Rev. George Porteous

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 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 (I managed to contact one of those descendants by phone a few years ago, and, after speaking with the individual, mailed him some of my material)

The newspaper indicated that Dr. C.A. Porteous was Medical Superintendent of the Verdun Protestant Hospital in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

We have a connection to Montreal via my great-grandfather, George Porteous (1851-1904). There are more recent connections as well via descendants of my great-grandfather's second marriage. Here's an excerpt from his obituary in the Guelph Mercury, Thursday, April 14, 1904:

The deceased was fifty-four years of age and was born near Whitby. At the age of seventeen he left the farm and went to Montreal, where he learned his trade as a cabinet maker, and later perfected himself as a designer in several large factories in the United States.

Take a look for yourself. There must have been some reason I picked out Dr. Porteous from that photo. My great-uncle, Geroge, is on the bottom left and my grandfather, Frederick, is on the right:










NOTE

Although I have no paper evidence to suggest a common ancestor, the "visual clues", in my opinion, are quite strong. A DNA test (or perhaps two or three to confirm the accuracy of the lab work!) might establish the approximate generation of our most recent common ancestor. Did that common ancestor live 500 years ago, 1,000, 2,000?

Evidence that I've collected suggests that my great-great-grandfather, George Porteous (1818-1898), migrated to Canada from the area around York, Yorkshire. Is it possible that he was aware of the existence of the other family, or is it possibly a case of our having a common ancestor far back in the murky past?

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