What's new for April

April has been a busy month. Finished putting the ship records online. We now have over 9000 Porter ship records online in our Ship Records Collection at Porter Surname Genealogy.

Over 5000 Porter Ship Records

Still working away at getting ship records online. Ellis Island passenger lists with Porter surname are done and searchable. This brings the Porter Surname Ship Records Collection to over 5000 records.

Beautiful Teenage Fingers

For the past 6 months, I have been leading a genealogy group for members at my church. First it was just the women's group, then some men joined in, and then some of our young people from the teen's group asked if they could join. I was thrilled to have the younger ones join in, but to be honest, I didn't think the teenagers would stick around long. Surely they would want to be off with their friends, not hanging out with a group of older people digging through dusty old books. Members have come and gone, but every teen that joined is still with the group.

Several of the teens had asked if they could help me with the Porter surname web site, so yesterday afternoon we got together. I showed them what I was working on and let them have a go at it. Those young fingers went to work, just tapping away as fast as could be. The clicking of the keyboards sang a song you could hear through out the house. After a few hours, we all enjoyed some pizza before they went off home.

Later last night I imported the files from the flash drive they saved their work on and almost fell off my chair. Over 3000 records had been done!!!! What would have taken weeks for me to get in web page form, was perfectly done in a few short hours by those beautiful teenage fingers.

To my teenage helpers
THANK - YOU!!!!!!!!!!

Plans for April - Porter Immigration Records

This month I will be working on putting online my collection of Porter Immigration records. These include over 8000 records from Passenger lists, Border Crossing, Crew lists, Citizenship and Naturalization, Passport applications, and several other sources.

What's New This Week

New records added to Porter Surname Genealogy for the week of Mar 26 - Apr 1, 2011

Porters in

• 1837 England and Wales Civil Birth Registration Index
• 1838 England and Wales Civil Birth Registration Index
• 1837 England and Wales Civil Death Registration Index
• 1915 England and Wales Civil Marriage Registration Index
• Ireland's Memorial Records 1914 - 1918
• Over 500 new Ship records add to our Ship Collection

We also are now the registered Porter surname project with
the Guild of One-Name Studies.

Ireland's Memorial Records 1914 - 1918

Porters listed in

Ireland's Memorial Records 1914 - 1918
Being the names of Irishmen who fell in the Great European War, 1914-1918, compiled by The Committee Of The Irish National War Memorial with decorative Boarders by Harry Clark. Privately printed for The Committee of The Irish National War Memorial by Maunsel and Roberts, Limited 1923

(for full transcription of the below names go to Porter Surname Genealogy)

Alan Grey Porter
Albert Porter
Alexander Porter
Allan Porter
Archibald Porter
Bert Porter
Cyril Porter
Daniel Porter
David Porter
Eddie Porter
Edward Clifford Porter
Ernest Porter
Frederick Charles Porter
George D Porter
George Porter
Hugh Porter
J J Porter
James Ingrey Porter
James Porter (4 listed)
Jeremiah Porter
John Grey Archdale - Porter
John Porter (5 listed)
Joseph John Porter
Joseph Porter (3 listed)
Lambert G F Porter
Leslie Porter
Matthew Porter
Patrick Porter
Reuben George Porter
Robert Cyril Porter
Robert Porter (3 listed)
Samuel Porter
Stanley Porter
Stephen Porter
Thomas Porter (2 listed)
W G Porter
Walter Charles Porter
Wilfred Norman Porter
William James Porter
William Porter (6 listed)
William Ridgeway Porter

Guild of One-Name Studies Recognized Surname Project

Porter Surname Genealogy is now a Guild of One-Name Studies recognized project for the surname Porter. The Guild of One-Name Studies is the world's leading organization for one-name studies.

So, what is a one-name study?
The Guild defines a One-Name Study as: "Research into the genealogy and family history of all persons with the same surname and its variants." A one-name study is a project researching all occurrences of a surname, as opposed to a particular pedigree or descendancy. I prefer to describe it a little more simply... Researching a Surname World Wide.

The next question asked is usually "Why would anyone do a One-name name study?"
Most one-name studies are started by genealogy researchers who have hit a brick wall with the surname they are researching. They start collecting records with the same surname with the hope they will find a clue linking their family line.

I started on the Porter one-name study 12 years ago. Another researcher who had a website for the surname Porter was unable to continue the upkeep on it, and generously offered the information she had collected so it would not be lost.
I had been researching my own Porter family line for over 20 years and had collected a large amount of information on Porters who where not of my line. I figured I would just combine my records with hers. Over the years it has became my passion, and I collect every record relating to the Porter surname I can get my hands on.

With a surname as common as Porter, finding records to add to the collection is not as difficult as finding the time to record them all. I should note, most one-name studies are done on surnames which are much less common. I try and split my time between researching new records, entering the data on the computer, tracking the migration patterns when the records relate to it (a side project of mine), and posting records up to the website. But my favorite time spent is answering the emails I get from others who are researching the Porter surname, and that warm fuzzy feeling I get when I am able to help them. Even though we are not closely related, I figure somewhere back there, all our ancestors hook up.