Jemima Porter was the daughter of William Porter. She married John Deatley in Virginia. Between 1796 and 1804 the family moved to Greenup County, Kentucky. Her husband was involved in several law suites while in Greenup County.

By 1809 the family was in Bourbon County, Kentucky where their sixth child, daughter Christi, was born about 1810. In September 1809 her husband and brother John Porter signed emancipation papers for a Negro slave woman named Kate. The document states that she was formerly the property of William Porter, Sr. now deceased.

John Deatley was appointed administrator of the estate Jemima’s brother Edward Porter in 1810. Her husband was to divide the estate of Edward Porter among the heirs. Her husband sold property in Greenup County in 1810, as well. The family appears on the 1810 Bourbon County census and includes mention of two slaves.

John sold Hugh Brent a Negro girl slave named Patty formerly belonging to the estate of Edward Porter in February 1811. Patty had been assigned in the division along with another slave named Hannah to Hiram Griggs according to the former document. In the deed of sale John Deatley states that Patty was allotted to his wife Jemima which she fell heir to after the death of her brother and father and in agreement with John and Jemima’s marriage contract.

The family moved to Sommerset Creek in Nicholas County in 1812. In July 1812 Jemima’s husband was indicted in Greenup County for horse stealing and released on bond. He immediately fled back to Nicholas county before his trial date was set.

Her husband was jailed in Fayette County, Kentucky accused of a felony. Since Deatley had posted bond and "fled" to Nicholas County it is possible that the authorities once again arrested him and placed him in jail because of the horse theft in Greenup County. By then Jemima had at least eight of their nine children to care for. Zephaniah Murphy, on authorization of Deatley sold a Negro and obtained Deatley’s release.

On March 29, 1813 John Deatley enrolled in Captain John D. Thomas Company, Boswell Regiment for the War of 1812. One month later he was discharged. The first record of Jemima’s husband’s death is noted in October 1813 in the Greenup County, Kentucky theft charge where they dismissed the charges. Jemima was left to raise her children. In March 1816 Edward Bullen filed suit against Jemima for certain costs which continued through 1817 in Nicholas County. In April 1820 Jemima filed an appeal against Edward Bullen and Thomas L. Glass. Then in the Spring of 1821 Jemima made an appeal in the Nicholas Courts for her husband’s estate including farm and slaves. The Court of Appeals show the Deatley Heirs vs. Zephaniah Murphy and Richard Stites and others representing that their ancestor was possessed of considerable personal estate including sundry slaves and land.

The Appeals record says that "Deatley was a man of weak mind and easily imposed upon and that Murphy possessed his entire confidence and professed friendship toward him and exercised a strong influence over him. That Murphy together with...John Roberts then bailed Deatley out of jail and after his return home to Nicholas County Deatley placed three Negro slaves in the possession of Murphy. Some of the heirs who sued were infant heirs and are not conversant with the transactions. As to the land it again was pointed out that Deatley was in fact a weak minded man and "whilst he was enduring the horrors of his prison he was under such stress...that he offered his whole estate to procure bail." Representations for his wife state that he was incompetent to manage his own business and the family would come of want if some trusty person or agent did not undertake Deatley’s business. After Deatley’s "liberation from confinement seemed to labor under a confusion of intellect and some ...conceived him measurably deranged..."

The division of the land was finally granted and divided among the heirs in 1822.

By 1840 Jemima was living with family in Bath County, Kentucky and the census still shows the family with four slaves. In July 1848 Jemima wrote her will setting one black woman, Eliza free. She left several black children to the Griggs family. She left her son Lawson’s eldest two children Ophelia nad Albert four negro children with the understanding that William P. Griggs would keep possession until the year 1854. Jemima Porter Deatley’s will was probated in Bath County, Kentucky in May 1850.