Husband: William Thomas PORTER
Birthdate: 14 Mar 1863
Birthplace: Fayetteville, Fayette County, Alabama
Death date: 1943
Place of death: Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Burial: Presbyterian/Ladonia Cemetery, Ladonia, Fannin County, TX
Father: William J. PORTER
Mother: Martha P. WATSON

Marriage date: 26 Dec 1886
Marriage place: Fannin County, Texas

Wife: Mary Annieque CASTLE
Birthdate: 1870
Birthplace: Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Death date: 1961
Place of death: Windom, Fannin County, Texas
Burial: Presbyterian/Ladonia Cemetery, Ladonia, Fannin County, Texas
Father: George Washington CASTLE
Mother: Sarah Jane HARRISON

CHILDREN

Child No. 1: unknown PORTER
Sex: M
Birthdate: abt. 1887
Birthplace: Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Death date: abt. 1887
Place of death: Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Burial: Oakridge Cemetery, Fannin County, Texas
Marriage date:
Marriage place:
Spouse's name:

Child No. 2: Ida Mae PORTER
Sex: F
Birthdate: 1889
Birthplace: Bugtussle, Fannin County, TX
Death date: abt. 1984
Place of death: Fannin County, Texas
Burial: Ladonia Cemetery, Ladonina, Fannin County, Texas
Marriage date:
Marriage place: Fannin County, Texas
Spouse's name: Hubert Bascom STURDIVANT

Child No. 3: William Roy PORTER
Sex: M
Birthdate: 1891
Birthplace: Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Death date: 1965
Place of death: Bagby Community, Fannin County, Texas
Burial: Ladonia Cemetery, Ladonia, Fannin County, Texas
Marriage date:
Marriage place: Bagby Community, Fannin County, Texas
Spouse's name: Elizabeth Addie CROWSON

Child No. 4: Martha Jane PORTER
Sex: F
Birthdate: 1894
Birthplace: Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Death date:
Place of death: Bagby Community, Fannin County, Texas
Burial: Oakridge Cemetery/Church of Christ, E. of Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Marriage date:
Marriage place: Bagby Community, Fannin County, Texas
Spouse's name: Tom Wilburn CARTER

Child No. 5: George Bryan PORTER
Sex: M
Birthdate: 1897
Birthplace: Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Death date: 1937
Place of death: Fort Worth train yards, Tarrant County, Texas
Marriage date:
Burial: Presbyterian/Ladonia Cemetery, Ladonia, Fannin County, Texas
Marriage place: Bagby Community, Fannin County, Texas
Spouse's name: Lorene CASTLE

Child No. 6: Gordon S. PORTER
Sex: M
Birthdate: 5 Apr 1900
Birthplace: Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Death date: 22 Sep 1900
Place of death: Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Burial: Oakridge Cemetery/Church of Christ, Fannin County, Texas
Marriage date:
Marriage place:
Spouse's name:

Child No. 7: Mary Lounora PORTER
Sex: F
Birthdate: 1902
Birthplace: Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Death date: abt 1998
Place of death: Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas
Burial:
Marriage date:
Marriage place: Bagby Community, Fannin County, Texas
Spouse's name: Cody C. Barnett

Child No. 8: Josephine PORTER
Sex: F
Birthdate: unknown
Birthplace: Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Death date: unknown
Place of death: Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Burial: Oakridge Cemetery/Church of Christ, Fannin County, Texas
Marriage date:
Marriage place:
Spouse's name:

Child No. 9: Arthur Glenn PORTER
Sex: M
Birthdate: 6 Mar 1906
Birthplace: Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Death date: 9 Mar 1986
Place of death: Fannin County, Texas
Burial: Presbyterian/Ladonia Cemetery, Ladonia, Fannin County, Texas
Marriage date:
Marriage place: Bagby Community, Fannin County, Texas
Spouse's name: Elizabeth HERNDON

Child No. 10: Newman Cecil PORTER
Sex: M
Birthdate: 1907
Birthplace: Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Death date: 1949
Place of death: Arlington, Tarrant County, Texas
Burial: Presbyterian/Ladonia Cemetery, Ladonia, Fannin County, Texas
Marriage date: 1932
Marriage place: Oklahoma
Spouse's name: Mary Etta WRIGHT

Child No. 11: Alta Hazel PORTER
Sex: F
Birthdate: 7 Sep 1909
Birthplace: Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Death date: 6 Apr 1916
Place of death: Bugtussle, Fannin County, Texas
Burial: Oakridge Cemetery/Church of Christ, Fannin County, Texas
Marriage date:
Marriage place:
Spouse's name:
 
 
Documentation:
* Cemetery photos,
* Family notes,
* Folks and Facts of Fannin County,
* U.S. Census.

Notes:
* William Thomas "Billy" PORTER came to Texas from Fayetteville, Alabama about 1881 at the age of 18. He came by train with the Olive RUCKER Family. He had one living sister Jane who later came to live on his farm. Billy and his sister were orphaned in their early teen years. Billy never met his father. His mother died when he was 8-12 years old. In Texas, he first worked for Jim MCFARLAND and later George TRUSS. He worked at the Bug Tussle gin and one summer drove oxen and helped clear the right-of-way for the railroad. Before his marriage he attended the academy at Savoy when Mr. HALSELL was president. He was a member of the Woodmen of the World lodge. His father William PORTER died of measle during the Civil War and he never saw his father. Billy married Mary Annie CASTLE, daughter of George Washington CASTLE who had moved his family from Mississippi to texas and settled near Clarksville. After a year or two they returned to Mississippi, then later came back to Texas and settled east of Bug Tussle. Other members of the CASTLE family were Orville "Bud", George, Oratio B., Eugene Franklin and Nora.
  After their marriage December 26, 1886, William T. and Mary Annie lived just west of Bug Tussle. About 1892 they bought 50 acres of land in the Bagby survey three mile east of Bugtussle. They later bought another 50 acres of land and soon built a comfortable six-room house.
* I have looked at the Fannin County Court House and did not find any Land Deeds in his name. They later acquired several hundred more acres along Sulphur River bottom. Several colored families helped work this farm and all made their contribution and indelible memories with humor, wisdom, trust, superstition, and hours of hard work.
* The first Bagby school was built on land donated by W. T. PORTER.
* Florence MCFARLAND was the first teach and she boarded with the PORTER family. Billy PORTER had boarded with her family before his marriage.
* Billy PORTER was united with the Baptist Church when he was 14 and brought his letter with him when he came to Texas. The Truss school was the location of the Lone Pecan Baptist Church, which later moved to the Bagby school-house, then later to the Dial Community where their memberships remained until their deaths. They were buried in the Presbyterian cemetery at Ladonia.
* The PORTERs were the parents of 11 children, four of whom died in early childhood. The oldest daughter Ida Mae born in 1889 married Hubert Bascom STURDIVANT and were the parents of four children: Hulene, Hubert Porter, Roy Truett, and Living PORTER. STURDIVANT died in 1942 and Ida Mae married Benjamin Wiley BROWN of Windom who died in 1960. William Roy married Elizabeth Addie CROWSON of Ladonia and were parents of one daughter, Dorothy. Martha Jane born in 1894 married Tom Wilburn CARTER and moved to the valley in 1921. They have three children. George Bryan married Lorene CASTLE. They had no children. Bryan was killed in the Fort Worth Train Yards. This is a family mystery as to the truth of his death. Some speculate that there was a bounty on his head and that was why he was killed. Others say he was drunk and fell in front of a train. Mary Lounora married Cody C. BARNETT of Ladonia and have three children. Arthur Glenn married Elizabeth HERNDON of Wolfe City and have one son. Newman Cecil married three times. First wife unknown. She was ill and would go home to her mother often. They finally divorced. Cecil then married Lorene O'NEAL they had twin boys. Lorene and the twin boys died because Lorene had toxemia. Lorene's mother did not believe in doctors or medicine and would not allow her daughter to have the medical attention needed to save their lives. The family recalls Lorene's mother wailing "I killed my daughter." He later married Mary Etta WRIGHT of Delta County and they have three daughters. After the death of Billy PORTER, Annie moved to Windom where she lived ten years before she died at the age of 91.