Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-06-07

| NuiihE tut SlNh wa ih'h''y wv
rotary.
The great commanders mother, Hannah
| simpson, was born in Montgomery county
where generations of her ancestors had lived
from the time the region was Wilderness.
| General Horace Porter was Pennsylva-
| nian born General Grant was not.
| Horace Porter's distinguished career as q
soldier and diplomat, which made him, as
| l remarked in previous article, one OF the
| most eminent men ever born In this State,
was scarcely less notable than that Of his
father. the first Governor of Pennsylvania
under the Constitution Of 1898.
| DAVID RITTENHOUSE PORTER was
~ named after the famous scholar and
| publicist of Colonial days.
brothers.
Robert Porter served in the War Of the
Revolution and afterward practiced law
successfully here in Philadelphia.
Later on he was elevated to the president
Judgeship Of the district composed of Berks,
Lehigh and Northampton Counties.
Two other brothers of Governor Porter,
William and John, twins, became success
ful and wealthy merchants; one in Balti-
more, the other In New Orleans.
Still another of these brilliant sons of
General Andrew Porter, John E., read law
and practiced. Then he turned his atten-
tion TO medicine, withdrew from the bar
and became a famous physician In North
Carolina.
When James buchanan was at the head
of the bar in Lancaster County, long before
he dreamed of the presidency, bis leading
rival was George B. Porter. the sixth Of
this remarkable family group.
r, President jackson later appointed him
Governor of the then Territory of Michigan.
When the State Constitutional Conven-
tion of 1898 convened James NJ. Porter,
still another brother, was a member and
presided over a part of its deliberations. He
was the seventh son.
Some time after his legal sttainments led
him to the bench in the district composed
OF Dauphin, Lebanon and Schuylkill Coun-
ties of which he was President Judge.
President Tyler appointed him subse-
quently to be his Secretary of War. At the
close of his term in Washington he was
elected Judge of the Wayne, Pike, Carbon
and Monroe district.
No family in Pennsylvania. possibly. ever
gave to the service of the State and Nation
descended from the Scotch Irish farmer
robert Porter, of provincial days.
A FIRE In Norristown cut short the col
"A lege career of David Rittcnhouse Porter,
the future twice elected Governor.
lie was attending an academy in the town
preparing for Princeton when the building
was destroyed by fire, and the proposed
collegiate course was abandoned.
When David's father. General Andrew
Porter, was appointed State Surveyor Cen
eral he took with him as his assistants his
son David and another young fellow who
was destined to play large part in Penn
sylvania politics.
This was Francis r. Skunk. These two
boys were Governors in embryo, for Skunk
succeeded his companion Porter as Governor
in 1S45
1t is one of the odd condolences of State
politics that these two youthful surveyors
assistants should have followed each other
so closely in political life.
nAVlD r. PORTER nearly ended his
- career about this time.
He had large endowment of the ambition
of youth, and in addition to his duties in his
fathers office he undertook the study of law.
lie expected TO settle down to practice in
Harrisburg.
Overwork made him pay its toll The
labor and confinement were so severe that
he had to abandon Office work and get into
the open.
He went up into Huntingdon County,
where the Dorseys owned the famous Barree
furnaces, and got a job as outside clerk
The year following he was made manager.
He learned the business thoroughly and in
a couple of years started in business for
himself.
His partner was Edward Patton, and
their furnaces, of which not even the ruins
now remain, were located along Spruce
Creek in Huntington County
William A. Patton, formerly assistant to
the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad
and himself the president for years of the
New York. Philadelphia and Norfolk Rail
road, comes of this same family of Pattons
In 1919 Porter was elected a member of
the Assembly from Huntingdon County,
AT the close of his term he was appointed
by the Governor prOthonotary and clerk of
courts for that county
He had to eConomize in the matter of ey
DpnSeS, ana ms uifn nnIr
clerk.
In their own home she recorded the deeds
and wills, while her husband transacted the
public business in his office
In the courthouse at Huntingdon there
are still shown to the curious visitor vol
umes of work done by Mrs. Porter, the wife
of Governor.
1t should be an inspiration to those women
OF the twentieth century who regard work
as part of their heritage
nAV1D RITTENHOUSE PORTER was
- elected Governor in 1898. In 1S41 he
was reelected by a majority almost four
times as great as that given him at his first
election
He was one of the most far -sigbted clear.
visioned men that ever sat in the guber
material chair
Pennsylvania was still in the Conestoga
wagon era of her history. She was gradn-
ally advancing to the canal boat period
His first message to the Legislature ia
notable for his advancement of great idoa
In 1t he said, relative to the improvement
OF the Commonwealth's waterways, that the
public should be aroused to the removal Of
the opstruction to steamboat navigation in
the Allegheny Che spelled the word with m
a instead of an 'cD, Ohio and Mississippi
Rivers from Pittsburgh to the Gulf of
Mexico and from Pittsburgh up the Al
leghany as far as the same may be found
practicable. and to the construc-
tion Of a continuous railroad from the citv
OF Pittsburgh through or near the capitels cf
Ohio, Indiana and Illinois to some noint on
the Mississippi River at or near St. Louis
The Governors suggestion of A continu-
GUS railroad TO st. Louis was received with
universal comment and ridiculc
Such an idea was preposterous wboro
would the traffic come from? II wos Tho
dream of a visionary ""' Tue
Just the same, David Rittenbouse portor
lived long enough to travel in n railrood
car without change from the Atlantic Sea
board to the Mississippi
GOVERNOR PORTER was really tbo
~ father in that distant dav. n tbo
Southern Pacific Ralroad-or the Toxano ,,u
Pacific, as II was called
General Sam Houston. of Taros ,,a
one of his warm friends. 1t was ar PortUr's m"s