A music teacher in Toronto, English-born Jane Porter published some of her musical compositions as well as a travelogue.
Special thanks to Jan Gregory for family contributions.
Entry revised by Linnea McNally and Carole Gerson
Jane Porter was born in Bristol, England, to Mary Keith (c1799-1874) and merchant William MacNish Porter (1791-1823). Her father died a month after the family returned to their home in Montreal, QC, from Jane’s baptism in England. Her mother soon remarried.
Jane grew up in Montreal with her mother, step-father, and three half-siblings. She taught music, published a set of
Also attributed to a Jane Porter is
Jane died in Toronto, ON, in 1906.
Composer and arranger
William MacNish was born in 1791 in Scotland, to James MacNish (c1768-1797) and Jean MacNish (b. c1761), who were cousins. William moved to Montreal, QC, sometime before 1815, the year in which he was granted permission by royal decree to use the name “William MacNish Porter,” in “affectionate regard to the memory of his late maternal great uncle, William Porter.”
William was a merchant, possibly in the brewery industry (as the name of “William MacNish Porter” surfaces in accounts related to that trade and alongside that of John Molson, but this individual’s identity as our William MacNish Porter cannot be verified). He married Mary Keith (c1799-1874) in 1819. Returning to England in 1823 just long enough to baptize his daughter, Jane, William died a month later in Montreal and was buried in Liverpool, England.
Mary Keith was born in about 1799 to Rev. Daniel Keith (c1760-1811) and his second wife, Jane MacPherson. Mary seems to have been raised in both British North America, where her father preached, and in Bristol, England, where he was the head of a seminary. In 1819, she married William MacNish Porter (1791-1823) in Montreal. The couple had at least one daughter before William’s death in 1823.
In 1831, Mary married notary public John Blackwood (1809-1854). She had at least three more children before his death in 1854. Mary died in 1874 in Montreal, QC.
Thomas was an appraiser at the Customhouse in York.
Mary was a music teacher in York; she never married.
Music Teacher
Proprietress, boarding school
Composer and arranger
Although she shares the same name, this Jane Porter (1823-1906) is not to be confused with the Jane Porter (1776-1850) who wrote