Porter Family in Mississippi - Part 1

As a descendant of the Porter family in Mississippi that migrated first from Pennsylvania to South Carolina, through Alabama, and finally to the Mississippi Territory, I have found my own Porter family's history very difficult to trace.  My paternal grandmother, Lelia Porter Branch, first told me when I was young, that her father, John James (J.J.) Porter, was "Black Dutch" from Pennsylvania and that he was descended from one of three brothers who arrived in the Mississippi Territory about 1800.  She did not know the name of the brother from whom her father descended.  In my research, I have found that what my grandmother told me was fairly accurate, since early territorial census records show Landlot, Shadrack, and John Porter living in Adams County, Mississippi.  Available land records establish that Landlot (Lancelot) acquired land in the Mississippi Territory in late 1804, with Shad (Shadrack) Porter witnessing the transaction.  

No. 1914, Claimant: Lancelot Porter, 24 September 1804. Witness: Reuben Mayfield, 22 January 1805. Certificate D-161 issued 16 December 1806, Miss Ter., Adams Co., Homochitto River. Purchased from Thomas  Aldridge the right of preference as claim by ad Aldridge in Feb 1803, when he cleared a parcel of land, made a brush fence and planted corn, also peach trees and in 1804 Lancelot Porter settled sd place and cleared 3 acres and is now living on it.Miss Ter., Adams Co.// Thos. Aldridge, of sd county, for $500 in hand paid by Lancelot Porter, of sd county, sells all right of occupancy on land on south side of Homochitto River, on June 1804. Wit: Hiram Downs, John Scarlett, and Shad Porter, proved before the Board, 10 Sept 1805.

Armed with this early census and land ownership information, I began a research saga that extended to several counties in Mississippi, and one that is still ongoing.  During the next few weeks, I plan to post what I know about various Porter families that lived in Adams, Attala, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Hinds Counties. 

Author's Note:  If you are descended from Landlot, Shadrack, or John Porter who settled in the early Mississippi Territory and have stories or photos that you would like to share here on this blog, please contact me.

"Mississippi Court Records - 1799 - 1835"

Since I am still searching for John P. Gibson, my last brick wall ancestor, I decided to take one more look through the handy reference guide above. First printed in 1936, this 193-page book of Mississippi Court Records spanning the time period 1799 -1835, was compiled by J. Estelle Stewart King, a descendant of some of Mississippi's earliest settlers. My copy of Ms. King's book is a Clearfield Company, Inc. reprint (1992, 1994, 1995) of Genealogical Publishing Company's reprint (1969) in Baltimore, MD.


Included in the book are abstracts of wills and marriage records for Adams, Amite, Claiborne, Hinds, Warren, and Yalobusha Counties. Along with an alphabetical index, an appendix was added to the 1969 reprint that includes cemetery inscriptions from City Cemetery, Vicksburg, Mississippi and an excerpt from the Copiah County Orphan's Court (1823-24).


For family history researchers looking for ancestors who lived in the Mississippi Territory and in the state during the early years after its formation, Ms. King's book may be a great source of information.