Placeholder Porter

Notes:

Buried in Porter's Cemetery, Eckhary, Md.

Morris married Mary Ann Rephann on 27 Jun 1876 in St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Frostburg, Maryland. Mary (daughter of Henry Rephann and Mary Leidinger, daughter of Henry Rephann and Mary Lydinger) was born on 7 May 1858; died on 19 Nov 1945 in Eckhart Mines, Allegany County, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Eckhart, Nov. 19 - Mrs. Mary Ann (Rephann) Porter, 87, widow of Morris M.T. Porter, died this morning at her home, Thermostile Farms, Eckhart, following an illness of 11 months. She had been bedfast three months. A native and lifelong resident of Eckhart, she was the daughter of the late Henry and Mary Rephann. Mrs. Porter was a member of Eckhart Methodist church. Surviving are seven daughters, Mrs. Sarah Kreitzburg, Clarysville, Mrs. Frank Bloomer, Baltimore, Mrs. Richard Loar, LaVale; Mrs. David Stark and Mrs. Harry Craze, both of Frostburg; four sons, Walter, Russell, Nathan and Marshall Porter, all of Eckhart; two sisters, Mrs. Mollie Wolford, Eckhart, and Mrs. Sophie Engle, Clarysville; three brothers, Joseph, Frederick, and Henry Rephann, all of Eckhart; 32 grandchildren and 34 great-grandchildren. The body will be taken to the residence. No arrangements have been made. The Cumberland Evening Times,

Frostburg, Nov. 23 — Services for Mrs. Mary Ann Porter, 87, who died Monday, were held yesterday afternoon at her home, Thermostile Farm, Eckhart. Rev. John Wilson, pastor of Eckhart Methodist church, officiated, assisted by Rev. Leonard Wright. Pallbearers were William Porter, John Watson, Cecil Snyder, Harold Loar, William Kreitzburg and John Kreitzburg, all grandsons. Flowerbearers were Virginia Lee Miller, Mildred Spates, Grace Watson, Anna Lee Brown, Ruth Porter, Helen Craze, Nina Porter, Betty Mullenax and Thelma Hansel, granddaughters. Interment was in the family lot in Porter cemetery. The Cumberland Evening Times, November 23, 1945

Admitted to probate today in the Orphans Court of Allegany County, the will of Mary A. Porter, of Eckhart, provides cash bequests of $921.84 each to eight of her 11 children. They are Sarah Kreitzburg, Elizabeth Watson, Walter Porter, Emma Bloomer, Virgie Stark, Lula Snyder, Eva Loar and Pearl Craze. The residue of her estate was left on a share and share alike basis to three sons, Marshall, Russell and Nathan Porter, all three of whom were named as executors under a codicil executed June 10, 1939. The will itself was drawn May 6, 1937. The Cumberland Evening Times, December 21, 1945

Notes:

From Cumberland Times transcription:

PORTER 15 Nov 1880 Josiah Porter died 07 Nov 1880 at his home in Eckhart. He was born 01 Oct. 1799, and was 81 years, one month and 6 days of age. He was born and died at the "Porter Settlement". From 1830-1840, he was disburser of appointments for the National Road. He was also a pioneer in the shipping of coal to the East via the Potomac flatboat system.

The following excerpt is from John Marshall Porter's "Sketches of Maryland Porters", circa 1976. Scott Carter Williams brought it to the attenetion of Michael A. McKenzie in 2018.

Josiah Porter... "Grandpap Si'

As anyone who has Samuel D. Porter's genealogy can note, Grandpap Si was the son of Gabriel Porter and Rebecca Frost. Gabriel was a brother of the Samuel, who was father of John, who was the father of the Michigan Porters. So we learn that John and Grandpap Si were first cousins.

All that I am writing about these early Porter ancestors comes form what Frank Porter wrote, and what I learned from my father. Gabriel had other sons and daughters, but I know of no account of their descendants such as was kept of Grandpap Si. Squire Mike and Grandpap Si were first cousins, and we shall learn that intermarriage of close relationship took place between some of their descendants.

Grandpap Si married first, Mary Margaret Combs, who became mother of his first nine children. His second wife, Sarah was a daughter of his first cousin, Souire Mike. Sarah, whom he married in 1836 bore him twelve children over the next twenty five.years...three of whom died in infancy. In total, Grandpap Si was father of 21 children.

Grandpap Si lived on a farm adjoining Rose Meadows which he rented from a mining company. It did not come into ownership of Porters until more than a century later when around 1930 three of his grandsons purchased it from the coal company that was selling their holdings in that area. Since then, Marshall Robert bought the shares of his brothers, and is now sole owner. He is nearly 80, and is still living there and farming the land.

Grandpap Si and his sons mined coal from under the farm, paying a royalty to the coal company who owned the land. Much of that coal was hauled to Cumberland in wagons. There it was loaded on rafts that were built on the
low tides of the Potomac River. The rafts were made from slim tree trunks, bound together with cables and ropes to make a flat platform about 30 x 30 feet. The coal was hauled to the river over the old National Pike by horse and ox teams, in wagons during summer, and sleds in winter. There it was loaded on the rafts whiFsei held around 50 tons. When the snow melted and spring rains came, the river arose to near flood stage, and the raft was ready to be unleashed from its moorings. Then four to six young, strong, fearless men loaded provisions of food and clothing and bedding, climbed aboard vrith only long poles to guide the cargo down the swift, treacherous waters of the Potomac to Washington. If they delivered the raft and coal intact to the destination, they received the money for it. Then they walked back to the farm near Frostburg, a distance of 150 miles. But it wasn't always that easy.

I have heard my father say, and he knew only what he had heard from Grandpap Si and others, that many times those rafts would flounder on rocks in the middle of the river when the water current would recede. The raftsmen would have to abandon their cargo, and wade ashore and walk home in wet clothing with no money for the coal. Also, there were many raft loads of coal that would be washed ashore on a gravel bar that could not be moved back into the current, and had to be abandoned by the raftsmen. Then there were the rafts loaded with coal that would be torn apart by unseen rocks in the river. The coal would be lost, and the raftsmen barely escaping with their lives...and not all of them escaped with their lives. Some of these raftsmen drowned in the swift current. Others died of exposure when they were forced into the icy water. If they reached the shore, they didn't have a dry match to start a fire and they perished in their wet clothing.

Rafting could be done only under treacherous conditions, when the water was deep enough to carry the rafts above the rocky river bed.

The C&O canal, that ran from Cumberland, Md. to Georgetown, near Washington was completed and ready for transportation in 1850. That ended the rafting on the Potomac. After that coal was hauled to Cumberland and loaded on canal boats.

Grandpap Si was a devoutly religious man, from all I have heard of him. Frank Porter spoke of him as "One of the few Saints of earth I have known." My father said he would not let one of his men nor horses work on Sunday nor Christmas. But that on New Years day, unless it fell on Sunday, he wanted every man and team to be working... a sort of omen or superstition that, if he began the New Year making some money it would be a prosperous year for him.

It seems apparent that Grandpap Si's children, 15 of whom were girls married one by one until most of them were scattered and gone from the farm when his younger son M.M.T. (Doc.) Porter began taking over the management of the farm that had been home of the large family. Grandpap Si died in 1880. He is buried in the Porter graveyard, just up on the hill above the farm he spent his life on.

I can find no dates of the deaths of either of his wives, Mary Ellen Combs and Sarah Porter.

He died on 7 Nov 1880 at the age of 81 in Eckhart, Allegany Co., Maryland. Phyllis Rosley, in a note dated May 16, 2012, offers this information:

Josiah Porter, "Grandpap Si" was the s/o Gabriel McKenzie Porter and
Rebecca Frost was born Oct. 1, 1799 and died Nov. 7, 1882 (sic: 1880).
He married first, Aug. 1, 1822, Mary Margaret Combs. She is the d/o John
Combs and Mary Margaret Trimble and was born May 3, 1803. They had 9
children. Josiah married, second, Oct. 4, 1836/37, Sarah Porter. She is the d/o Michael Porter and Elizabeth Devore, and was born Aug. 1, 1816. They had 12 children.

Josiah Porter, "Grandpa Si", was the son of Gabriel McKenzie Porter and
Rebecca Frost. He was twice married and was the father of 21 childre
was first married to Mary Margaret Combs, b 1803. His second wife was Sarah Porter, born 1816 and daughter Michael R. Porter, "Squire Mike", and
Elizabeth Devore b Aug. 19, 1816 d. Dec. 8, 1870. Buried Porter Cem., Eckhart Mines, Md. It is through Josiah's offspring, with his second wife, that the Carter family began marrying into the Porter family and two families soon became inter-twined. Children of the first marriage to Mary Margaret Combs are: John Wesley, b 1823 d. 1883; Rebecca b 1824; Sophia b 1825; Margaret Emily, b 1827; Gabriel, b 1830; Elisha, b 1832; Eleanor, b 1834; Helen; and Nancy Porter.

He was buried in Porter Cemetery, Eckhart, Allegany Co., Maryland.

Josiah married Sarah Porter on 10 Oct 1837 in Allegany County, Maryland. Sarah (daughter of Michael Porter and Elizabeth Devore, daughter of Michael G. (Squire Mike) Porter and Elizabeth Devore) was born on 19 Aug 1816 in Eckhart, Allegany County, Maryland; died on 8 Dec 1870 in Eckhart, Allegany County, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Henry + Mary Leidinger. Mary died in UNKNOWN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

This is from Sheryl Kelso:

The information for Gabriel's line comes from Phyllis Roslay, with this note attached, dated September 5, 2012:
"I forgot that years ago that Phyllis Davidson in Ohio had sent me a lot of her research on the Porter family. It is much more reliable than the Porter book. Phyllis Davidson co-authored the book "Western Maryland Catholics", with Dick Koch."

This information was forwarded to Michael A. McKenzie by Scott Carter Williams in August 2018:

The name "Gabriel McKenzie Porter" appears as early as 1889 in the book entitled "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of fayette County, Pennsylvania" by Samuel T. Wiley. The original viewed by ths writer reflects that it is in the Cornell University Library and also is available through Google Books. The page number is 396 in the electronic version and 374 in the actual book.

He is buried in the Porter Cemetery.

The followig information was sent to the writer, Michael A. McKenzie in August, 2018, by Alan Williams:

To the best of my knowledge we have no document of John Porter’s (b. 1737) marriage to Nancy McKenzie, but there is the clear indication of a family interaction in the name of our 3xGreat Grandfather Gabriel McKenzie Porter. He was John (and Nancys?) fourth son. Its possible he’s named for his grandfather, or for a Porter neighbor, as the ‘old country naming traditions’ certainly broke down at some point.

For a while we were confused by Gabriel Porter McKenzie’s residence in Allegany County and death in PA. What we learned is this: His move to PA was preceded by his son Moses (b. 1804), who moved to present day Fayette County PA, apparent home of his wife’s family, the Wades. The Wades are also related by marriage to the Lindley’s and Gabriel McKenzie Porter’s estate showed he did in fact owe end of life Doctor’s bills for services of Dr. Lutellus Lindley. One of Moses children is named for that doctor, and another child attended medical school under Dr. Lindley’s guidance.

Tracking this, I found Moses Porter’s grave (1804-1880) in what is now an abandoned graveyard in PA, called “Owensdale” but which had locally been called the “Stickler/Porter burying ground”. Moses is one of the final burials there, and we think it’s likely that also marks Gabriel Mckenzie Porters resting place. https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2234359/owensdale-cemetery

Neither Moses, nor so far as we could find, his father Gabriel McKenzie Porter, owned slaves, although Gabe’s brother Squire Jack, did. That may have been part of the decision to move to PA, we cannot know for certain.

From what I’ve gleaned in other emails this past few days, a number of McKenzie’s (including Catherine Winters husband Jesse) seem to be recorded as PA birth. My brother, Scott Williams, is far advanced in understanding the Porter brothers movements back and forth across the MD/PA border, which will hopefully help us narrow down the point at which the two families ‘hooked up’, whether at Hobsons, McKenzie’s Discovery, or some later point.

Alan

Alan Williams sent the following to the writer, Michael A. McKenzie in August 2018. The subject deals with Gabriel McKenzie Porter's middle name and whether there were/are any source documents which corroborate the "McKenzie" portion of the name.

Alan wrote:

In all Instances of documents included in Gabriel Porter’s probate, he is given either as G.M. Porter or Gabriel M. Porter. The only instances I recall of him without his middle initial are listings in census. For whatever reason, the “M” seems to be important to his name! And to the best of my knowledge, we had no other Gabriel Porters around the landscape for him to distinguish himself from.

Scott Williams sent the followig to the writer, Michael A. McKenzie concerning the same subject also in August 2018:

See attached reprint from an 1889 book of Biographical Sketches of Fayette County PA. He is the only one of John Porter Jr's children to have a middle name in SDP's book and it is "McKenzie".

Here is the link:

Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Fayette County, Pennsylvania

Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Fayette County, Pennsylvania

Writer's note: this book states at the beginning that it is located in the library at Cornell University. Scott obtained it via Google Books and sent it to the writer.

Per Nathan Williams September, 2018:

To the question of Gabriel McKenzie Porter, I found two things in Western Maryland Catholics by Koch and Davidson. Number 1 is a reference to a person in the book called "Kenzie Porter" who sponsored the baptism of Josiah [Price] McKenzie, son of Moses and Margaret McKenzie in 1828. P. 89. The authors of the book amended the record to read as follows [Gabriel Mc]Kenzie Porter. I would consider this (as well as the communion record captured below) as record primary source evidence that Gabe Porter's middle name was McKenzie.

Gabriel McKenzie Porter only appears in the church records twice. Once is the first communion record, the other is sponsoring the baptism listed above. His marriage record to Rebecca Frost by Father Galitzen is included as well, that date is recorded as May 10, 1797.

Gabriel married Rebecca Frost on 11 May 1797 in Mt. Savage, Allegany County, Maryland. Rebecca (daughter of Josiah Frost and Elizabeth Parsell) was born in 1774 in Frostburg, Allegany County, Maryland; died about 1813 in Eckhart, Allegany County, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Michael + Elizabeth Devore. Elizabeth (daughter of Jacob Devore and Mary L. Stillwell) was born in 1795 in Midland, Allegany County, Maryland; died in 1870 in Allegany County, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]