 1791 - 1862 (70 years)
-
| Name |
John Samuel Porter |
| Birth |
1 Sep 1791 |
Eckhart Mines, Allegany County, Maryland  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
17 Feb 1862 |
Preston County, West Virginia |
| Notes |
- 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.
John Porter...Son of Samuel, and Brother of Scuire Mike, grew up on Play Place, the land Samuel bought from the Anderson heirs. The Porter genealogy gives Oct. 3, 1815 as the date John married Hannah Combs. Nine children, (two of whom died in infancy) were born to them over the next twenty years. My father never spoke much of his Uncle John. He could have spoken only from hearsay because John died in 1862, and my father was born in 1863. So we can only speculate on why John chose to move his growing family from the rough mountain backwoods of the Porter Settlement of Piney Mountain to the much rougher backwoods of Preston County, (Virginia) then. The state didn't become West Virginia until 1863. But in April of 1841, with the aid of George Clise, Squire Mike's son-in-law, he and his wife and seven children traveled for five days to cover the eighty miles of mountain roads from Allegany County, Maryland, to the area of Horse Shoe Run, in Preston County.
John's wife, Hannah, who had long been suffering the effects of paralysis died three years after the moving. Records say it was the year 1844, and that she was buried in Mt. Carmel Cemetery, near Aurora, W. Va.
John's older children were of marriageable age by that time, and some of them married into the families they came to live among.
It has been written that the land John moved to was raw wilderness then, and much of their living was from the wild game of the forests. But being a Porter, and with knowledge of clearing and farming land, it is certain that with the help of his sons, he soon had a farm cleared. John and his youngest daughter Ellen lived with his son Samuel until his death in 1862.
Within the next twenty years, John's children had all married and had farms of their own. John Myers Lawrence, third son of John married Emily Domire and bought a farm at Lead Mine, a distance of 15 miles south of Horse Shoe Run. He ran a small store and was the first Postmaster of that small community.
Little more can be learned of the period of time John and Hannah's children spent in Preston County. And we can only speculate as to what made so many of them and their families decide to move to the area of Blissfield,
Michigan in 1864. Whether they learned of better and easier ways to cultivate land there, or if a big lumber company came and made them good offers for their land, either of which could have been their reasons. But in that year, a train left Oakland, Md. and hauled the personal property, including household effects, live stock and farm implements and 84 people to Lewanne,Co. near Blissfield, Michigan.
All of John's living sons, and several daughters left Preston County with that group, except John Myers Lawrence whom records say, didn't go to Michigan until 1870.
John's oldest son William Thomas Porter had married Susan Sell. He was a minister, and owned a farm. He died in 1858, six years before the migration to Michigan. I have been on the farm formerly owned by William Thomas numerous times, and have photographed his fallen tombstone and forgotten resting place that is somewhere between the house and barn on that farm. The inscription on that smooth, maroon granite stone reads William Thomas Porter, Born 1820...Died 1858. He was only 38 years old.
I have been told by distant relatives whom I chance to meet in that area that Susan Sell Porter re-married some years after William Thomas died.
Several of the children of William Thomas Porter and Susan Sell went to Michigan to live among the Porters in later years. But a number of them stayed in Preston County, and many of their descendants still live there.
Also, John's daughter Maria, who married Steven Harsh did not go to Michigan with her brothers and sisters. Many of her descendants still live in Preston County, and other sections of West Virginia.
Samuel Doak Porter, a great grandson of John who moved to Preston Co. compiled a genealogy of the Maryland and West Virginia Porters. He did a remarkable job considering, as he wrote me in one of his many letters, "So many of the letters I wrote to gather information of the various descendants fell on deaf ears." Thus, some of the lines of descendants are either omitted or incomplete. This is unfortunate, because I doubt that another such genealogy of this vast and scattered group of relatives will ever be written again.
|
| Person ID |
I37036 |
McKenzie Genealogy |
| Last Modified |
29 Oct 2021 |
| Father |
Samuel Porter, b. Abt 1770, Carrollton, Carroll County, Maryland d. Abt 1828 (Age ~ 58 years) |
| Relationship |
natural |
| Mother |
Sarah Jane Anderson, b. Abt 1772 d. Abt 1863 (Age ~ 91 years) |
| Relationship |
natural |
| Marriage |
Abt 1790 |
Rose Meadows, Allegany County, Maryland |
| Family ID |
F13098 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family 2 |
Hannah Combs, b. 30 May 1798, Preston County, West Virginia d. 22 Feb 1844, Preston County, West Virginia (Age 45 years) |
| Marriage |
3 Oct 1815 |
| Children |
| | 1. Michael Porter d. UNKNOWN [Father: natural] [Mother: natural] |
| | 2. Samuel John (Rev.) Porter, b. 16 Jul 1822, Frostburg, Allegany County, Maryland d. 30 Sep 1895, Ogden, Lenawee County, Michigan (Age 73 years) [Father: natural] [Mother: natural] |
|
| Family ID |
F14581 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
29 Oct 2021 |
-
|
|
