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Porper Name Background

Posted by Chuck Porper <Cporper@optonline.net> on Sun, 23 Dec 2007, in response to porper name, posted by jill porper on Sun, 19 Mar 2006

David, I just happened across your question about your family tree. My father traced ours back to William Frederick Porper 1784 when he was given land in Manchester. The tree does include a branch of a John Edward Porper (Oct 20 1840) and his children Amelia ( Who married Henry Leet), John Abott Porper (who married Mary Isabella Boyle, they moved to CA and changed their name to Porter), Edmund Porper ( 1872), Georgiana and James R. This might be your branch but unfortunately Edmunds branch isn’t expanded.

My father was born and raised in Gloucester, MA as was his father Robert David Porper, his father was Capt Robert Bruce Porper who sailed the schooner Cavalier out of Gloucester, one of his son’s; William H. Porper was lost at sea in 1921 and is on the lost at sea wall in the town hall, there are other Porper’s on the wall but they come from another tree altogether. It’s funny that a small town like Gloucester would have families with the strange last name of Porper and not know each other. My father and I both traveled a lot and you won’t find many of us around the USA. He moved to Coral Springs FL and wouldn’t you know there was another Porper in town, not in our tree however.

Below is the first page of the tree that explains the name change according to what my father determined.

THE PORPER FAMILY TREE

Many British colonists in America refused to lake up arms against Great Britain in the Revolutionary War, suffered persecutions in the United States from 775 to 1784. Between 40,000 and 60,000 of these persons, known as United Empire Loyalists, went to Canada for the sake of political beliefs or to enlist in The Duke of Cumberland Regiment (Montague Corps), The Associated Department of the Army and Navy, The Sixtieth Regiment - Royal Americans and the Saint Augustine Settlers of the British Army on the promise of lend grants for their military service. After the war, some settled in Nova Scotia end Quebec while others helped found New Brunswick and Ontario. They soon became the most important single group in Canada, politically and economically many of the Loyalists were among the wealthy of the 13 colonies. The Sixtieth Regiment - Royal Americans, something on the nature of a foreign legion of which William Frederic Porper was a member, was largely colonist recruits of German end Swiss descent. Because of the large number of German Hesse-Kassel soldiers—for—hire added over time, colonist of the unit, when disbanded in 1 783, were sometimes referred to as Hessians but the term was not rightfully applied. William Frederic Porper received a land grant of Manchester Town Lot Number 7 in Block A and Lot Number 19 consisting of 150 acres as a member of The Sixtieth Regiment - Royal Americans. His name was listed as Frederick Pope (Papa) in the Muster Roll, taken at Halifax. 17 July 1784 for the apportionments of lands, in the Town Clerk’s Book. In 1795,William Frederick Porper purchased 113 acres from Benjamin Hallowell of Boston, MA in the Town of Boylston with the power of attorney executed in London, being attested to by Paul LeMesurier, Mayor of London, at the Manor House (a note with this transaction mentions he had been given lends in 1784 with others of the 60th Regiment”. On 8 July 1811 , a Grant for Certificate Number 218 consisting of 500 acres at Goose Harbor (of Manchester) in Sydney County (now Guysborough County) on the west bank of Chedabucto Bay was given to William Frederic Porper, Yeoman, of Manchester for GEORGE the Third, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and of the United Church of England and Ireland, on Earth the Supreme Head, to all to whom these presents shall come GREETING by The Honorable Michael Wallace, Principal Deputy of Sir John Wentworth, Baronet, Surveyor General of the Kings Woods, for the Province of Nova Scotia, and all other His Majesty’s Territories in North America. (The British Title, Yeoman, was given to an independent class of ranking landowners and farmers, famous for their sturdiness and patriotism.) In the first two land transactions, the spelling Pape appears in one and Pape with the name Papa, the incorrect entry, in parenthesis in the other, while the third transaction shows Porper. Both Pape end Porper were found in the Guysborough Christ Church Anglican Records when the baptism of his first three children were registered. Another mistake appears when the second child was entered as a Pauper, instead of Pape, with the entry changed to Porper later. Throughout the many records his name appears as William Frederick or William Frederic, or a first or second name only, on the whim of whoever was writing the entry.

In conclusion, the family origin was German and the name Pope (they pronounced it Papa and the German pronunciation is the same) but William Frederic Anglicized the name to Porper between 1795 and 1811, after living in Nova Scotia since approx. 1783. Today, many still pronounce the name Porper as Papa, as we well know. It is strange that with the intimate acquaintance the residents had during the early years, the people failed to elicit one story or tradition of the home across the Rhine. No German was spoken, there were no German books and no German traditions flourished. Shortly after their arrival, all communication and ties to their fatherland ware severed and there are no records of their families, friends and relatives coming to join them. There is some undiluted German stock, but most intermarried with persons of other blood.

William Frederic Porper

CHILDREN

A. John William Lewis Porper- ?(27Jun 1791- )

B. Mary Jane ( ) Porper- ?( — )

C. Frederick George Porper- ?(28 Jun 1794- )

Rachel Ann (Hadley) Porper- ?(1808- )

NOTE: Married 25 June 1823

Hope this helps. Please let me know if you have found more information.

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