Dorsey and Porter families at Minnehaha FallsMembers of the Dorsey and Porter families during an excursion.
Grandfather Gilchrist Porter Roberts in front with his favorite aunt, Annie Dorsey Porter.

The Genealogy of Lynne Roberts

This website includes both of my genealogical lines — paternal (Roberts, Hammond, Dorsey, Porter) and maternal (Norwood and Paddock). I have also included some efforts to research my Puerto Rican in-laws (Pastrana and Rivera). I have produced them here in both pedigree format including family group sheets, and as narratives starting with the first immigrant and/or known ancestor of each line.

I had never been successful in locating the origins of Morris Roberts of Louisa County, VA — my earliest known ancestor. Then, it appeared that DNA had answered that question when we discovered a perfect DNA match between my immediate family and with a descendant of John Alexander Roberts of Amherst County, VA. He had a son named Morris Roberts born at the same time, and I seized on this as a continuation of my Roberts line. However, further research has confirmed that his son was Morris Roberts of Albemarle Co, 1732-1760. Additional research and analysis suggests that my ancestor, Morris Roberts of Louisa County, 1732-1811, was either a nephew or cousin, but clearly a male descendant of the same male line as John Alexander Roberts. Although my questions have not been answered yet, it suggests the presence in early Virginia of additional members of the Roberts line, and certainly spurs further research in that area.

Note: I have added a separate file for the "Descendants of Schuyler Harris Roberts" in order to include all three of his families, including the descendants of two wives, and those of the children he produced with a slave, Mahala. Restrictions in my genealogy software prevent me from presenting this data with equal detail in the associated descendant files.

I acknowledge the generous assistance of many other researchers who have helped to make my work possible. However, I alone am responsible for everything published on these pages, including all the errors and omissions. I hope that visitors who identify the shortcomings or who have more to share will contact me.

Pedigree Lines / Family Group Sheets

Please select the database that includes your surname and then select the specific names in the surname list or name index that follows, or simply follow the pedigree to your desired ancestor.

Descendant Lines

Please select the database that contains the surname you're searching for and select the name you want in the surname list or name index provided.

Scrapbooks

After assembling pictures of many ancestors that don't fit neatly into the genealogy, I decided to create different scrapbooks to share them. In this section you'll several scrapbooks. Go the Scrapbooks page to see what's available.

Other Content

"The Two Caleb Dorseys" is an article originally written for the Tuolumne County Historical Society publication, Chispa, after a year's research in Tuolumne, San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties. The initial purpose of writing this was to correct some incomplete and inaccurate research conducted earlier by various researchers. The primary research problem was recognizing that there was not one Caleb Dorsey in California in the 1860's, 1870's and 1880's, but two. Once I discovered that, it became a challenge to discover the facts of their separate but intersecting lives. They were both fascinating colorful men, representative of many people who came to California during that time period hoping to restart and reinvent their lives.

One of the Caleb Dorseys was a Colonel during the Civil War. After the war he became a rancher in California. Learn more about both of the Caleb Dorseys in the following articles:

More Info

Contact me for questions, corrections and contributions to this research.