Dora Louise Porter

Last week I told you that we were going on a journey of discovery. My father was adopted and I was going to find out as much as I could about his birth family. Well, today is the first installment of that series.

Dora Louise Porter was my father's birth mother. The name I use here is her maiden name. She was the second child of ten born to Nicholas Albert Porter and Grace Mae "Gracie" Freeman Porter. She was born on May 20, 1913 in Bryant, Illinois. I have lived my entire life in the Galesburg, Illinois area and honestly don't ever recall hearing of Bryant. It is located in Fulton County just south of Canton. This is the earliest picture I have of Dora.

Dora is the young lady on the left. Her older brother Brooks is on the right and her younger sister Ruth is standing in the center. Sometime later this month I am going to visit one of her sisters and will try to fill in the blanks on life in Fulton County in the early 20th century. The picture above was taken in 1918 when Dora was 5 years old. According to the 1920 census she is living in Buckheart, Illinois. Again we are in Fulton County a short 3 mile dive from Bryant.

Dora was married in 1928 at the tender age of 15 and gave birth to my father before her 16th birthday. Her husband was an old man at age 21 when they were married and when my father was born. It was a different time. I am withholding information regarding his name and circumstances while I do additional research. You will get the story when I can make sense of it in my head.

The next picture is of Dora in 1935. She is 22 when this picture is taken and by that time a mother of three or four children.

I must say she is an attactive young woman in this picture. Life would shortly prove to be cruel. After the birth of her fourth child she suffered from what was most likely post partum depression. She was institutionalized for a time. Her husband was unable to effectively parent 4 children with the oldest being six or seven at the time. They were placed in an orphanage and eventually adopted by two loving couples. The oldest, my father John and the youngest, my Aunt Sally known to them as Judith were adopted by the Sutor's. James and Barbara were adopted by a couple in the Chicago area. It is my understanding that Dora was disraught by the loss of her children. She and their father divorced and she attempted to find them. She had no luck and went to the point of consulting psychics. One told her that before she died she would be reunited with her children. The picture below was taken in the mid 1990's.

The four siblings are reunited with their mother. From left to right. Barbara, John, James, and Judith. Dora is seated in front of them. My father would be about 67 years old in this picture. It had been approximately 60 years since he had seen his mother. Dora and her second husband George Galloway lived in another small Fulton County Illinois community called Glasford. In the group of pictures we were given by one of her sisters was this picture.

Those three handsome young men are the Sutor brothers. My younger brother David on the left, my older brother John on the right. I am the smiling face in the center sporting the bow tie. I remember the pictuce well. The leather jackets we are wearing in the picture were given to us by our Grandmother and Grandfather Sutor following a trip they made to South America. The jackets to the best of my recollection were from Argentina. I believe they are still around and hiding in a closet at Mom's. The brick house in the background is the house where I grew up. The picture was taken in front of my grandparents house. The year 1959. The picture was accompanied by a letter from my Aunt Sally (Judith) to her mother Dora. It is postmarked December 20, 1959 Chicago, Illinois. At that time I am 5 years old. I have no idea my father is adopted. It wouldn't have mattered since at that age I had no idea what adoption meant. The letter explains to my birth grandmother who we are and what our names are. She lives about 50 miles away. I would not meet her until I was in my mid 40's. So Dora knows we exist, that her oldest child is alive and doing okay but she cannot contact any of us. A short car drive away and yet for almost 40 years we may as well have lived on the moon. I can't imagine how it must have eaten away at her. The torment of something so close to your heart emotionally and so close to you physically, yet completely out of reach. Never able to share in the accomplishments of your son or grandsons. No letters or phone calls. It would as if you were adrift in the ocean. Water everywhere you look but none to satisfy your thirst. She would see her nieces and nephews, other children in the neighborhood or walking to school or waiting on the bus. Her children and grandchildren out of reach. She would be married to George Galloway for over 50 years. He was her second husband. There would be no children from that union. I cannot imagine her suffering. I could not have stood under the weight of it.

So that is the part of Dora's story I can pass along today. A story of loss and reunification. A story of pain and joy. There will be more stories to come. This is the one that hurts the most. The one that can wake me up at night. The one that is full of what if's. Take a minute and think about how different your life could have been. If only....????