My Family History

Joseph Reid was my grandfather's maternal grandfather. The following chart shows where he fits into the family tree. Note - Joseph's wife's first name has been recorded as both Isabella and Bell Ann:  From Landmarks of Toronto, Page 185, Volume unknown: In May of 2006, I located an obituary for Isabella (née HARRISON) REID, which appeared in the Sarnia Observer on January 19, 1900. Isabella was living with the family of her daughter Josephine and her son-in-law, Francis James CLEMENT in Point Edward, Ontario: "In Sarnia, January 17th 1900 Isabella A. Reid, relict of the late Joseph Reid, Col. Sergt. of H.M. 77th Regiment at the age of 77 years." There was a military reference to Joseph; it kindled my interest in his background, which suddenly became more interesting with the new information. The following item came from the National Archives (of the United Kingdom) at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk: Item details: WO 97/883/78 JOSEPH REED Born DRUMACOZA,...

According to his obituary, my great-grandfather left the family farm near Port Perry, Ontario, Canada at age 17 (1868) and went to Montreal where he learned the cabinet making trade. Might he have lived with any of the people below? Note: Almost all Montreal city directories can now be accessed via this link: Montreal City Directories William Porteous (whose details are highlighted in light yellow) later moved to Stratford, Ontario. So did my great-grandfather and his youngest brother. Even later, William moved to Manitoba, near the Saskatchewan border. My grandfather moved to the Weyburn area in 1902 and some of William's sons lived in nearby Carlyle. My great-grandfather might have apprenticed to George Frederick Porteous, a cooper (highlighted in light blue). George and his family appeared in the 1881 census in New Brunswick; one of George F.'s sons, Frederick George, moved to Victoria, BC where he later died of Bright's disease in 1917. My own grandfather moved the fami...

 Consider this article a "work in progress"... While searching for "Porteous" entries in The Globe and Mail newspaper (via the Toronto Public Library), I came across a group photo of psychiatrists attending a meeting in Toronto. Without looking at the names of the individuals, I immediately picked out the man standing third from the right: (excerpted from "The Globe", Toronto, Saturday, November 22, 1930, Page 14) Given what I thought to be a strong resemblance between Dr. Porteous, my grandfather, Frederick Blake Porteous, and his older brother, George Ryerson Porteous, I searched "The Porteous Story" and located additional details about Dr. Porteous, his ancestors and his descendants. Brief information about Dr. Porteous • son of Rev. George Porteous (who lived in the Kingston, Ontario area for many years) • grandson of Nichol Porteous of Northumberland, England • some of Dr. C.A. Porteous' descendants are living in upstate New York (...