Ancestry of
O. Henry

Short Story Writer

William Sydney Porter

View famous kin of William Sydney Porter

• • 1st Generation
  • Ahnentafel No:
  • 1 
  • Father:
  • Algernon Sidney Porter 
  • Mother:
  • Mary Jane Virginia Swaim   
  • Birth Date:
  • 11 Sep 1862 
  • Birth Location:
  • Greensboro, Guilford, North Carolina 
  • Christening Date:
  •  
  • Christening Location:
  •  
  • Death Date:
  • 5 Jun 1910 
  • Death Location:
  • New York, New York 
  • Burial Date:
  •  
  • Burial Location:
  • Riverside Cemetery, Asheville, Buncombe, North Carolina 
  • Notes: 

  • aka O. Henry

    Short Story Writer

    William Sydney Porter's middle name is also seen as Sidney.

    The Travis County marriage record, which was recorded four months after the wedding, incorrectly states that William Porter and Athol Estes married 05 JUL 1887. However, the Sidney and Ruth Coffin (Worth) Porter Family Tree gives the dates as 01 JUL 1887. This latter date is confirmed by the wedding notice that appeared the next day, 02 JUL 1887, in the Austin American-Stateman newspaper.

    William Sydney Porter can be found in the 1900 federal census a prisoner at the penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio, were he was serving a sentence for embezzlement.

• Marriages for William Sydney Porter

  ---

  • Spouse:
  • Athol Estes
  • Marriage Date:
  • 1 Jul 1887
  • Marriage Location:
  • Austin, Travis, Texas

  ---

  • Spouse:
  • Sara Lindsay Coleman
  • Marriage Date:
  • 27 Nov 1907
  • Marriage Location:
  • Victoria (now Asheville), Buncombe, North Carolina

• Sources for William Sydney Porter

  • ¹ Asheville Citizen-Times (Asheville, North Carolina), 17 AUG 1947, p. 17, Obituary for William Sydney Porter (O. Henry).
  • ² Austin American-Statesman (Austin, Texas), 14 JAN 1929, p. 10, Obituary for mother-in-law Margaret Jane Roach.
  • ³ Family Tree for Family of Sidney Porter and Ruth Coffin Worth, (original in the possession of Kathy Russell-Regan, descendant of Sidney's brother Romanta, OCT 2021).
  • ⁴ Federal Census, NC, Guilford County, 1880, Greensboro, E.D. 127, p. 38, Image 37 of 42.
  • ⁵ Federal Census, NC, Guilford County, 1870, Morehead, p. 5, Image 29 of 48.
  • ⁶ Federal Census, NY, New York County, 1910, Manhattan Ward 18, E.D. 993, Sheet 2B, Image 4 of 12.
  • ⁷ Federal Census, OH, Franklin County, 1900, Columbus Ward 15, E.D. 111, Sheet 7A, Image 13 of 38.
  • ⁸ Fort Worth Record-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas), 01 APR 1930, p. 10, Obituary for step-father-in-law Dr P G Roach.
  • ⁹ Gravestone image at FindAGrave.com, (accessed 05/08/2020).
  • ¹⁰ North Carolina, U.S., Death Certificates, 1909-1976, Death certificate for spouse Sarah Coleman Porter.
  • ¹¹ The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, North Carolina), 07 SEP 1941, Sect. 3, p. 14, "Mother of O. Henry Woman of Talent".
  • ¹² The New York Times (New York, New York), 19 JUL 1916, p. 9, Wedding of Oscar E Cesare and daughter Margaret Porter.
  • ¹³ Greensboro History Museum, William Sidney Porter Papers (Mss. Coll. 11).
  • ¹⁴ Homans, James E., The Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. 8, New York: The Press Association Compilers, Inc. (1918), 371-374.
  • ¹⁵ Lang, Mae Elizabeth, The Pioneers from Vickory to Vickery, St. Joseph, Illinois: Typed manuscript (n. d.), https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/25928/, 121-122.
  • ¹⁶ Page, Arthur W., ed., The World's Work, Volume 33, Nov., 1916 to April, 1917: A History of Our Time, Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page and Company (1916-1917), 54-64.
  • ¹⁷ Roberts, Gary Boyd, The Mayflower 500: Five Hundred Notable Descendants of the Founding Families on the Mayflower, Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society (2020), 206.
  • ¹⁸ Roberts, Gary Boyd and William Addams Reitwiesner, American Ancestors and Cousins of The Princess of Wales, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. (1984), 52.
  • ¹⁹ Sitherwood, Frances Grimes, The Graham - Grimes Genealogy with Cognate Branches, 1756-1926, Bloomington, Illinois: n. p. (1926), 29-30.
  • ²⁰ Smith, C. Alphonso, O. Henry Biography, Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page and Company (1916).
  • ²¹ Stuart, David, O. Henry: A Biography of William Sydney Porter, Chelsea, Michigan: Scarborough House Publishers (1990), 19, 47-48, 206-209, 240-241.