Husband Gen. Andrew Porter 1 2 3
Born: 24 Sep 1743 - Worcester Twp, Montgomery Co, PA 1 2 4
Christened:
Died: 16 Nov 1813 - Harrisburg, Dauphin Co, PA 1 4
Buried:
Father: Robert Porter (1698/1705-1770) 1 2 5 6
Mother: Lilleous Christy (Abt 1708-Aft 1771) 2
Marriage: 20 May 1777 4 7 8
Other Spouse: Elizabeth McDowell ( -1773) 6 7 9 - 10 Mar 1767 6 7 9
Wife Elizabeth Parker 3 7 8
Born: 23 Aug 1751 4
Christened:
Died: 15 May 1821 4
Buried:
Father: William Parker ( -1757) 3
Mother: Elizabeth Todd (1730-1790) 3 5
Children
1 F Charlotte Porter 7 8 10
Born: 1 Feb 1778 7 10
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Robert Brooke, Esq. (1770-1821) 7 8 10
2 F Anna Maria Porter 7 10
Born: 1 Jan 1781 7 10
Christened:
Died: Apr 1781 7 10
Buried:
Spouse: Did Not Marry
3 M Alexander Parker Porter 7 10
Born: 8 May 1782 7 10
Christened:
Died: Aug 1782 7 10
Buried:
Spouse: Did Not Marry
4 M John Ewing Porter 7 8 10
AKA: John Ewing Parker 7
Born: 11 May 1784 7 8 10
Christened:
Died: 14 Nov 1819 - Plymouth, Washington Co, NC 7 8 10
Buried:
Spouse: Did Not Marry
5 F Harriet Porter 7 8 10
Born: 19 Oct 1786 7 8 10
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Col. Thomas McKeen (1763-1858) 7 8 10
6 M Gov. David Rittenhouse Porter 7 8 11 12 13
Born: 31 Oct 1788 - near Norristown, Montgomery Co, PA 7 8 13
Christened:
Died: 6 Aug 1867 or 1868 - Harrisburg, Dauphin Co, PA 13 14
Buried:
Spouse: Josephine McDermott ( - ) 8 13 14
Marr: 28 Sep 1820 - Huntingdon Co, PA 13 14
7 M Gov. George Bryan Porter 7 8 12 15
Born: 9 Feb 1791 - Montgomery Co, PA 7 8 15
Christened:
Died: 18 Jul 1834 - Detroit, Wayne Co, MI 15 16
Buried: - Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit, Wayne Co, MI
Spouse: Sarah Humes ( - )
Marr: 31 Oct 1816
8 M James Madison Porter 8 12 16 17
Born: 6 Jan 1793 - Montgomery Co, PA 16 17
Christened:
Died: 11 Nov 1862 - Easton, Northampton Co, PA 16 17
Buried:
Spouse: Eliza Michler ( - ) 18
General Notes: Husband - Gen. Andrew Porter
While young, he seems to have shown a taste for reading the few books he could procure. At the age of eighteen or nineteen his father had determined on his learning the trade of a carpenter with an elder brother; but, after a few months' trial, he was declared to be too fond of books and of figures, and too little disposed to work to be useful as an apprentice. Believing that his aversion to labor and his fondness for books were such that he would never be successful as a farmer or mechanic, the father determined on fitting him for the occupation of a country schoolmaster. The boy was sent for a short time to Mr. Mennon's school, during which he made rapid improvement, especially in mathematics, and then opened a small school in the neighborhood of his father's residence.
In the spring of 1767 he removed to Philadelphia, and took charge of an English and mathematical school, which he conducted with much reputation until the spring of 1776, when, at his country's call, he bade farewell to these peaceful avocations to enter into her service. During his residence in Philadelphia, he had made much progress in his mathematical studies, and had become an accurate astronomer.
On the 19th of June, 1776, he was commissioned by Congress a captain of marines, and ordered on board the frigate "Effingham." At this time his school contained about one hundred scholars, and enabled him to support comfortably a family of five children who had recently lost their mother; but all considerations of family and self seem to have been lost in the cause of his country. Not finding among the marines an opportunity of rendering the service he desired, he was shortly after transferred to the artillery; a corps in which, from his previous studies, he was qualified to be more useful. He continued to serve as a captain of artillery until the 13th of March, 1782, when he was promoted to a majority, to rank as such from the 19th of April, 1781. He was subsequently promoted successively to the ranks of lieutenant-colonel, lieutenant-colonel commandant, and colonel of the Fourth (or Pennsylvania) Regiment of Artillery, which latter station he held at the disbanding of the army.
While in the army he was personally engaged in the cannonade at Trenton, and in the battles of Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown. In the last-mentioned action nearly all of his company were killed or taken prisoners, and in the first, he received on the field in person the commendation of General Washington for his conduct in the action. In the month of April, 1779, he was detached with his company to join General James Clinton's brigade in the operations under Gen. Sullivan against the Indians.
When the siege of Yorktown was determined on, Col. Porter was ordered to proceed to Philadelphia, and superintend the laboratory at which the various kinds of ammunition for that siege were prepared.
The grand object for which the American patriots had taken up arms having been accomplished by the peace of 1783, and the army having been disbanded, Col. Porter retired to private life, and to the cultivation of his farm. While thus employed, he performed for many of his neighbors the offices of executor, trustee, and guardian, and the papers and documents which were left show that he discharged these trusts with such exactness and fidelity that his acts passed without a question.
The trustees of the University of Pennsylvania tendered to him the Professorship of Mathematics in that institution, which he declined. He was subsequently appointed by the Supreme Executive Council of the State one of the commissioners for running, by astronomical observations, the lines between Pennsylvania and Virginia, and Pennsylvania and what is now Ohio. In this business he was engaged during the years 1784, 1785, 1786, and 1787. He shortly after retired to his farm in Norristown township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, within a few miles of the place of his nativity, on which he continued to reside until the spring of 1809. In the year 1800 he was appointed, in conjunction with Gens. Irvine and Boude, to settle the controversies of the Pennsylvania claimants in the seventeen townships in the county of Luzerne, but resigned the situation in the next spring. In the same year he was appointed brigadier-general of the First Brigade, Second Division of Pennsylvania militia, and shortly after, on the removal of Gen. Peter Muhlenberg to Philadelphia, he was made major-general of the division.
In the month of April, 1809, Governor Snyder selected him to fill the office of Surveyor-General of Pennsylvania, which situation he held until his decease. He found the office in much disorder, remodeled it, and brought order and system out of confusion.
During the years 1812 and 1813 he declined the positions of brigadier-general in the army, and Secretary of War of the United States, both of which were offered to him by President Madison, believing that his advanced age would prevent the execution of the duties of either situation with that efficiency which the public good and his own reputation required.
He was one of the younger sons of his father. Not taking kindly to work on the farm, Andrew Porter was apprenticed to an elder brother to learn the trade of carpenter, but as he clearly demonstrated a much stronger liking for books than the tools of an artisan, his father decided to permit him to follow his own bent and sent him to the best teacher of that section, Patrick Mennan, of White Marsh township. He made rapid progress in his studies and, becoming especially interested in astronomy, sought the advice and counsel of David Rittenhouse, and the intimate friendship formed between General Porter and the eminent Pennsylvania astronomer, scientist and scholar lasted through life. In 1767 Andrew Porter, through the advice of his friend Rittenhouse, accepted the position of master of an English and mathematical school in Philadelphia. Here he continued his scientific studies and experiments and at the period of the breaking out of the Revolution had acquired a high reputation as a scholar and master, his specialty being still astronomy.
Andrew Porter caught the martial spirit early in the struggle for independence and recruited and drilled a company of marines as an adjunct to the little Pennsylvania navy then being formed. Entering the service as captain of his company of marines he was assigned to duty on board the frigate "Effingham". His capacity and intelligence as a commander attracted the attention of the authorities engaged in organizing the land forces of the patriot army and he was transferred to the command known as Captain Thomas Proctor's company, Pennsylvania Artillery, while it was stationed at Fort Island, in the autumn of 1776, and under Captain Forrest took part in the capture of the Hessians at Trenton, on Christmas night, 1776, receiving on the field the commendation of General Washington for his conduct in action. He was commissioned captain in Proctor's regiment, January I, 1777. What rank he held at the time of the Battle of Trenton does not appear ; the rolls of Major Proctor's command are far from complete and it is possible that he was in this engagement as a volunteer, recently transferred from the Marines, and commission not issued until a week later. He participated with Colonel Proctor's regiment, created a regiment under resolution of Council of Safety, February 6, 1777, in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, the greater part of the men of Captain Porter's company being killed in the latter battle. When Colonel John Lamb's Second Regiment of Artillery was organized, under resolution of Congress of March 15, 1778, Captain Andrew Porter was assigned to that regiment, and participated with it in the Battles of Princeton and Monmouth. In the spring of 1779 he was detached with his command and ordered, with Colonel Proctor's regiment, to report to General Clinton at Albany, New York, for service under General Sullivan in the campaign against the Six Nations. After the successful battle of August 29, 1779, he reported with his command at Washington's camp at Morristown, New Jersey, and went into winter quarters. It was the desire of General Washington that the two companies of Colonel Lamb's regiment commanded by Captain's Porters and Lee be annexed to Colonel Proctor's regiment and under date of December 14, 1779, he wrote to the Pennsylvania Board of War as follows:
"If the company lately commanded by Capt. Lee & Capt. Porter can be annexed to Col. Proctor's regt. without producing discontents, it will be desirable; but as we have had so much uneasiness & distraction on the subject of rank it is necessary that it should be inquired what operation the measure would have. When this is made I will communicate the result."
This letter was transmitted to President Reed on December 23, by the Board of War, but when the transfer was really made does not appear; the two commands seem to have served together from about this date but the first record we have of Captain Porter as included in Proctor's regiment is on January 1, 1781, over a year later. In the fall of 1781 Captain Porter petitioned Congress for a commission as major of Proctor's regiment, now known as the Fourth Regiment, Pennsylvania Artillery, alleging that Major Benjamin Eustace, then filling that position, was not properly accredited thereto. This led to a difficulty between the two officers and Captain Porter, having overheard a remark of Major Eustace to the effect that he, Porter, was a better schoolmaster than soldier, challenged Eustace to a duel, and at the meeting which occurred October 6, 1781, Eustace was killed at the first shot. A court-martial resulted some months later which entirely exonerated Captain Porter and he was commissioned major to succeed Eustace, to rank from the day of Eustace's death. At about the same time, in the fall of 1781, Captain Porter was sent to Philadelphia to superintend the chemical laboratory there, at which a large quantity of ammunition was being manufactured. He remonstrated against being deprived of active duty in the field but was consoled by receipt of a letter from the Commander-in-chief, of which the following is an abstract:
"You say that you are desirous of being placed in that position in which you can render your country the most efficient service. Our success depends much on the manner in which our cartridges, bombs, and matches are prepared. The eye of Science is required to Superintend their preparation, and if the information of General Knox, who knows you, well and intimately, is to be depended on, there is no officer in the Army better qualified than yourself for the Station I have assigned you."
It would seem that the difficulties in reference to rank dreaded by Washington in the consolidation of the two regiments resulted as shown by the contention between Eustace and Porter. There appears also to have been some contention between Captain Porter and Captain Isaac Craig, senior captain in Proctor's command, who seems to have had the command of the detachment of the regiment sent to Fort Pitt in 1780. This friction was checked on March 13, 1782, by the Supreme Executive Council directing that Captain Porter be promoted to major, to rank from the date of the death of Major Eustace, and further promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and that Captain Craig be made major to rank from the beginning of Porter's commission as lieutenant-colonel. He was made lieutenant-colonel commanding, December 24, 1782. He signs a report of the regiment as major commanding, March 22, 1782, when the main body of the regiment was stationed at Lancaster and Carlisle; two captains, one lieutenant and thirty-four men at Fort Pitt, and two captains, four captain-lieutenants, one second lieutenant, adjutant, non-commissioned officers and privates, numbering one hundred and twenty-one men, with the Southern army. After the surrender of Cornwallis this latter force was attached to the command of General Greene and in 1783 Colonel Porter retired from the service.
Colonel Porter was offered the chair of mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania but declined it. He was appointed by the Supreme Executive Council to assist the Boundary Commission in determining the lines between Pennsylvania, Virginia and Ohio by making the astronomical observations necessary to determine where the line should be laid. He was employed in this service during the years 1784-85-86-87, becoming one of the Boundary Commission proper by appointment of March 25, 1785. In 1787 Colonel Porter retired to his farm in Norriton township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and resided there until 1809. He was commissioned brigadier general of militia in 1800, in command of the First Brigade. On May 10, 1809, he was appointed
surveyor-general of Pennsylvania and he filled that position until his death. During the War of 1812 he was tendered a commission as brigadier-general of the United States army and also the position of Secretary of War, but declined both. [CRFP, 1300]