John Hamilton Porter (1790-1857) married Jane McClain in 1811 in Buncombe County, North Carolina.  Their first 2 children were born in Buncombe County, North Carolina.  By 1815 the growing family had moved to McMinn County, Tennessee.  By 1822 the family was living in Alabama.
William Garrett, one of the first settlers in White Plains, Tennessee wrote in his "Reminiscences of White Plains that 3 wealthy brothers - John H., Danford and William Calvin "Bumkum Billy" Porter - came from Nashville, Tennessee to White Plains, bringing "their saddle bags full of silver and bought much of the rich land in and near White Plains."  John H. and his wife, Jane, built what is known for a later occupant, the Chitwood house.
In the late 1700s the center of the Creek Nation was at the intersection of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers near present  Montgomery, Alabama. The 1790 Treaty of New York gave the U.S. government permission to use and improve the Indian trail through Alabama to facilitate American settlement following the Louisiana Purchase.   In 1805 Lower Creeks allowed the U.S. to build a horse path by which mail could be carried.   By 1811 the horse path became a federal road and was filled with settlers heading into Alabama.  ("History of the Coosa: Flow Back in Time."  Coosa Riverkeeper. c2023. Viewed January 20, 2023) The Creeks were allowed to establish businesses along the Indian trails through Alabama, which became the Federal Road, the major trail for settler immigration. Some settlers decided to stop within the Creek Nation with the intention of settling on Creek land. Tensions rose between the Creeks and the settlers as well as within the tribe itself.  ("History: Poarch Band of Creek Indians." The Poarch Creek Indians. https://pci-nsn.gov/about/history/, c2005-2023.  Viewed January  20, 2023)

John was a large landowner with some old deeds showing that he bought land in 1824 from Coosa Creek Indians.   Other existing papers belonging to John Porter records lands purchased from settler in the 1830s.  John Porter died in 1857 and was buried at White Plains.  Danford Porter settled on land that is now called Clark Morgan place.  After the War Between the States, Danford refused to take the oath of allegiance to the U.S.; instead he moved to Brazil.  Billy built his large residence where the school house now stands.  (Garrett, William. Reminiscences of Public Men in Alabama for 30 years.  Atlanta, Ga.: Plantation Publishing Company's Press, c1872.  https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001264101.  Viewed January 20, 2023)

One daughter, Mary Ann married Peter Johnson; another daughter, Salina Adeline Porter - the 3rd daughter and 4th child, married a Mr. Sappington and moved to Texas.

Salina's siblings were:

Christopher Columbus "C.C." Porter, Dr. (1811-1882), married 1) Roseanne Lowery, 1846; 2) Melinda M. Montgomery, 1850; 3) Margaret Atkins, 1856
In August 1870 Dr. C.C. Porter was among the best known dentists in Gadsden, Etowah County, Alabama; he lived on the Jacksonville Road just east of Rock Springs but spent most of his years in practice at Gadsden as well as having offices in Jacksonville, and Oxford. (Gadsden Times, unknown date. ancestry.com.  Viewed January 20, 2023)

Mary Ann Porter (1813-   ), married Peter Johnson
James Newton Porter (1815 - )
Isabella Narcissa Porter (1817-1902), married Henry Hickerson Mallory
Robert Felix Grundy Porter (1819-1865), married Mary Jane Montgomery
Margaret Jane Porter (1821- )
Sarah Ann Porter (1823-1885), married Thomas Emerson Montgomery
Elizabeth Catherine Porter  (1824-1897), married Wiley Hulsey
Salina Adeline Porter (1828, Rhea Co., TN - 1880, Jackson Co., TN)  (Gadsden Times, unknown date. ancestry.com.  Viewed January 20, 2023)
Joseph Porter (1828-1880)

By 1851 Elizabeth Catherine Porter was living in Texas where she married her first husband, John A. Walker (1829, TN - ), in Cherokee Co., Texas on November 20, 1851.  By 1860 John A. Walker is deceased and Elizabeth, his widow, is boarding in Sherman, Grayson Co., Texas. 
On March 7, 1867 Elizabeth C. Porter Walker married Wiley Hulsey in Sherman, Grayson Co., Texas.  Three years later Elizabeth, Wiley and children are living in Precinct 4, Fannin Co., Texas

The 1850 census for Benton County, Alabama, taken on January 2, 1850, lists John H. Porter and wife, Jane in the household with one of their children, Selina A. [sic], aged 19 years. The family lived on a 26 acre farm where they raised enough Indian corn and oats to feed his stock.  About 6 months later Salina "Sarah" married Dr. James A. Thadeus Sappington (1826-1878) on June 23, 1853 in Calhoun County, Alabama.  Dr. Sappington is listed as "physician" at Middleton, Calhoun County, Alabama.  By 1860 they were the parents of:


Jenny Lenora Sappington, 1854 - 1883
John Sappington, 1856 -
Christopher "Sip" Sappington, 1859 -

Other children born to them were:
Elizabeth Josephine, 1864 - 1930
Minnie, 1865 - 1908
Alena Clyde, 1868 - 1943

Dr. James A.T. Sappington (1827-1878) enlisted in 1861 and is listed as "Captain" in a muster roll dated September 23, 1861. He served in the Co. A, 50th Alabama Infantry, Confederate Army; he was elected for a period of 3 years as a Captain July 20, 1861 and commissioned July 25, 1861 of the Independent Co. Calhouns Beauregards, Calhoun Co., Alabama (Fold3).
As a POW J.A. Sappington, private in Co. G, 10th Alabama, he was captured at Gettysburg and housed in the U.S. General Hospital at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  He was transferred Baltomore, Maryland jail to be exchanged on August 22, 1863.  
In June 1867, after being examined by V.B. Gilbert, a surgeon, Dr. Sappington requested an honorable discharge from the Army being unable to perform the duties from disease of the liver and spleen.

The 1870 census for Etowah, Alabama lists the E. Sappington, 40 year old teacher, household with children:
Lanora, age 16
John, age 14
Sip, age 10
C, age 8
Elizabeth, age 6
Alley, age 4

J H Sappington, aged 42, is listed as a physician in Liberty, Amite Co., Mississippi, boarding in the home of David and Dora Wilson.
Dr. James A.T. Sappington was listed as a City Physician for Vicksburg, Missouri in the Vicksburg Herald, dated June 5, 1878.  He died about 3 months later on September 10, 1878 at Vicksburg, Warren Co., Mississippi.  At the time of his death, Dr. Sappington was living with his son, John and wife Mattie, in Vicksburg, caring for patients in the Yellow Fever epidemic.  Both James and Salina Adeline are buried in Jacksonville City Cemetery, Jacksonville,  Calhoun Co.,  Alabama.

The Denison Daily News, Holiday edition, of January 6, 1880 carried a notice of J.H. Porter owning one of the most complete grocery houses in Denison, stating that he embarked on the business July 3, 1876.   His two employes were E. Spencer and M.R. F. Owen.

Salina died January 2, 1880 at the age of 51 years, Point Rock, Jackson County, Alabama (Jacksonville Republican, Calhoun County, Alabama, February 21, 1880, pg.3) and was buried in Jacksonville City Cemetery, Jacksonville, Calhoun County, Alabama, leaving her children orphans.  Her last words were: "Tell my brother and sister to meet me in heaven."  Minnie and her sister, Allie Clyde were sent to live with their Porter relatives in Grayson County, Texas from Alabama in 1880 after the death of their mother.

After her mother's death in February 1880, 13-year-old Elizabeth "Lizzie" Sappington boarded in the home of Elias and Jane Keller along with her widowed aunt, Elizabeth Catherine Porter Hulsey, whose husband had died April 1879 near Honey Grove, Fannin Co., Texas (Christian Messenger, April 9, 1879, pg.8)

According to the 1880 Fannin Co., Texas census, dated June 25, Salina's youngest child, Elena [sic], aged 13, was living with her maternal aunt, Elizabeth Catherine Porter Hulsey, aged 53, and cousin S.I. Hulsey, aged 11, in the household of David and S.B. Linn

The 1880 Precinct #5, Grayson Co., Texas shows 17 year old Minnie J. B. Sappington (1868-1908) living in the household of her aunt and uncle, J.S. and Sallie Gowdy, along with their daughter Mary, age 6.
Minnie married widower, George W. Walker (1857-1905), on July 5, 1883 in Ragsdale, Fannin Co., Texas; George had a son, Clarence W. Mac Walker, born 1878.  George W., Sr. was the son of Garner McConnico Walker and Jane Dowden.

Minnie and George's children were born at Caddo, Indian Territory/Oklahoma:
Clarence Mac Walker (1884-1971), married Virgina "Virgie" F. Allen, May 21, 1905, Oklahoma
Addie Walker (1885- )
Jenora Addaline Walker (1887 -   )


Macon George Walker (1891-1954)
Wendell W. Walker (1893-  ), married Alice Sparks, 1911 Oklahoma


The George M. Walker family went back and forth between Tennessee, Illinois and north Texas.   There is a descendant of one of the wives of George M.C. Walker who recalls the family moving to Paris, Lamar Co., Texas. 


After the death of George W. Walker June 10, 1905 at Atoka, Oklahoma, Minnie married Dr. Frank J. White on October 18, 1906 in Atoka, Oklahoma (Book 3/Page 309).
Minnie died on April 7, 1908 and was buried in Center Cemetery, Center, Pontotoc Co., Oklahoma (FAG #205224887)