William Porter Burrall (September 18, 1806 – March 3, 1874) was an American politician and railroad executive.
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Early life
Burrall was born on September 18, 1806, in Canaan, Conn. to Hon. William Morgan Burrall (1779–1856) and Abigail Porter Stoddard (1783–1813), who had married November 4, 1803. His siblings were Elizabeth Burrall (b. 1804), who married Edmond S. Belden, Edward Burrall (1809-1814), and Abigail S. Burrall (1811–1813), who both died young.
His paternal grandparents were William Burrall (1748–1825) and Elizabeth Morgan (1755–1829), of the Morgan family, who married in October 1774.
His mother was the only child of his maternal grandparents, Maj. Luther Stoddard (1746–1804) and Abigail Porter (1763–1797), who married in 1781. His grandmother's father was Dr. Joshua Porter (1730–1825), a 1754 graduate of Yale, fought in the Revolutionary War as a colonel. He was at the head of his regiment in October 1777 when John Burgoyne surrendered his 6,000 men after the Battles of Saratoga. After the war, he was elected to various official positions for forty-eight consecutive years. His maternal grand-uncles included Augustus Porter (1769–1849), a member of the New York State Assembly, and Peter Buell Porter (1773–1844), the United States Secretary of War. After his grandmother's death, his grandfather married Mary Wheeler (1765–1853).