R.W. Raglin," an "overseer," and the mother of a one year old daughter named "Laura." 


But just who were Sarah Jane Porter's parents?  Various bits of information available indicated that William Porter, Sr., a large landowner in Hinds County, and Louisa Anastacia Porter were her parents, but it was not until I reviewed a copy of William Porter's will and the will of his wife, Gracy Porter, that I could validate this relationship as fact. 


Gracy's will, probated in Hinds County court in November 1855, indicates that Gracy and William had at least two children together, Edward Turner Porter, and Sarah Jane (Porter) Ragland.  Also, both wills provided evidence that Gracy had been married before her marriage to William Porter.  Probated during the October 1834 term of Hinds County Court, William Porter's will includes bequests to his step-sons, William H. Lawson, Isaac Lawson, and John S. Lawson, and to a step-daughter, Mary Ann D. Lawson.  Since William's son, William Porter, Jr., was named administrator of his father's estate, and a daughter, Julia Ann Chrisler, received a bequest in his will but not in that of his wife, it seems likely the two were children from a previous marriage. Although Sarah Ann Porter, about four years old at the time of her father's death, was not identified by name in her father's will, William's reference to his "minor children," must have included Sarah and her brother, Edward Turner Porter.


Witnessed by Richard C. Drone, C. H. Gibbs, and George W. Gibbs, Gracy's will was probated during the November 1855 term of Hinds County Court. In her will, Gracy provided for a son, Edward Turner Porter and a daughter, Sarah Jane Ragland.  The fact that Sarah Jane Ragland is named in her mother's will, probated in 1855, indicates that Sarah's own death must have occurred between that year and 1860, when Robert W. Ragland was shown as a widower on the U. S. Census recorded that same year.  Gracy's will also included a provision for ".....children by (her) first husband," identified in the document as John Smith Lawson, William H. Lawson, Isaac Lawson, and Marian D. Stovall.  


An examination of the Mississippi State and Territorial Census Collection, 1792-1866, reveals that Gracy Porter, a 56 year old female born in Virginia, was living in Hinds County, Mississippi in 1850.  The head of the household was Gracy's son, E. (Edward) Turner Porter, a twenty-two year old farmer, and his 18-year old wife, Ann. 

According to notes included on a listing of those buried in the Fortner/Porter Cemetery on the Hinds County MSGenWeb site, William Porter, the son of Landlot Porter and Winnie Porter, was born in 1779 and died on September 9, 1834. He and Gracy were married on January 29, 1826 in Franklin County, Mississippi. Also included in the notes is information that Gracy Porter, whose death occurred on September 30, 1855, was born about 1792/94 in Virginia and was first married to James L. Lawson.  


Next:  Porter Family's Beginnings in Mississippi


Sources:
MSGenWeb Site (Hinds County, MS), Wills, Estates, and Probate, and Cemeteries, accessed online on November 23, 2010
Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.  Accessed online on November 23, 2010.
Ancestry.com.  Mississippi State and Territorial Census Collection, 1792-1866 [database on-line].  Provo, UT, USA; Ancestry.com Operations Inc. 2007.  Original data:  Mississippi State and Territorial Censuses, 1792-1866.  Microfilm V229. 3 rolls.  Heritage Quest. Accessed online on November 23, 2010.

Ragland - Porter Marriage

In an earlier post, I wrote about Robert W. Ragland, one of Winiford Ragland Branch's brothers, who was married to Sarah Jane Porter on March 24, 1848.  As I mentioned in the post, some Ragland family research has shown that Sarah Jane Porter was the daughter of William Porter, Sr. and Louisa Anastacia Porter, William's second wife whom he married on January 29, 1826. My own research, at least so far, has not validated this information.  In fact, my review of the transcription of the will of William Porter, Sr. found no provision for a daughter named Sarah Jane. More about this relationship later.....

The Ragland Sons

John W. Ragland and Elizabeth Smith Ragland were the parents of four sons: John W., Jr. (1808), Arthur S. (1811), William J. (1825), and Robert W. (1826).  Arthur Ragland, for whom my paternal great-great-grandfather, Joseph Arthur Branch, was named, died in 1845 and is buried in Palestine Cemetery near Raymond, Mississippi. Although Arthur may have had a wife and children, I have not yet found that information.


According to the U. S. Census recorded in 1850 for Hinds County, Mississippi, William J. Ragland, a planter by occupation, was the head of a household that included Mary M., 27 years old, and four children named Josaphine (age 8), Benjamin F. (age 6), Rebecca A. (age 4), and Winferd Ragland, age 2.  Likely, "Winferd" was named for William's sister, Winiford Ragland Branch, my paternal great-great-great-grandmother. Although Mary was shown to have been born in South Carolina, William and each of their four children were born in Mississippi. To date, I have been unable to locate William J. or his wife and children on an 1860 census record. Look for more about William and his family in a later post.


Also, I have had difficulty in locating John W. Ragland, Jr., born approximately 1808.  Although I did find a John W. Ragland, born in Virginia in 1808, living near Nashville, Tennessee in 1850, further research is needed to determine his relationship, if any, to John W. Ragland, my fourth great-grandfather.


Two issues that most family researchers must deal with when reviewing old census records is the inaccurate spelling of surnames, often recorded phonetically by the census taker, and the  mispelling of names contained in transcribed records.  Searching for Robert W. Ragland on U.S. Census records for 1850 and 1860 found both situations existed. In 1850, R. W. "Raglin" was enumerated on the U. S. Census in Hinds County, Mississippi.  A twenty-four year old "overseer," his birthplace was shown as Louisiana.  R. W., based on his age, birthplace, and the place of his residence, was Robert W. Ragland, son of John W. and Elizabeth Smith Ragland.  According to the 1850 census record, R. W. was the head of a household that included his twenty-one year old wife, Sarah Jane, and a one-year old daughter named Laura. Later research revealed Sarah Jane was the daughter of William and Louisa Anastacia Porter of Hinds County, Mississippi.


In 1860, the U.S. Census record showed Robert "Rogland" living in Attalaville, now an extinct town in Attala County, Mississippi, in a household that included five young children.  The oldest child was Laura, 13, almost certainly the same small child who was listed on the 1850 census recorded in Hinds County.  A second daughter, an 11-year old named Elizabeth, lived in Robert's household in 1860 and most likely named for Robert's mother, Elizabeth Smith Ragland. Robert's other children included  Mary, 9 years old, Turner, age 7, and Sarah, age 5. Since Robert Ragland's household did not include a wife, I believe that Sarah Jane, with whom he lived in 1850, may have died during or shortly after the birth of 5-year old Sarah, probably named for her deceased mother. Since Robert's sister, Winiford Ragland Branch and her husband, Edward Tillman Branch and their children, already lived in Attala County in 1860, Robert may have moved his family from Hinds County to Attala County to be near relatives who could help him care for his children.


A review of the U.S. Census of 1860, Slave Schedules, found that Robert Ragland of Attala County, Mississippi, was the owner of three slaves, a 30 year old black female and two black males, aged 25 and 15.


In 1860, Robert's neighbors in Attalaville included the Burell and Jenkins families, of whom I have written on this blog, along with the family of James M. and Eliza (Walker) Porter, my paternal great-great-great-grandparents in my paternal grandmother's line.




Sources:
Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.
Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Census Place: Township 13 Range 4, Attala, Mississippi; Roll: M653_577; Page: 464; Image: 464; Family History Library Film: 803577. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. 
Ancestry.com. 1860 U.S. Federal Census - Slave Schedules [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

Residents of Attalaville, Mississippi - September 1860

Recently, Duncan C. Covington, who compiled and edited a book entitled "The People of Shrock," provided me with a list of Attala County residents who are buried in Fellowship Cemetery, near the extinct town of Attalaville, Mississippi. Duncan also emailed me copies of photographs that he had taken of the grave markers in that cemetery. I have posted both the list and the pictures on Cemeteries of Dancing Rabbit Creek, and they can be viewed here.

Among those buried in the relatively small Fellowship Cemetery are some of Duncan's Covington ancestors and one of my own, James M. Porter, my paternal great-great-grandfather. As I read through the list of names, I wondered how many of these families were neighbors or had familial ties to each other in this particular area of Attala County. With that question in mind, I began a search of U. S. Census records, starting with the 1860 census conducted for Attalaville during September of that year. (The history of the early development of Attalaville can be found here.)

Enumerated in Attalaville, Attala County, Mississippi, in 1860, were thirty-three (33) separate households. Seven of the households had the same surnames as some of those buried in Fellowship cemetery : Allen, Burell, Jenkins, and Porter.

Census details for these seven households are shown below.

Allen, James P., 40, farming, $1,480, Georgia
Cicely, 38, Georgia
Franklin, 16, laborer, Miss
Mary E., 14, Miss
Martha, 10, Miss
Ann E., 7, Miss
Georgeann, 4, Miss
Juanita, 2, Miss
Parker, John, 19, laborer, Florida

Jenkins, Samuel, 66, farmer, $1,500, SC
Nancy, 40, SC
Elizabeth, 35, SC
William, 19, labor in farm, SC
Joseph, 16,labor in farm, SC
Dick, 11, Miss

Burell, John, 41, farming, $1,700, SC
Mary, 41, SC
John B., 15, SC
Elizabeth J., 14, Miss
Samuel J., 13, Miss
Ephraim J., 11, Miss
Amanda A., 1, Miss
Caldwell, John, 15, farm laborer, Miss

Jenkins, E. Jeffs., 39, farmer, $21,415, SC
Sally 42, SC
Samuel O., 17, farm laborer, Miss
Peggy A., 15, Miss
David Spiars, 55, Carpenter, SC
George P. Jackson, 14, Ala
Wm. A. Jackson, 18, labor in farm, Ala

Porter, James M., 37, farming, $1,700, Miss
Eliza, 24, Miss
Sarah E., 5, Miss
Wm. R. E., 1, Miss

Porter, Jane M., 25, farming, $30,000, Miss
Porter, Laura E., 20, Miss
Hamilton Cottrow(?) 13, Miss

Porter, William, 22, overseeing, $150, Miss
Mary E., 23, Miss
Lilian V., 9 months, Miss

My research for more information about the Allen, Burell, Covington, Jenkins, and Porter families who lived in Attalaville is far from complete. And as it continues, I plan to post the results here and at Cemeteries of Dancing Rabbit Creek. I hope you will stop by again to visit.