Thomas Porter, Sr. - Thomas Porter

Is there anything more recent? 1878 was a bad year for genealogy, long before American genealogy became more professional.

Jackson porter - which Porter are you most interested in? Easier to chase from now > then.

He was a prominent guy and looks decently documented. Congratulations on making your way to him. Unfortunately, finding his English ancestry would be very difficult; part of why I said “prominent” suggests plenty have tried, which means pointing you at English parish registers probably won’t help.

You want to gather as much information as you can about friends, families, associates, and the history of the people / towns in New England. So reading substantially in the book you found will help with that picture, and any other Porter genealogies you can find. Be sure and chase citations, and check out AmericanAncestors.org, which is NEHGS. It’s a pricey subscription but you may get a clue from their free searches on offer. And, have you done Y DNA testing? I would think that may suggest origins also.

Probably an English Puritan like everyone else. It was not an area and time of diversity.

My own Porter ancestor, on the other hand, who I can trace only as far as North Carolina around 1776, could well have been German origin - her husband was.