The following information is from a letter written by Harriet Jane Moore (nee Bruce) written to my mother (Eunice Jane Rotella - nee Lent). Harriet and Eunice are grandchildren of Edwin LeRoy Endicott and Cora Belle Porter - mentioned in the book An Historical Record of the Descendants of Dr. John Indicott of Hartford, Conn. written by his grandson, J. C. McIntosh (Springfield, Mass, February 1888) by Clark W. Bryan & Co. Printers of Springfield, Mass.

The name of Porter is one of the occupation and is derived from the Latin "port" which is a town or gate of a town. The suffix "er" gives it personal significance so the name was used as the title of one who guarded the entrance to a castle or town and came to mean "gatekeeper." It is also possible that in some cases it was derived from the occupation of porter or carrier. the name is found in ancient British and American records in many forms such as Porteur, Portour, Portier, and Porter, of which, the last spelling is the most generally accepted in America today.

At the time of the Norman invasion in 1066, William de la Drande, a Norman knight, accompanied William the Conqueror and settled in Warwickshire, England. His son became "Grand Porteur" to Henry the first between the years 1100 and 1135. According to family historians, he was the progenitor of at least one branch of the Porter family in America. 

Among the earliest definite records of the name in Great Britain were those of Francis Le Porter, in 1215; those of Rover le Porter, in 1273; those of Richard Le Porter in 1292; those of Albin le Portor or Porter in 1293; those of Adam and Richard le Porter of Somersetshire in 1327; and those of Henry Porter of Buckinghamshire in the early 14th century. 

About 1400, John Porter of Buckinghamshire, married Johan Mawdelyne. the Glouchestershire line of the family was represented by Thomas Poorter or Porter in 1430 and he married Cicesly Churdson. Sir William Porter lived in Nottinghamshire about 1480.

Prominent in Great Britain, where the Porters were of the landed gentry, the family was well represented among the earliest British settlers in Colonial America.

It is asserted by some historians that the first of this name in this country was Samuel Porter, who settled in Plymouth, Mass. in 1622 and died there in 1659, leaving issue by his first wife Hannah Dodge, of a son named John.

A John Porter is said by some writers to have come from County Essex, England, and settled in Dorchester, Mass., in 1628 or 1629, later moving to Windsor, Conn. 

Another John Porter, born in England about 1596, immigrated to New England in 1635 and first settled in Higham, Mass., removing shortly after to Salem, Mass. 

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