admin THE PORTER FAMILY. Illustrious in the annals of the Niagara Frontier the name Porter has also a distinguished place in Colonial history and in that of the Revolutionary epoch. The well-known Porter family of Western New York is of Norman-English ancestry. Its descent is traced from William de la Grande, a Norman knight, who acquired land at the time of the Conquest, near Kenilworth, England. His son Roger (or Ralph) was “Grand Porteur” to Henry I., and from that office the name of Porter is derived.
John Porter, sixteenth in descent from William de la Grande, was the founder of the Porter family in America. He came to this country from England in 1637 and settled in Windsor, Conn. His son Samuel, was a merchant and lived in Hartford; Conn., and afterward in Hadley, Mass. Nathaniel Porter, son of Samuel, joined the army in the expedition against Canada in 1708-9. He was the father of Nathaniel Buell Porter, who was a merchant in Lebanon, Conn. Col. Joshua Porter, son of Nathaniel Buell Porter, graduated from Yale College in 1754. Early in life he settled in Salisbury, Litchfield County, Conn. He served for more than forty sessions as a member of the State Legislature, was Judge of Common Pleas thirteen years, and Probate Judge thirty-seven years. As Colonel of the 14th Connecticut Regiment, he participated in the battles of Long Island, White Plains, Saratoga, Monmouth and other engagements in the Revolution.
SOURCE: Memorial and Family History of Erie County New York; Volume I