PORTER FAMILIES
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Nearly all the families bearing the name of Porter, in the United States, can trace their origin to a very few immigrant ancestors.
RICHARD PORTER
Settled in Weymouth, Mass., in 1635. He was my. ancestor;
and a few years since, although not especially fitted for such
a work by education or occupation, I began a Genealogy of
his descendants. It has been a work demanding patience and
persistence, but it has been a pleasure.. The very many
pleasant letters received from members of the family, in nearly
every state and territory in the union, containing information
and encouragement, I would here gratefully remember. I give
in this little book the result, not that it is perfect or complete, but this is what I have.
JOHN PORTER
Of 'Hingham, and Salem, was at Hingham in 1635—not more than three miles distant from Richard Porter, at Weymouth. I believe they were brothers, but have no,, positive proof of the fact.
In the course of my researches, I have accumulated much information relating to the earlier generations of this highly respectable family ; with some accounts of later generations. I have concluded to print what I have, hoping that it may 'be
of some benefit, by the -way of assistance towards a more complete Genealogy of this family, and of interest until that is accomplished.
JOHN PORTER, of Windsor, Conn., settled there, 1638, and said to have been previously at Dorchester, Mass. Hon. Samuel W. Porter, of Rochester, New York, Henry Porter Andrews, of Now York City, and Rev. Edward C. Porter, of Racine, Wis., have given much time and research to a Genealogy of this family, the last named gentleman having prosecuted his work in England.
ROBERT and THOMAS PORTER, brothers, were of the eighty-four proprietors of -Farmington, Conn., in 1640. The first named was ancestor of President Noah Porter, of Yale College.
DANIEL PORTER, surgeon, of Farmington, Conn., before 1653, said by one authority to have been a brother of Robert and Thomas, of that town.
ABEL PORTER, of Boston,' Mass., admitted to the church there Jan. 23, 1641.
JOHN PORTER, of Roxbury, freeman, , Nov. „5, 1633, removed to Boston, where in March, 1636, he was appointed by court a referee in a case John Burr vs. Mr. Dummer. He was a follower of Rev. John Wheelwright and Ann Hutchinson, in their "seditious doctrines," and (with others,) was warned before the 30th of November, 1637, to deliver up his guns, pistols, powder, shot and match, at Mr. Cane's house in Boston, there to be• kept till further orders by the court. "March 12, 1638, John Porter and others * * * having license to depart, summons is to go out for them to appear (if they are not gone before,) at the next court, the third month, to answer such things as shall be objected." Judge Savage, in his Genealogical Dictionary of New England, says that "he removed to Rhode Island, signed their compact in 1638 ; was an assistant in 1641, and after for some years: Lived in Portsmouth, R. I., in 1655, and at Wickford, R. I., 1674. Hazard II, 612." It has been by some thought that this man was the same as Johnof Hingham. and Salem,...but I do not see how such can be the case. There are some other families who have come into the country since 1800, from England, Ireland, and the British Provinces.
JOSEPH W. PORTER.
Burlington, Maine, 1878.
NOTE—Where no state is named in connection with towns, Massachusetts is the state, except in cases of well known citi
JOHN PORTER
Of_Hingham and Salem, (Danvers) tanner, was born in England, probably in Dorset, in 1596. In what ship or at what date he came to New England, I have not learned. .Before settling at Hingham, he may have lived for a short time in Boston or Dorchester. .Hon. Solomon Lincoln, in his
History of Hingham, 1827, page 43, says he was a settler there in 1635. • No grant of land is found to him at that date ;only the fact, that in one grant made that year at Weary-all (Otis) hill, it was described as "bounded on land of John Porter." Mr. Quincy Bicknell, who is authority in such matters, suggests that the description may have been written at a later period. In the early settlement of Hingham, there .were two sets of records—town and proprietors' ; the town records gave dates when the votes were passed making a grant; and the proprietors' records, the date when it was completed by the person appearing and taking the same. The first lots were house-lots, thirty in number, and were drawn or granted, Sept. 18, 1635, 0. S. In the names of grantees*[1] of these lots, the name of John Porter does not appear. After the house-lots, grants of land for other purposes followed. The house-lots were laid out so as to make as compact a settlementas possible, as a safeguard against Indian attacks. There was a system in laying out the lots : Commencing at a point near the harbor, and laying off on a street called Town Street.. (North Street, in 1827) extending westward from the place of beginning, about one Mile, and skirting the north side of an irregular swamp, until reaching the head of it, on which they made a short street extending to the south side of the swamp ; and then returning on the south side of said swamp to within one-quarter of a mile of the place of beginning, where the street stopped on an arm of the sea. Of the first, twenty- eight were on the north side of the swamp, and two on the head. The office of Quincy Bicknell is now (1878) on the 29th lot. The extent of the street is about one mile in • length. The lots on the south side of the swamp were allotted in 1636. Near the easterly termination of the south street, they laid out a street at right angles thereto ; and near the junction, on a slight eminence, the first meeting house was built. This last street was extended about one mile from the meeting house. About midway on the street, commenced a plain, and here they laid out an open square, of about fifty acres, which was left for a common or training field. This was in what is now Centre Hingham. On the south and east side of the common, house-lots were granted in 1637 and 1638; on the west side, lots were granted in 1638 ; on the north-east corner of the common, two house- lots were granted Sept. 1,1637, the first to William Carlyle, and the second to John Porter. Both these lots, or nearly all of them, are now the property of the Hingham Agricul- • tural and Horticultural Society--the hall of the society being on the Carlyle lot ; the John Porter lot fronts on East street, and is probably where he built his first house in New England.
September 2, 1637, there were laid out to John Porter, for a house-lot, 7 acres ; 5 acres for a planting lot; 38 acres for a great lot, on the east side of the river ; 4 acres of salt marsh at Layford's Liking Meadows ; 3 acres of fresh meadow at Crooked Meadows ; for a small planting lot, 5 acres at the Plain Neck ; 2 acres of salt meadow at Wear Neck ; and 2 acres of fresh meadow at Turkey Meadow.
The proprietors of Hingham claimed a portion of Nantasket lands, and made grants of land there March, 1637-8. The ninth lot was granted to John Porter, and contained four acres of upland, and twenty acres of meadow. Nantasket contested the legality of this appropriation of lands, and the General Court, in Sept., 1643, voted that, "The former grant to Nantaseot was again voted and confirmed, and Hingham were willed to forbear troubling the Court any more about Nantascot." Hingham afterward made compensation to those who suffered loss by this decision, by granting other lands. In 1640, John Porter was one of a committee to divide • Cohasset lands remaining. May 13, 1640, he was appointed by the General Court to value horses, mares, cows, oxen, goats, and hogs, for Hingham. "June 2, 1641, the fine of John. Porter, James Ludden, and John Gurney, which they forfeited for want of gunpowder, was remitted by the General Court. Ludden and Gurney were of 'Weymouth. In 1641,•, he with others, was chosen to make a rate in Hingham. Also, constable of Hingham. He was deputy to General Court • for Hingham, May 20, 1644. He removed to Salem, now Danvers, 1641. A Mary Porter, supposed to be his wife, joined the church there May '5, 1644; but his own name does not appear in the list of members until 1649. May 10, 1643, John Porter, of Hingham, bought of Rev. Samuel Sharp, of
Salem, his farm in Salem, lying north of Mr. Skelton's, for 110 pounds, and agreed to pay for it in three installments, viz : May 20, 1643, fifty pounds ; May 1, 1644, thirty pounds ; May 1, 1645, thirty pounds—but did not pay the last until
Jan. 20, 1652.
"John Porter, of Salem, grants unto Nathaniel Baker, of Hingham,*his house and lot in Hingham, with all the barnes and outhouses, &e., and all the several parcels of land in Hingham, bought by the said Porter, or granted by the town, date 15, (1) 1618—sealed and delivered in presence of Wm. Aspinwall."
(Suffolk Records, vol. 1, page 101.)
June 29, 1648, he bought of Simon Bradstreet, of Boston, one-third of a farm containing one hundred and eighty acres, which was bought of Abraham Page, late of Boston, tailor. Also, same day, bought of William and Richard Haynes, of Salem, two-thirds of Bishop's farm. In 1650, he bought the farm of Emanuel Downing, in Salem, 500 acres which in 1663, he gave his son Joseph as a marriage portion. He also made other purchases of lands, so that at the time of his death, lie was the largest land holder in Salem village,[2]1' his lands lying in what is DO W Danvers, Salem, .61renham, Topsfield, and Beverly. In a deposition given by him, Nov. 23, 1.674, he states that "about 30 years ago I came to live at Salem; that then and ever since, the hemlock tree at the head of Crane's river, was accounted Mr.. Bishop's bound." It was near the hemlock bound that Mr. Porter and Mr. Endicott, at some time, built a saw mill, as testified to by Isaac2 Porter—Mr. Endicott being desired "to speak with Nathaniel Putnam, to give them liberty to drown his land by making use of the saw mill, which was assented to, and the said hemlock by the saw mill was accounted Mr. Bishop's bound." The house which lie built and lived in, probably stood on the plains in Danvers, on Sharp's farm, near the site
of the Unitarian elm rch, and is said to have been destroyed by fire twenty or thirty years since.
Mr. Porter was a man of energy and influence,—well known in the Colony, and held many official positions,— among which was deputy to General Court, in 1668. He died in Salem village, (now Danvers,) Sept. 6, 1676. In a deposition given in 1669, he stated his ago to he 73 ; in another in 1671, he gave it as 79. His widow Mary, whom he Probably married in England, is said by Judge Savage to.have died Feb. 6, 1684; while Perley Derby, Esq.„ eminent
authority in Essex county matters, says she was living in 1685.
I give a copy of will of John Porter, from Essex County Records:
In the Name of God A men. I John Porter of Salim Senr. in the Conn of Essex in New England Yeomn. Do declare and make my last , will and testament in manner and forme following. Impr. my imortall soul I do desire humbly and beleiveingly to comitt unto ye everlasting mercyes of God, Father, Sonne and Holy Ghost, my body I commit to ye earth to be decently buried at the discretion of my x'ian friends. And my outward estate I do dispose thereof in manner following. Impr. I do constitute and ordeine my loveing wife Mary Porter, sole execcutrix of this my will, unto whome I do give the one halfe of all my goods, debts, chattills, & cattell etc. and also during her life I do (rive her one third pt. of the yearly vallew of all my houses and lands or the thirds thereof as the law directeth. To my Sonne John Porter
t,
who by his Rebellious & wicked practises bath been a great greife to his parents, & bath greatly wasted my estate, on condiccons hereafter expressed, I do give unto him one hundred & fifty pounds, in currant pay of ye Country at three paymts annually i. e. fifty pounds p ann. Provided alwayes before the paymnt of any pt. thereof he ye said Jno. Porter shall make, signe, & scale unto my sonnes Joseph, Benjamin & Israeli, their heyres assigner, or to some one of them in behalfe
of ye rest of my chikfren an absolute & full release of any further clayme to any pt. of my houses and lands whereof I am now possessed, and in speciall to any pt. of yt neeke of land yt was sometime Mr. Skeltons, & in ye meanetime shall not directly or indirectly make or signe any alienation thereof to any other, and in case ye sd. duo. Porter shall folic in yeformance of this condiccon for more than one ycare after my decease, then the above named legacy of one hundred and fifty pounds shall be utterly voyd, and in lew yr of I do give him five pounds to be payd in country pay within three yeares after my decease at the discreecon of my Exceentrix. Item. I do give and bequeath to my Sonno Benjamin Porter these following parcells of land, namely all that parcell of land commonly called Bishop's farm also two hundred acres of land more or less, lying in blind hole, given nice by the towne, also one hundred acres of land purchased of Mr. Broadstreet also five acres of fresh meadow purchased of Jatfery Massey, also eight acres of meadow & upland more or less purchased of Win. Nicholls & formly was a pt. of Bishop's farme, also ten acres of upland bought of John ilawthorne of Linn, & was fortnly appteyneing to Win. Daily also one hundred pounds to be pd. in Country pay at two equall paymts annually within two ycare next after my decease. To my daughter Mary the wife of Thomas Gardiner to whom I have already done for according to my ability, I do give to her three children forty shillings apecce and also I do give to my daughter Mary and to my daughter Sarah to be equally divided between them,
the farina called Smith's farme conteyrieing eighty acres more or less Sr, one hundred & twenty-five acres lying between the farm yt was sometime Kenistones & Laurance Leaches, also ten acres purchased of Mr. Gotta and is lying next to Putmans agt. mr. Downeings fume, also the above named Kenistones farme, conteyneing two hundred acres more or less, with twenty acres of meadow appteyneing thereunto.
Item. I give and bequeath unto my Sonne Joseph Porter five pounds to be payd. with in two yeares after my decease and forty shillings apeece to each of his children to be pd. at ye same time.
To John Porter Sonne of my sonne Samuel Porter I do give ten pounds to be payd him at 21 yeares of age. It. I do give & bequeath - to my sonne Israel Porter, my now mansion place with all ye housing thereupon ; orchard & lands adjoining vizt. so much as was by mee purchased of Mr. Sharp viz. with t\4I ye appurtenances to ye same belonging, also I do give him sixty acres of Skeltons necke i. 0. that pt. wh. I purchased of Mr. Skeltons daughters.
It. I do give and bequeath to Joseph, Benjamin & Israel Porter • • the remainder of Skelton's neck of land, conteyneing 150 a[cre]s more or less, and I do order them to make payment of the one hundred & fifty pounds by mee bequeathed unto my sonne John Porter.
To my solute Benjamin I do give a parcel of land wh. I purchased of Mr. Gott, conteyneing eighty acres, more or less, and thirty acres purchased of Jacob Barney junr. and forty acres purchased of Jafery Massey and forty acres purchased of Gin. Watson & forty acres purchased of Jno. Pickard and my will is that he shall pay to my two daughters Mary & Sarah fifty pounds apiece, virt. in five years time, ten pounds pr ann. to each of them.
It. I do give to my sonne Israel Porter my interest in the saw mill • near Skeltons neck.
It. I give & bequeath to the Reverend Mr. John Higgison forty shillings, and to the poor of Salim five pounds, to be distributed by my overseers as they shall in their discreccon judge meet.
To my wife over & beside wt. is before given her, I do give her my best feather bed, with all appurtenances necessary to complettt ye same, and also five pounds in money and it is my will yt. wt. shoe shall spare of yt. pt. of my estate yt. I have above bequeathed to her that shoe do in speciall wise consider my two daughters and be help- full to them in confident: whereof I have disposed to her and to my sonnes my estate as is above expressed.
To Cornelius Baker & Jno. Glover I do give forty shillings apiece, to be payd. within twelve mos. after my decease in country pay. "
Finally. I do nominate & intreate my loveing friends Mr. Edmund Batter & Mr. Hilyard Veren to be the overseers of this my will. To -Mime 1 do give full power & authority to determine any doubt or difference yt. may arise concerneing the trew meaning of this my will
& in case any legatee shall refuse to submit thereunto, bee or they shall loose all ye. interest therein, and as a toaken of my love and respect to my overseers, I do give them forty shillings ap. to be pd.
in money.
In witness hereof I do hereunto put my hand and scale this 28th