About the Surname Porter
Although PORTER is not a surname associated with any particular country, county or area of the British Isles and indeed is found generally throughout the Isles, my Porters appeared in East Anglia with certainty from the 1600s and likely much before that. However many of the various surnames that contributed to my East Anglian genetic heritage can be attributed as almost exclusively from East Anglia - the MOYs and BARCHAMs (originally BAUCHINs) are mostly Norfolk families, the NEWSONs, MAYHEWs and BLOSSes are mostly Suffolk and the DOGGETTs hail, in the main, from Cambridge. Accordingly, with the exception of the POTTERs from Buckinghamshire (and my Callaghans from Cork Ireland), and until subsequent discoveries prove otherwise, this website is devoted solely to my lineage from families of East Anglia.
Abbreviations
I have used a variety of abbreviations throughout the various files on this website and the following should explain most.
ANF - Archdeaconry of Norfolk
ANW - Archdeaconry of Norwich
AT - Archdeacons' Transcripts
b. - born
Boyds - Boyd's Marriages - various series
BT - Bishops' Transcripts
c. - circa or about
d.o. - daughter of
FHL - Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA - FamilySearch formerly Genealogical Society of Utah
IGI - International Genealogical Index - as published, but no longer maintained, by the Family History Library of Salt Lake City
m. - married
MCR - Manor Court Rolls
MF - microfilm
MI - Monumental Inscription
NCC - Norwich Consistory Court
NFHS - Norfolk Family History Society
NRO - Norfolk Record Office, Norwich
NS - new style - for dates before 1752 which were converted to the current method of dating
OS - old style - for dates before 1752 where 1 January to 25 March are written thus - 1632/3
PCC - Prerogative Court of Canterbury
PDC - Peculiar of the Dean and Chapter of Norwich
PR - Parish Register - Church of England
PRDC - Peculiar of the Dean and Chapter of Norwich
s.o. - son of
SROI - Suffolk Record Office, Ipswich
TR - transcript
w.o. - wife of
Square Brackets
I have used square brackets for several purposes in the various files on this website.
- Where three letters are enclosed within square brackets after the name of a town or parish, they refer to the Hundred within which the town or parish is located.
- Where one letter, usually A to F and X, are followed by numbers, they refer to a numbering system I use to distinguish the various Norfolk Porter families from each other.
- The brackets may enclose the letter Q? or the word Quare or words which indicate that further work is required as, for example, a will is required as in "Get will".
- If a family or line is possible but not obviously connected that entire family or line may be included within square brackets.
- Square brackets are used where only a widow's married name is known.