PORTIS FAMILY BIBLE
The following information is from a few pages that remain of a Bible that belonged to Samuel D. and wife Manourva M. Frizzelle Portis. These pages are now in the possession of a great granddaughter, Mrs. Betty Wagoner of Arnold, Missouri.
MARRIAGES
Samuel D. Portis and Manourva M. Frizzelle were married 13 February, 1856.
William J. Portis and Mary H Devenport was married 23 November 1884.
Married at the residence of F.P. Welch on Thursday, 24 November 1887 were John r. Welch and Dora Portis (Eudorah).
Married at the residence of Mrs. Portis on Wednesday, 4 November (can’t read) D____ Phelps and Lucy Portis.
BIRTHS
W.H. Portis was born 24 October 1833
Samuel D. Portis was born 8 December 1834
Manourva M. Frizzelle was born 28 October 1838
James Frizzelle was born 2 November 1842
Mary Amanda Elizabeth Portis was born 17 October 1857
Benjamin C. Portis was born 17 August 1862
James H. Portis was born 15 April 1865
Jessey D. Portis was born 8 December 1867
Eudorah B. Portis was born 25 February 1870
Cynthia A. Portis was born 22 May 1873
Samuel F. Portis was born 12 October 1875
Lucy E. Portis was born 21 may 1879
Mary Hannah Davenport was born 11 August 1867
Lulu May Welch was born 30 October 1888
Alpha Lee Welch was born 4 March 1892
Tony Cecil Welch was born 18 February 1894
Aline Bell Welch was born 1 July (can't read)
Juanita Portis was born 23 June 1902
Blanch Portis was born 26 June 1904
DEATHS
Mary A.E. Portis 16 August 1858
Died on 19 February 1880 at the residence of Benjamin Wyatt near Mayfield, Kentucky.
Benjamin C. Portis age 20 years.
S.D. Portis died 25 July 1886. Below this entry is another which reads: Died on 26 July 1886 at his residence in Marble Hill, Missouri, S.D. Portis aged 52 years.
The next entry is a newspaper clipping pasted into the Bible which reads: Died February 17, 1890, in Marshall County, Kentucky, Elizabeth, wife of W.H. Portis and daughter of J.J. and Martha Johnson; born in Warren County, North Carolina, professed religion, joined the M.E. Church, lived a consistent member near forty years. She was patient in her affliction bearing it with Christian fortitude. B.B. Risenhoover
Alpha Lee Welch died 5 February 1895
Died at St. Louis age 67 years, 1 month and 11 days, Mary H. Portis, 28 September 1934.
William J. Portis died 14 September 1946 at St. Louis, MO.
The Portis family moved across the Mississippi River from near Mayfield, Kentucky to Cape Girardeau County, Missouri about 1874.
Family tradition has that Benjamin Portis was killed while visiting the Benjamin Wyatt family in Kentucky. Exactly what happened is not now known but he was supposedly shot by another person.
The name Davenport was originally spelled Devenport and the name Frizzelle is spelled several different ways: Frizell, Frizzell, Frizzel and Frizel.