Frances Porcher
Frances Porcher (1853–1935) was an American writer and journalist. Ancestors Frances Cannon Smith was originally from Virginia, and was a descendant from the Woodson who arrived in 1619 (or 1623), and settled finally in Goochland County, and from the Beckley, whose homestead was in King William County, near the house of the Carter-Braxtons. Porcher's great-great-grandfather, John J. Beckley, was elected Clerk of the House of the first United States Congress, which assembled in the city of New York, March 4, 1789, at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets, but which failed to secure the proper quorum (thirty members) until March 30. In those days the Clerk of the House was elected the same as the Speaker, and John Beckley served continuously until shortly before his death in 1807, with the exception of three years spent in assisting in the revision of the laws of Virginia. Frances Cannon Smith was the daughter of John Woodson Smith, born in Cumberland County, Virginia, on May 17, 1819, and died in St. Louis on October 5, 1888. He was the son of Sarah Hatcher, daughter of Col. John Woodson, Cumberland County, Virginia, who was a lineal descendant of Dr. John Woodson, of noble