JOHN PORTEOUS SR.

John Porteous Sr. was born in 1827 or December 1830 in Scotland. John came to the United States in 1867. John was married to Isabella Vickery/Vickey/Victor. She was born in England. In 1880, John was living in Lakefield Township with his children and he was widowed. John moved with his family from Bangor, Bay City, Michigan.

John's children were:

1. Thomas Porteous was born 1852 in Canada.

2. John Porteous was born 1859 in Canada. Believed to have moved to New York and lived in both Salina and Syracuse, Onondago County, New York.

3. Joseph Porteous was born March 2, 1862 in Canada. He married Alice Trumble. Joseph died on February 10, 1895 and is buried in the Riverside Cemetery, St. Charles, Saginaw County, Michigan.

4. Jane Melissa Porteous was born 1864 in Canada. Jane married Andrew Lasson Esckilsen on July 21, 1881 in Ludington, Mason County, Michigan.

5. Walter Porteous was born March 11, 1869 in Bay County, Michigan. Walter married Annie Blackmer on July 5, 1889. Walter died on February 6, 1934 in Baldwin, Lake County, Michigan. He is buried in Pleasant Plain Township Cemetery, Baldwin, Lake County, Michigan.

6. Catherine “Katie” Porteous was born 1873 in Michigan. Katie married Walter Willis on June 5, 1889 in Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan. Katie also married Alfred Braithwaite on April 28, 1899 in Fremont Township, Saginaw County, Michigan.

    

The 1880 Michigan Agriculture Census shows that John owned 3 acres of tilled land and 37 acres of woodland and forest in Lakefield Township.

On Tuesday, June 15, 1880 the Jackson Citizen, Jackson, Michigan – page 3 states the following: “John Porteus, who was looking for a horse in the woods, three-quarters of a mile from Clark's, states that about twenty minutes before nine he heard loud cries, as of someone in distress; he also heard the report of a gun, but did seek to discover the cause.” This incident was the murder of his neighbors, Patrick and Mary Clark, who lived on the corner of Chapin and Roosevelt Roads in Section 14 in Lakefield Township.

John married Phebe “Frances” Trumbull in 1881. She was born in 1855 in New York and was the daughter of John and Diana Church Trumbull. John and Frances lived in Lakefield Township in the early 1900's but by 1910 were living in Taymouth Township, Saginaw County, Michigan.

John died in 1919 in St. Charles, Saginaw County, Michigan. Frances died on February 8, 1929 in St. Charles, Saginaw County, Michigan.

SOURCES: 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910 Michigan Federal Census; 1880 Michigan Agricultural Census; Walter Porteous' marriage and death records; Catherine Porteous marriage records; Jane Melissa Porteous marriage record; Joseph Porteous Find-A-Grave; 1900 and 1910 New York Census.