I am also researching the Portee history. I've recently gone to a family reunion last week. This was my first time going in 18 years. I was 14 at the last one. The history has only been traced back to my g.g.grandfather. His name was Henry "Papa" Portee (1863-1929). All we know is that he is from South Carolina. He got on a train one day as a stow-away and rode the rail south (No one knows the year this happened). He was not found out until Poulan, GA (Worth, Co.) That is where he jumped off. He took a wife (Anna Dixon Portee), had 15 kids and lived in Poulan until his death in 1929. However, on the 1920 census it shows that he had a second wife, Amelia. I've been searching the census records for S.C. but the only Henry I have found close to his age was listed on the 1880 census for DeKalb, S.C. (Kershaw County). He was listed as born abt. 1868. That Henry at the time had an older brother, Mose and a younger sister, Julia. One of the family historians said that she believe that maybe he came from near the Columbia area, but no one knows for sure. If anyone has any info that can help me or if anyone knows that the Henry from DeKalb is my g.g.grandfather PLEASE contact me.
bombastic97@hotmail.com or bombastic97@yahoo.com
I have much more info.