GOTCHA! Joseph Portas you can hide no more!

IT WAS JUST A MATTER OF TIME and a little luck
With cautious optimism I write this. Finding my 5th great grandfather's baptism made my day... I could leave the Family History Library with a sense of accomplishment -- finally! 

I flew into Salt Lake City on Sunday, October 14. Monday I began my 8th annual research trip looking for Joseph PORTAS who was baptized sometime in the timeframe of 1700-1720. He is my 5th great grandfather, my brick wall. 

For the past 10 or so years, all I knew was he and Elizabeth MOOR married in Wyham cum Cadeby in 1740. This  trip to the Family History Library's stash of microfilms had to be my lucky year. Every trip I say this and go home without any satisfaction. But this was the year!

GENEALOGICAL GOD OR ANGEL OR JUST SERENDIPITY?
Maybe a genealogy god or angel was with me this trip. Who knows.

Towards the end of the day on Tuesday, I had enough time to start one new parish film. I looked on my list of parishes and noticed I hadn't looked at one film in the parish of Kelstern, Lincolnshire, England. I grabbed it out of the "stacks" and back at my reader I started to quickly reel to my chosen parish. The frame I stopped at wasn't the beginning of the parish, I actually stopped on the page shown below...and there he was! Joseph!

"AD 1716 -- Feb 14 Bapt Joseph Son of Wm & Isebel Poretuss of Lambcroft."

How could I have missed it on past trips? Was this a different roll of film from the first one I visited a couple years ago? Could it be that the surname wasn't spelled PORTAS but rather PORETUSS? No matter...there he was! It's the perfect time period since Joseph married in 1740 and figuring he could be 20-25 years of age. [all dates on this post are Julian calendar.]

The box on the right side is what I had seen last time, which turned out not to be my Joseph, but "said Joseph" who was "buryed July 27" [1719]. He was a Joseph Tuxworth, baptized eight days before and listed in the line above.

Left side box - Joseph baptized 14 Feb 1716, son of William and Isebel PORETUSS of Lambcroft. Right side box is for Joseph baptized 19 Jul 1719, son of Robert Tuxworth and Elizabeth his wife of Lambcroft.
Next line below: July 27 Buryed the said Joseph.
Kelstern, Lincolnshire, England
My digital image.

Left side box - Joseph baptized 14 Feb 1716, son of William and Isebel PORETUSS of Lambcroft.
Parish / Kelstern, Lincolnshire, England
My digital image.

When I "blew up" the left box's image for a better look, at first glance, I thought it said Feb 19 "Sept" which would have meant buried, but on closer examination on the rest of the page, "Sept" wasn't used in any other entry...so it was "Bapt"; even so, I needed to do a little more investigation. 

Comparing one "a" to the next, they were the same. I looked at the "e" in several words, none were the backward "e" we often see in writing from back then and many times mistaken for an "a." What looked like a capital "S" in Bapt. was actually a "B," by comparing it to others on both sides of the page. That in itself made me feel much more confident about what I found. Besides, I had to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing.

[Note: Lambcroft is now Ludford (Parva or Magna). Kelstern evidently administered the religious rights for that nearby village at the time.]


WHERE TO GO NOW?

Cruising through the rest of the parish film, I couldn't find any reference to a burial for Joseph in Kelstern. I did find his father William PORETUSS' burial entry -- 26 Jul 1732, but didn't find any burial entry for his mother Isabel. The search is on...

Jul 26 [1732 Kelstern] Buryed Wm Poretuss of ye Lambcroft.

Parish / Kelstern, Lincolnshire, England

My digital image.

Putting Kelstern parish film aside, I decided to check out another roll of film I had visited many times before -- Wyham cum Cadeby. This is where I knew Joseph would be. Starting around 1732 when Isabel became a widow, and continuing on to 1740 when Joseph married Elizabeth MOOR, I was hoping I would "see" something exciting now that my research had progressed?

Ancient All Saints Church / Wyham cum Cadeby, Lincolnshire, England
My digital image.

SO? WHAT DID I SEE?

This parish record page was a treasure of information. Joseph & Elizabeth and Isabel are on the same page along with a William & Mary Portas. Isabel, wife of William -- look, the white box shows the entry of her burial! Was she there living with Joseph or her daughter Isabel? How many times have I been here before and never thought of Isabel as Joseph's mother!

Arrows on the left margin show several Portas children, too. Baptized are both Joseph & Elizabeth's and William & Mary's. Just above the date 1743, is Isabel Portas (Isabel's daughter, Joseph's sister) marriage entry to a John NUTTLE May 15 [1742]. Now I have to establish who this William & Mary are.

1743 / Isabel Portas buried Apr 14.

Parish / Wyham Cum Cadeby, Lincolnshire, England

My digital image.

THE OTHER COUPLE
In my family tree program I had William entered as the brother of Joseph. Going back to the baptism entry of 1716, Joseph's parents are William & Isebel. Were they the same parents for William? Something didn't set right with me and of course this was an entry of speculation a number of years ago. I had no sources attached to this entry either... YIKES! How would I know where I found his name? I think I got this information off the IGI which should only be used as a guide. I haven't been back to that couple in a long time and didn't realize there were no sources. [Making a note to update.] 

Now I had my doubts about this sibling entry. I consulted (by e-mail) with a another Portas researcher who lives in Lincolnshire, and got a reply from her the next day. Margaret has been researching the PORTAS family in Lincolnshire a lot longer than I and I trust her advice. 

The couple were William Portas and Mary [Wright] married in 1727-Sixhills. Margaret pointed me to North Willingham parish which is closer to Sixhills than is Kelstern. I checked out the North Willingham film and found a William Portas baptized 1709 (I had "about 1710"); his parents were Edward & Elizabeth Portas. I'm sure this William is him.

A CAUTIOUS CONCLUSION
Parents William and Isabel have a son William who married a Hannah Miller. Doesn't look too promising that William who married Mary Wright is a sibling to Joseph; he may be a cousin. In my records, I have this William and Mary having a son named Edward. Joseph and Elizabeth don't have any son named Edward. Joseph does have a younger brother Edward, but the given name Edward doesn't seem to show up that much in other Portas families in Lincolnshire. I must investigate this a little further.

I believe William (Mary Wright) probably shouldn't be listed as one of Joseph's siblings since there is another William with documentation in the family baptized 1711. With a little more "digging" (pardon my expression), I will probably be moving him to another family file. It can get awful confusing when there are so many Williams baptized around the same time and place.

Another thought: Am I barking up the wrong family tree?! I don't think so. All the pieces to this puzzle are falling into place.

WHAT A FIND THIS COULD TURN OUT TO BE!
The Kelstern PORTAS family is Margaret's. She has had a gap in the baptism dates of William and Isabel's children where Joseph fits perfectly. Both my Portas family and Margaret's have been found in proximity during the same period of time. It is hard to believe they wouldn't be related in some way. We just had to prove it. I think I just did. The Joseph find connects both our families. 

More investigation is needed; I'm crossing my fingers I finally found my elusive 5th great grandfather's baptism. Now I'm on the hunt for his burial and more information on Elizabeth. It never ends.

WYHAM CUM CADEBY
That village wasn't that big way back when. All there is left is the church, rectory, and manor house. The churchyard had new burials, but I'm not sure if the parish church is still in use. It was hard to tell when Bob and I were there in 2005. The road to Wyham can be mistaken for a private driveway, which it probably is, but the manor owner allows people to visit the church and graveyard. We came in from above the manor...through someone's farm lane. The church has been sold as a monument according to the website shown below.

You can read more about the village at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~englin/W/wyham.htm

Manor house in Wyham cum Cadeby, Lincolnshire, England.
All that is left of the village is this manor house, church rectory, and the church.
My digital image.

Only inhabitants we encountered in Wyham that 2005 September day.
My digital image.

Wyham cum Cadeby is in the distance, high on the hill in the stand of trees.
I am down by the marsh and where the Humber meets the North Sea.
My digital image.

The Portus family settled in Lake County, Illinois

Mary Ann Vamplew gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth Ann Portus, in April of 1864. John PORTUS married Mary Ann VAMPLEW September 1864 in Thornton le Fen, Lincolnshire; November 1864 daughter Elizabeth Ann died and was buried in Coningsby churchyard. Three more children were born to John and Mary Ann: Georgiana 1865, Coningsby; William Dennis 1867, Nether Hallam, Sheffield, Yorkshire; and John Henry 1869, Thornton.

April 1870 John and Mary Ann packed up their family and lives and emigrated from Lincolnshire to Lake County, Illinois. (Previous blog posts -- June 16 and 22 tell a little more about their trip.) 

ARRIVAL LAKE COUNTY, ILLINOIS
They arrived at the Port of New York May 3. (Blog post June 22) Sometime between then and June 21 (census enumeration below) they arrived in Lake County. I can only speculate they stayed with Mary Ann's uncle John ROUSE.

Uncle John secured a place the Portus family to live until a permanent place could be purchased. It was a small two-story house on Maple Ave. (Rte. 176) in what is now Mundelein, Illinois. It is located across the street from the property where I grew up. (See blog post May 1.) This part of the story isn't all that exciting, but it is the start of the family history in a new land. I know there is probably a lot more to fill in about their lives here in Illinois, and that is part of why we all do our research. 

My dad would mention the house was originally a log cabin and in the basement, you could see the original hand-hewn floor beams. I don't know if that is true or not since I was never privy to just go down into the basement to verify that claim. I have been in the house, but I don't remember much about its interior. Next time I'm in Mundelein, maybe I'll get the nerve to knock on the door. You can see the old barn in back beyond the fence. It was always dark and scary...as a young girl with vivid imagination, that barn held many monsters and I never liked going near the open door.

This is their first house -- a temporary place. 

The Portus family moved into that house in time to be recorded on the 1870 census -- just 74 days after they left England. This was the first census John and Mary Ann were listed as man and wife. I believe this census lays victim to the rural Lincolnshire accent because our surname spelling is recorded as PORTOS. (John spelled it PORTUS on the letter seen on my June 16 blog post. 1880 census the name is spelled PORTEOUS and that is how I knew my whole life until I started researching.)

1870 CENSUS

Here we see the township was "Fremont in the County of Lake, State of Ill., enumerated by me on the 21 day of June, 1870." and the Post Office was "Deans Corners."

The family is listed as: 

    John  28   M   W   Labourer   b. England

    Mary Ann  28   F   W   Wife  b. England

    Georgianna   4   F  W  At Home   b. England

    William D    3    M   W  At Home   b. England

    John H   1   M   W   At Home  b. England

SETTLED ON MIDLOTHIAN ROAD PROPERTY

Sometime after son John Henry died (September 1870) Rockefeller, Illinois (now Mundelein), they moved into a house on Midlothian Road, Diamond Lake (in Fremont Township) which is now part of Mundelein.

Small square and "A" at top shows where the little temporary house is
located compared to the land purchase location "B" on Midlothian Rd.
Photo is a screen shot of a satellite view on Google Maps.

Land on Midlothian Rd. (Diamond Lake) on a 1915 map showing names of neighbors.
This map was posted on the wall of the Lake County (IL) Genealogical Society's library.

This is the front of the house on Midlothian Rd. I can see four people in the picture, but can't identify them
because they are too small. I would think the person in the doorway is Mary Ann and the man standing at the front porch is John. Not knowing what year this image was taken, the two children could be grandchildren --
or if it is early 1870s, the girl could be Georgiana and the boy possibly my grandfather William D.;
John Henry died Sep. 1870. More research needs to be done.
Photo contributed by cousin Sharon Mitchell.

This is of course the back of the Midlothian house.  Mary Ann is in the doorway and John holds buckets. Since John has a beard, this picture must be many years after they purchased the house. The back porch looks like it has been closed in possibly accommodating a newer kitchen. Looks like the time of year is early spring or maybe fall.
Photo was found in a family box of pictures.

I'm not sure if this house was still standing when I was a little girl 60 some years ago, but I do remember my dad telling me about it. My aunt Mildred (Mimi) and uncle Frank Druba built a new house on the property. I think my dad helped build it. I do remember dad saying the new house was built where the old house was, but the new house didn't have a basement...so maybe it was placed juxtaposition to the old foundation. Mimi had some beautiful flowers. There was a foundation of a building near the house which Mimi planted with cosmos and flox and many more too numerous to mention. The butterfies and bees loved this garden. There was so much life in that little space. 

Now all is gone.

Mimi.

This is what is left of that beautiful garden. 

Look up where the house(s) would have been.

Great grandmother Mary Ann 

Great grandfather John

The last time I went past the property, there was a big sign advertising a senior citizen complex. I don't go by there much anymore because it is hard to see the property in such a state. You just can't go home again.

ca. 1920 Carroll Porteous played football at Libertyville with no shoulder pads!

Periodically I revisit my images on my computer just to see if there are any more pictures I can identify as my research advances. So when I came across these pictures, I had to chuckle to myself. I knew I had these pictures of my dad and his high school football team, but I hadn't see them for awhile. The pictures are possibly sometime around 1918 to 1922. My dad, Carroll L. Porteous, went to Libertyville Township High School when the Brainerd building was the high school building. 

I also attended that high school. By the time I was there it had consolidated with Fremont Township and was called Libertyville Fremont High School. I spent freshman year in the Brainerd building and sophomore year in the bigger, modern Butler Lake building a 15-minute walk west on Route 176, Libertyville, Illinois.

I'm an ice hockey fan -- not a football fan, but I sure am a fan of my dad and his football uniform. Dad played in several sports in high school: football, baseball, and track. I don't know about basketball since his nickname was "Shortie," so I'm not sure he played. Family story: he set some track records that were still standing when I started high school in 1959. I never checked it out when I was there.

HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED...

...how equipment has changed! Just look at those helmets... what a hoot! There was no consistent type of helmet from one player to another. The pants, too cool! These guys were tough! Compared to the uniforms of today...well...there is no comparison. 

Looking at them again...what a hoot!

I can't identify any of the players other than the guy who will catch the hike... that's my dad.

Anyone see my shoulder pads?