WHO WAS THE OTHER UNIDENTIFIED
PORTERFIELD FEMALE?

There was one more Porterfield female for whom no court documents were ever found that positively identified her parentage. Her name was Martha A. Porterfield and she married Augustus Guy Carrington on December 3, 1835 in Madison County, Georgia. Carrington family records and data in the 1880 Madison County Census (p 23) indicated that she was born in 1813 in Madison County, but did not name her parents. Given that in 1813 the only Porterfields living in or around Madison County, Georgia were members of the David Porterfield, Sr., family, Martha had to have been part of that family. Close consideration of the timeframes involved showed that she could possibly have been the daughter of David, Sr. and Sarah (Nunn) Porterfield OR of Christopher and Susannah (Dudley) Porterfield OR of David, Jr., and Sarah (New) Porterfield. One might eliminate Thomas James and Tabitha (Bond) Porterfield from this discussion since Thomas James left a will in Madison County that clearly named his children, and Martha A. Porterfield was not among those listed.

Neither David Porterfield, Sr., nor Christopher Porterfield, nor David Porterfield, Jr., left wills naming their children and no estate settlement documents were ever found for any of these three men. In addition, no marriage records were ever found to document the exact marriage dates for Christopher and Susannah (Dudley) Porterfield or for David, Jr., and Sarah (New) Porterfield. That left researchers with only existing census data to examine for clues to Martha A. Porterfield's parentage.

If she was the daughter of David, Sr., and Sarah (Nunn) Porterfield, she would have been their last child born when Sarah was 45 to 55 years old—improbable but not impossible. However, the 1820 Madison County Census listed only 1 female 45-up in the household (Sarah (Nunn) Porterfield) along with 1 male 45 up (David, Sr.), and 1 male 10-16, possibly a grandson (James and Tabitha (Bond) Porterfield's oldest son was born in 1810) or hired help. Therefore, if Martha A Porterfield was their daughter, she was not living with them in 1820 when she would have been 7 years old—a highly unlikely circumstance.

If Martha A. Porterfield was the daughter of Christopher and Susannah (Dudley) Porterfield, then she would have been their first child. Therefore, Christopher and Susannah might have married as early as 1810 as Mrs. Willis suggested in her newsletter, but no record of their actual marriage date was ever found. The 1820 Madison County Census listed a female in the 0-10 age category that might have been this Martha A. Porterfield. The 1830 Carroll County Census listed 1 female 5-9 and 1 female 10-14, but no female in the 15-19 age category, and remember that Martha A. Porterfield would have been 17 in 1830 and still living at home since she did not marry until 1835. The census taker could have marked her age incorrectly, but that still would not explain why or how she got back to Madison County in time to meet and marry Augustus Carrington there in 1835 when her family lived in Carroll County until Christopher Porterfield died circa 1834 and then moved on as a group to the Paulding County area. Therefore, one may conclude that the extant census data do not support Martha's being the daughter of Christopher and Susannah (Dudley) Porterfield.

If she was the daughter of David, Jr., and Sarah (New) Porterfield, she would have been their first or second child based on the following data as found in the 1820 Madison County Census p 47:

* This person may not have been their son. If he was, then Sarah New was 12 or 13 when she married and no older than 14 when she had this child—not impossible but the usual marriage age for females in that era was 15 or 16 years old. It seems more likely that this was a nephew or cousin living with them or perhaps a hired hand who had moved on elsewhere before the 1830 census was taken. Based on the data in this census record, David, Jr., and Sarah (New) Porterfield married in either 1809-1810 if "unknown name" was their son, or more likely they married about 1812-1813 and Martha A. Porterfield b 1813 was their first child.

The household had grown considerably by the 1830 Madison County Census p 98:

** This female child was either a relative living with them or she died before the 1840 census.

By the 1840 Madison County Census p 38, the list included:

Martha A. Porterfield married Augustus Guy Carrington in 1835
Mary Porterfield married Micajah C. Carrington in 1839

According to the preponderance of evidence, Martha A. Porterfield fit into the household of David, Jr., and Sarah (New) Porterfield but definitely did not fit into the households of David, Sr. and Sarah (Nunn) Porterfield or of Christopher and Susannah (Dudley) Porterfield. Therefore, this writer assigned her as the daughter of David, Jr., and Sarah (New) Porterfield until such time as additional evidence might conclusively prove otherwise.

Descendants of David Porterfield, Sr., 1st generation:

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