John Porter

Notes:

In a note from Phyllis Rosley on January 14, 2015:
Mary Ann Porter, d/o Michael Porter and Elizabeth DeVore was born in 1826, She married Levi Porter, son of Bethel Porter who was a grandson of John Porter. Levi was called Levi Bethel Porter. Two of his brothers were called George Bethel and Jim Bethel. The children of Mary Ann and Levi are:John PorterGeorge PorterMelinda Porter, born about 1835, married Francis Dean. Katherine Porter, married Joseph Banks; Nellie Porter, married Joseph SHUCKHART and Another daughter

Levi married Mary Ann Porter before 1843. Mary (daughter of Michael G. (Squire Mike) Porter and Elizabeth Devore) was born about 1826; died about 1865. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Levi Bethel PORTER.

In a note from Phyllis Rosley on January 14, 2015:
Mary Ann Porter, d/o Michael Porter and Elizabeth DeVore was born in 1826, She married Levi Porter, son of Bethel Porter who was a grandson of John Porter. Levi was called Levi Bethel Porter. Two of his brothers were called George Bethel and Jim Bethel. The children of Mary Ann and Levi are:John PorterGeorge PorterMelinda Porter, born about 1835, married Francis Dean. Katherine Porter, married Joseph Banks; Nellie Porter, married Joseph SHUCKHART and Another daughter

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.

Michael, "Squire Mike," who was my great grandfather was a scholar. In those days, few men thought of education from books or institutions of learn¬ ing as a way of making their living. They thought that knowledge of how to live from the land was the best security a man could have. But Mike attended Catholic schools in Cumberland, and once considered entering the priesthood. He lived with a burning desire for learning, and spent all his spare moments
reading and studying such books as he could get. He attained intelligence far above most of the men of his locality and time.

Up to the time of Mike's marriage to Elizabeth Devore, all the Porters had remained devout Roman Catholics, the faith of their fathers. He became a student and inveterate reader of the Holy Bible. (Lest I forget to mention it
later in my story, I will state that Great Grandfather Mike's bible is in our home at this moment. It is warp-backed, faded, yellow and brittle, but still almost intact and readable. It has been extensively used. I can't find the date of publication, but it is at least a hundred and fifty years old.)

Squire Mike's wife was a Methodist, and his marriage coincided with the Francis Asbury evangelistic crusade on the frontier. I have never heard whether or not the marriage was solemnized by a priest; but that was almost a 'must' by devout Catholics, even though they didn't continue on in the faith.

But Mike and his brother John became devout Methodists, and I have heard my father say, "As Mike and John went, so went most of the Porters." During the latter half of his life, Mike with the help of his brother John, turned most of the descendants of John the Jacobite to the Methodist Church. It has remained the faith of most of the Maryland Porters, and the descendants of John that still live in West Virginia.

To the end of his life, Mike remained a man of strong convictions. He was highly respected for his good business and Christian judgment. Being about the only man in the Porter Settlement who could read and write, he was contacted to write deeds, contracts and wills (all with a goose quill pen.) It was to Mike that all the men of the Settlement came for legal advice and Affairs they had no knowledge of. It was to him they came for advice on crop and livestock management.

In his foresight, Mike began to realize the handicap of the lack of education, even in that early agrarian society of self reliant men who had good knowledge of living off the land. He realized that he would grow old and a time would come when he would no longer be in their midst to attend their business affairs. So he began conducting a school in his home for the children of the ever growing Porter Settlement... no charge.

But here I will say that, while Squire Mike taught most of the children in classes he held in his log house home for twenty years, he neglected to teach his own sons and daughters. I have heard my father say
that neither his father John S. nor any of his brothers or sisters could read or write. On the other hand, the school teaching could have begun after his own children were grown.

Souire Mike was a devout Christian. He would not allow a word of obscenity or profanity spoken in his home. It was said that he would have told a King or President who swore "We don't allow such language in our home."

Frank Porter wrote of him, "He was a man who would give courtesy, and demand respect. He would pray with a sinner, or fight a blackguard."

Squire Mike was a stern abolitionist. As far as I can learn, none of the Porters in our line ever owned a slave.

He had no use for anyone who was in sympathy with the South. One of his daughters married, a southerner named Kimberly, who had come from Tennesse. From his conversation, it was obvious that he favored the South. It was said that Souire Mike came near making outcasts of his daughter and her family. They lived on an adjoining farm, and were treated almost like they didn't exist. I suppose it was just another manifestation of Porters standing firm for what they believed was right or wrong.

While the conversion to Methodism was in progress, Squire Mike held worship services in his home and served as preacher.

As far as I have been able to learn, there were only two families of the area, (neither of them Porters) who remained in the Catholic faith after
the mini-reformation that began when Mike and his brother John turned to Metho¬ dism. But I will add that the Porters never turned against the Catholic Church. They turned away from it. I would rather believe that the} followed the faith of Mike and John.

Frank Porter, who was a son of Squire Mike's youngest son William, and grew up in the Porter Settlement on Piney Mountain, spoke often of "Grandpap Mike" in the many letters he wrote me. Frank was only 11 years old when Mike died in 1877. Yet he told me of the influence of Grandpap Mike, and how it had affected his life in later years. In one of his letters, he told me that he had heard him spend a half hour every morning praying aloud for guidance of his family and neighbors. And he said special prayers for his grandchildren.

Frank wrote me that when his children were born he began following Squire Mike's practice of praying daily for their guidance and keeping. "They both became good Christians and useful citizens. My prayers have been answered," he stated.

Frank advised me to follow Grandpap Mike's practice of praying daily for our then young family. Though I have never been given to praying aloud, I have prayed silently for our children from that day to this. Our four children are grown now and have families of their own. And my praying continues for our grandchildren, and all generations yet to come.

Like Frank, I believe that my prayers have been answered. Our children are good Christians and useful citizens. Our family is a joy and comfort to their mother and me.

There seems to be no record of when Scuire Mike's wife Elizabeth died, nor whether she lived to see her children grow up. My father, John Wesley Porter, was fifteen years old when his grandfather Squire Mike died. I have heard him speak often of Grandpap, but he had no recollection of his grandmother, though he had heard that she died from the bite of a venemous snake.

Copperheads and rattlesnakes were numerous and a constant summer menace in the early Porter Settlement, (and in all other mountain settlements of those times.) I have heard my father say it was not unusual to encounter and kill a half dozen snakes in a day when they were harvesting grain.

It is ironic, and I might add "Tragic" that Squire Mike sold the mineral and coal rights of Play Place for $600.00 when the land came into his possession. As it turned out, millions of tons of coal were mined from under the land since then, and his descendants scratched hard for the living they got from the stony, hilly fields that covered it. Mike didn't believe there were any minerals under it.

Cataracts clouded the vision of the wise and far seeing eyes of Souire Mike a number of years before his death. But many who knew him said that what he lacked in sight was well retained in his brilliant mind. He died in 1877, and is buried in the Porter graveyard.

He died on 15 Feb 1877 at the age of 84. Note from Phyllis Rosley on January 21, 2012: Michael R. Porter, "Squire Mike", son of Samuel Porter (agb) and Sarah Anderson, was born April 12, 1792, at Play Place on Pine Mt., near Frostburg, MD. He died there Feb. 15, 1877 and is buried in the Porter Cemetery. He was educated in a Catholic School in Cumberland. He married Feb. 15, 1815, Elizabeth Devore, a Protestant and he became a Protestant after their
marriage (All from Frank Porter, Michael's grandson). Elizabeth died of snake bite.
Michael purchased Play Place from the Anderson heirs. Their children are:
Sarah Porter 1816-
Richard Porter 1817-
Emla Porter 1819-
Rebecca Porter 1820-
Susanna Porter 1822-
SAMUEL Porter 1824-
Thomas Porter Died in infancy
Mary Ann Porter 1826-
John Samuel Porter 1828-1922
Catherine Porter 1831
FP (Frank Porter) not sure if she died young or grew up and married Jim Bethel Porter,
great grandson of John Porter(a) brother of Levi Porter
Nancy Porter 1833-
William E. Porter 1835-

Michael married Elizabeth Devore on 15 Feb 1815. Elizabeth was born about 1792; died in UNKNOWN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Moses + Margaret Something. Margaret died in UNKNOWN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

This information comes from Samuel Doak Porter.

Samuel married Sarah Jane Anderson about 1790 in Rose Meadows, Allegany County, Maryland. Sarah was born about 1772; died about 1863. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]