PORTER/SANFORD/BALLARD

Carol's grandparents were known to be Charles Banning Porter and Irma Sanford. A web site of Bruce Bender contained a great deal of information about the Sanfords -- back to 1535 in England, and for other related families such as the Angells and Yeomans. Since this already assembled information on the Sanfords provide a history for the Sanfords, I focused on her Porter line. But, first I will explain an interesting aspect regarding Irma Sanford. Irma was one daughter of Edward Alanson Sanford and Elizabeth Ballard. In addition to Bender's information, I had found an IGI record for a Lissie Ballard, b May 13, 1849 in Jamesville, NY, who married Edward Sanford April 3, 1872 in Washtenaw, MI. But, I could not find this Edward Sanford family in any census search I attempted. Nor could I identify a family for Elizabeth Ballard. However, I stumbled on information in an 1880 census for Ionia, Michigan, for James B. Sanford, Edward's father. Parts of the census record were difficult to read, but I believe it showed, in addition to his immediate family, a daughter-in-law, Elizabeth, living with him as well as 3 grand daughters and 1 grandson. One grand daughter was identified as Irma! But, there was no mention of Edward; he seems to have disappeared even though information I had shows he died in 1889. Later in the 1880 census, I found an Edward Sandford, age 38, living in the 6th Ward of the University Home Hospital. The Ballard mystery continued as the census stated that Elizabeth's birthplace, as well as that of her parents, was England. A State marriage certificate, Elizabeth's death record, and a birth certificate for Irma all also state England was Elizabeth's birth location. The 1880 census record has her age as age 25, the Marriage certificate has her born ca 1850 whereas the death certificate has her birth as ca 1854. In an attempt to identify her parents, I thought might find a Ballard family living in Michigan in 1870 with a daughter Elizabeth, age 15, who was born in England. I looked at the census records, but was not able to find such a daughter, regardless of her birth location. However, I must state that until the birth location of England surfaced, I had identified "one" Elizabeth Ballard with a birth of ca 1850, i.e., as a possible match with the IGI record, but she was born in Ohio. I then searched the 1880 census for a Ballard family with the parents born in England, but living in Michigan. There was one such family, but no proof. Much later, I wrote to the Bentley Historical Library in Michigan asking for any additional information that they might have, such as a naturalization record etc. I received a response stating that they had non found any naturalization information, but had located a St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church parish register that showed, among other things, that the parents of Elisabeth Ballard were Edward and Fanny Ballard of Jamesville, NY and that Elisabeth was born in Teutenden (?) England. This information tied earlier pieces together. A quick check of the FHC on line information showed an Edward and Fanny Ballard in the 1880 census as well as some additional details about their marriage and the identity of his parents, all linked to Tenterden, Kent, England. But now, back to the Porters.

Carol had been told that Charles' dad was Ed Porter who married Florence Wells. I had found nothing on these Porters so we contacted the University of Michigan where Charles Porter received his MD degree in hopes that their records would provide some genealogical information. Unfortunately, the only new information was that Charles was born in Tonica, LaSalle Co, IL. But there was no mention of an Ed Porter. An e-mail request to the Illinois Archives led to a message saying that a Florence Welles married a John B Porter. (An on-line database of Illinois marriages had just recently been released. However, when I used it, I missed finding this record since I searched under Ed Porter or Florence Wells. Searching computer records may be fast, but it can be unforgiving.) An 1880 census record disclosed a John and Florence with a child, Charles, and that they lived in LaSalle Co, IL. This corrected my searching and led to a subsequent discovery that John Porter was in the Civil War between 8/2/1862 and 6/12/1865, as a Quartermaster Sergeant in the 195th Reg Ohio Vol Infantry. I then went to the National Archives and retrieved his pension folder. An interesting fact uncovered by reading the notes in the folder was that John separated from his wife in 1897, divorced her in 3/8/1900 in Will Co, but remarried 12/7/1904. It appears to me that the remarriage was so Florence would be eligible for a widow’s pension. After his death, Florence had extensive correspondence with the US Government regarding her rights to a widow's pension. Also included in this folder was a certification by a doctor which stated that he was the family physician of both John Porter and Stephen Porter, father of John B Porter and that the family lived in Brown Co, Ohio. I then found in the Mormon Library a "marriages" file for Brown County that showed a Stephen Porter married to Rachel Dunlevy. (This location of this marriage record differed from an IGI that gave the marriage location as Fayette Co, PA.) The 1850 Federal Census disclosed that Stephen's birth was in Pennsylvania. I then speculated unsuccessfully on who might be his father based upon other Porters living in Brown County, their ages, and ages of their children. No luck! But fortunately, I happened upon a Genforum posting which led to me sending an e-mail note to Don Porter who provided information which also had Stephen Porter married to Rachel Dunlevy and clearly showed that Stephen's parents were John Porter and Margaret T Baird, both born in PA. This John Porter's parents were identified as Charles Porter, b Northern Ireland in 1727 and Rebecca Mason. Don Porter also had extensive information on an Armstrong Porter, a "brother" of Charles Porter. He told me that a family tradition has four brothers migrating from Londonderry, Ireland. Don Porter sent me a copy of his publication which listed many generations of Porters, land records etc.

When searching for the elusive Ed Porter, and son Charles Porter, I had encountered a note by the Southards that stated they had a photo album containing pictures of Porters. They kindly sent a copy of the pictures to me. One picture was of a Charles Porter, approximate age 20, taken in 1892 and another of Ed Porter. Initially, I was sure that their Charles Porter was related to Carol as both his age and the geographical area fit. However, after I found that Charles' dad was John Porter and I had additional details of this Porter line, I attempted to match up any and all of the Porter pictures with names related to Carol's Charles Porter. I was unable to make any matches. But, I did find that 2 brothers of Charles's grandfather moved to Illinois and could have been the source of the Porters in the album. But based upon the focused ancestry knowledge of the Porters identified by Don Porter, I did not find any fits. Therefore, I can only wonder about the relationship of the Charles Porter in the picture to my wife's grandfather.