The 2nd Great Awakening and Port’s Ferry: A Port’s quest to understand his family history.

 

 

At first glance, Francis Port’s last will and testament is seemingly rather ordinary. Francis Port’s will was recorded in February of 1812 and conveys land and slaves to numerous individuals. There are references to several people and the typical legalese language. A widow of Thomas Port, a representative of South Carolina’s continental congress and an owner/operator of “Port’s Ferry”.  Port’s Ferry served as a key piece of terrain during the American Revolutionary War as a strategic crossing for General Francis Marion aka “The Swamp Fox”. 

 

 

In addition to its Revolutionary significance, Port’s Ferry was used often as a crossing for Methodist Bishop Francis Asbury. Bishop Asbury’s connection to the Port family is even more intriguing when one looks at the text of Port’s will where she bequeaths the vast majority of her assets to one Mary Port Snow “daughter of Thomas Humphries”. Herein lies the challenge for this researcher, Francis Port’s husband was Thomas Port who had served during the Revolutionary War and was a representative in the South Carolina’s congress. Further research will need to be conducted to understand the family connection between Francis Port and Thomas Humphries’ and his daughter, but it is certain that they are linked in some way. 

 

 

At some point in the early 1800’s Thomas Humphries is ordained as a Methodist minister although it is hard to determine who actually performed the ceremony. One could argue that given Bishops Asbury’s status as being one of two Methodist Bishops in American (along with Bishop Thomas Coke) and Asbury’s proximity to the area, that he himself ordained him but this requires more research. 

 

" I give devise and bequeath unto Mary Port Snow daughter of Thomas Humphries and the heir of her body forever, all land I now own. Commonly called Port's Ferry"

These relationships and events surrounding the Port Family and their Ferry are fascinating. When one places these events inside the context of the Second Great Awakening they become more intriguing. Francis Port leaving her land, belongings, and slaves to the family of a Methodist Minister given her interactions and proximity with one of founding Bishops of the American Methodist Church begs several questions that this Port descendant hopes to figure out.