Brian Porter

My first bite by the genealogy bug occurred when I was about 12 years old. My Scottish grandmother relayed a riddle that was deliciously infectious: Her father was his parents’ only and last child and he had 22 brothers and sisters. Wait, how could that be? Well, my grannie would patiently divulge, his father (my great-great-grandfather Andrew Dunsmore) had 11 children before his wife died and he married the widowed Jane Young (my great-great-grandmother) who also had 11 children before her husband died, and their last, but the only child from that union, was my great-grandfather Robert Dunsmore. And so I wanted to know more – Who were the others and what happened to them? Scottish grandmothers have prodigious memories for family events and she was able to name about half of those uncles and aunts (or step-uncle and aunts I guess) most of whom had remained behind in Scotland when her father and his two brothers emigrated to North America. And so I set out to find the missing “rellies” and, although I did determine who they were and what was their fate, the journey for discovery has never ended.

Along the way I have been thoroughly immersed in the hobby of family tree research having been president of our Provincial Genealogical Society and a lecturer in all things genealogical at various seminars, conferences and events. I have travelled extensively for genealogical research beginning when I was 21 with my first trip from Canada to an English County Record Office. My education and work experience in both Law and Community & Regional Planning have proved valuable in the identification and verification of record sources and their organization.

This site however chronicles only the paternal English branch of my family which is where I have been devoting the bulk of my time and energy for the past 20 years of my retirement. This English heritage is firmly rooted in East Anglia, specifically Norfolk and Suffolk, with but a few short sorties into Essex and Cambridgeshire.

I hope that the information presented herein is helpful in your research.