The Treasure Map
by Jim Porter
My e-mail address is JPofTX@aol.com
and I live in
California.
I had been stuck on my gg-grandfather,
Joseph Porter, for a long time and had just about given up on finding any
more information about him or his family.
I knew he was married in 1830
to Sarah McLain in Hempstead Co., AR, and that he had a daughter,
Brunetta Catherine, born in 1835 in Texas. By 1836, Joseph and his family
were living in Hempstead Co. again.
In the 1880 census, his son said
Joseph was born in Georgia. I had searched all the Georgia records I
could lay my hands on but found nothing linking my Joseph Porter to
anyone in Georgia.
Then in late February, 1998, I was at the LDS Family
History Center doing some unrelated research. I wanted to check on county
lines which may have changed between one census year to another. I went
to the shelf where the book is kept, took it to the table and opened it
to a very unusual looking map.
The map showed Miller Co., AR extending
into Texas. Due to confusion over a treaty made between the U.S. and
Spain, the international boundary line was not known. The 1830 Miller
Co., AR census included a number of people who were actually living in
Texas. I drew a copy of the map and went home to study it.
After a few
days, I was able to find Joseph Porter and wife Sarah had registered as
colonists in Wavell's Red River Colony in Mexican Texas. Since then,
information on Joseph has literally poured in.
What caused me to open
that book to that particular page? I believe it was the hand of my gg-
grandfather, Joseph Porter.
Submitted: Mon Mar 16 18:16:11 1998
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