First Friday Folder: Dr. Daniel Porter, Immigrant

The ancestry of my Porter grandparent is easily my largest database with almost 4,000 names.  [See my 'Surnames' blog page for a list of the direct-line surnames of that grandparent's ancestry.]  However, I've written relatively few blog posts about my Porter line, and never a First Friday Folder analysis of any of my PORTER surname'd ancestors.

I selected this folder for review this month because of a new (only 16 posts so far) blog dedicated to Porter's: Porter Family Genealogy.  Perhaps most interestingly, it talks about a Porter Surname Genealogy website.  It seems to have begun in 2002, but it's certainly new to me!  It's fairly extensive and I need to spend more time there going over all the info.  I'm thinking of contacting the blog and/or the website, so I best review my info first! 

The Couple
Daniel Porter was probably born in England perhaps around 1630.  The earliest colonial record for him is 1644 in Waterbury, Connecticut. He was a 'bonesetter' (doctor) in Farmington with a yearly salary in 1661 of 6 pounds.  His will, 15 August 1688, appears in Manwaring's Early Probate Records of Connecticut, and was probated in 1690.

Little is known about his wife, Mary.  She was alive at the time of the will.  The couple had seven children between 1653 and 1665; at least 6 of whom married. 

The Folder
A relatively thin folder, there were only 7 items besides two old versions of the family group sheet.  Of the seven items, only one really belongs in this folder!  The other six items have now been moved to the folder of son Daniel Porter & Deborah Holcomb.

I printed out a new family group sheet.  Comparing it to the previous one shows I have done a good deal of work on the family, but I don't remember targeting them at all. The newest one:

• is the first I've printed in 5 years
• is 2 full pages longer
• has 12 new sources
• has 28 additional footnotes
• has comments on all 7 children (vs. only 3 previously)

Problems

• How many more folders do I have where 85% of the contents are misfiled???
• I don't have full, info let alone good sources, on the marriages of most of their children.
• I need to map the towns on the family group sheet to get a better idea of movements.  I think many new towns listed may really be newly created towns rather than the Porters moving.
• My notes refer to a Memorial History of Hartford County, 1886, Vol. 2, p. 166, but it is not listed in the sources.
• I haven't looked at any land records for Daniel.  That's depressing....

Conclusions
Yet again, I've shown myself that First Friday Folder review is worthwhile.   In this case, it can also be pretty upsetting.  Perhaps I should add a day a week where all I do I check folders and immediately fix any misfiled info?!

I've added the problems listed above to my master genealogy to-do list.  There will be no shortage of tasks to tackle when I rotate back to working on my Porter line.  But, first there's the Richardsons, and then the Keatings, and there's all my recent finds for the Carr line and where they may lead ...  So much genealogy ... so little time!