Rosanna Porteus

  Noted events in her life were:

• Family: Porteus Family, Enniskellin, County Fermanagh, Ireland. Her son Edward's obituary says"

"Edward Stevenson, who died at his home in Oswego Town December 12th, 1906, was born in Enniskillen, county of Fermanagh, Ireland, February 5th, 1813. His father, Thomas Stevenson, was of Scotch decent and his mother, Rosanna Porteus, was a member of a well known Scotch family of Episcopalians."

The Porteous Research Project (porteous.org.uk) notes the many spellings of the family name Porteous/Porteus and lists the following member of the family for Enniskellin, County Fermanagh, Ulster, later to become part of Ireland.

Porteus of Devenish, Enniskellin (Co Fermanagh, Ulster) 1602
John Porteus, possibly an immigrant from Scotland

The Porteous Research Project also lists the following ministers in Enniskellin.

Time Frame: 1760 – 1835 Rev William PORTEUS Curate of Devenish, Enniskillen, Fermanagh, Ireland 1784–91, Cleenish 1788–1831, Rector of Boho 1831–35, son of James Porteus of Giltagh & Drumadown 1736–1800, grandfather of William Lee Porteus, emigrant to Australia, 1882.

Time Frame: 1850 Rev David PORTEUS Minister, Methodist Church, Box Hill, Melbourne, Australia – Ringwood Church – father of Stanley David Porteus

Time Fram: 1865 – 1869 Rev William PORTEUS Plymouth Congregational Church, Grande Prairie, St Louis, Missouri – founded Plymouth Church, later known as Fountain Park Church; 1872 Pastor, Calvary Presbyterian Church, Carr, St Louis, Missouri, US.

The Rev. William Porteus is the only clear possible member of Rosanna's family. He was initially assumed to be Rosanna's father but current indications are that she was his sister.

In addition, the family history for James Edgar McKee (Cutter, William Richard. GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY OF NORTHERN NEW YORK, Volume II. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1910, pp 468-69.) provides support for Rosanna being a member of William Porteus' family. His family history states "Rev. William Porteus, father of Moore Lee Porteus, and also a native of the north of Ireland, was the Episcopalian rector at Enniskillen, Ireland. The Porteus family probably came from Scotland to the north of Ireland. We find the family in Peeblesshire in 1595. It belonged to one of the border clans."

An Internet search identified a posting on RootsWeb by Ronnie Aungst about the Porteus Family dated Sun, 23 Mar 1997 containing the following:

"This information is from letters written Dec. 12, 1902 and Oct. 14, 1904 by Simon Porteus Jr. of New York, NY. to his half-brother, James Porteus of San Francisco, CA.

William Poteus b. ?? d.??

siblings:
3 brothers-
- John. had children named Robert, William and Grace;
- James. was in harness business in Dublin, Ireland;
- Simon. several children, one named John. Simon drowned at foot of
Market St. in Philadelphia, Pa.;
4 sisters
- Margaret ??,
- Mrs. Jane Wherry,
- Mrs. Stevenson, and
- Mrs. Gamble.
................................................"

Which indicates Rosanna Poteus Stevenson was probably William Porteus' brother and James Porteus was her father.

Ivan Sanders maintains a large genealogy web site with nearly 500 people with Porteus/Porteous surnames. His listings were found to be consistent with the information posted by Ronnie Aungst, the Porteus Research Project, and the family history for James Edgar McKee. It lists the children of James Porteus (b. 1736 d. 1800) as William, James, John, Margaret, Jane, Rose and Anne. Therefore, Mrs. Stevenson's first name would be Rose, which is a nickname for Rosanna.

Rosanna married Thomas Stevenson. (Thomas Stevenson was born in Ireland.)