When Peter Porter was born on 15 February 1709, in Weymouth, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, his father, John Porter, was 41 and his mother, Mercy Carver, was 38. He married Mercy Vickery on 5 December 1732, in Weymouth, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 2 daughters.
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English and Scottish: occupational name for the gatekeeper of a walled town or city, or the doorkeeper of a great house, castle, or monastery, from Middle English and Older Scots porter(e), port(o)ur ‘doorkeeper, gatekeeper’ (Anglo-Norman French port(i)er, portur, Latin portarius). The office often came with accommodation, lands, and other privileges for the bearer, and in some cases was hereditary, especially in the case of a royal castle. The name has been established in Ireland since the 13th century. In North America, this surname has absorbed cognates and equivalents in other languages, for example German Pförtner (see Fortner ) and Poertner .
English: occupational name for a man who carried loads for a living, especially one who used his own muscle power rather than a beast of burden or a wheeled vehicle. This sense is from Middle English port(o)ur, porter ‘porter, carrier of burdens’ (Anglo-Norman French portur, porteo(u)r).
Dutch: variant, mostly Americanized, of Poorter, status name for a freeman (burgher) of a town, Middle Dutch portere, modern Dutch poorter. Compare De Porter .
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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