Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/390

 rORTER

PORTER

versity. A.B., 1843. A.M.. 1846; \v:i.s ailmitted to the b:ir iu 184.J ; served as city attorney, 1S.")1-,'):? ; as reporter of the supreme court of Intliana. 18.">;{- 'u. and as a nieniher of the common council, lS")7-oO. He w:is a Republican representative in the 36th and 37th congresses, 1859-63, serving as a member of imiwrtant committees ; was a candidate for presidential elector on the Hayes and Wheeler ticket in 1870. and was appointed by President Hayes, March .">. 1878, first comptroller of the U.S. treasury, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of R. A. Taylor, serving until isSO. He was governor of Indiana, 1881-84 ; a delegate at large from Indiana to the Republi- can national convention in 1888, and was appointed U.S. minister to Italy in 1889, re- signing in September, 1892. He practised law in partner- ship with Benjamin Harrison for several years. He w:vs married first in 1846, to Minerva Virginia Brown of Indianaix)lis, Ind., and secondly in January, 1881, to Cornelia Stone of Jamestown, N.Y. He received the degree of LL.D. from In- diana Asbury university in 1870. He devoted his last years to historical research, and published Decisions of the Supreme Court of Indiana (5 vols., 18.j3-56). and A History of Indiana. He died iu Indianaix.lis, Ind., May 3, 1897.

PORTER, Alexander, senator, was born near Annau'li. county Tyrone, Ireland, in 1786; son of an Irish Presbyterian clergyman and chemist, who was executed in 1798 as an insurgent spy and member of the Society of United Irishmen. He immigrated to the United States with an uncle in l^?01 ; settled in Nashville, Tenn.; was admitteii to the bar in 1807, and removed to St. Martinsville. I-a., in 1810. He was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1811 ; judge of tlie .state supreme court, 1821-33, where he established a new system of jurisprudence, and in 1*33 was elected to the U.S. senate to fill the unexpired term of Josiah Stoddard J<jhnston (q.v.) decea-sed. resigning Jan. 5. 1837, when Alexan<lre Mouton(q.v.) succeeded him. Wliile in the senate he voted to c»*nsure President Jackson for his action in regard to the U.S. bank ; opposed the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and the specie bill introduced by Senator Benton, and advocated returning the surplus revenue to the respective states, and the recognition by the United States of the indei)endence of the Republic of Texas. He was re-elected to the senate in 184^3 as successor to Charles M. Conrad, who com- pleted Alexandre Mouton's term, but he died be- fore taking his seat, and Henry Johnson (q.v.) was elected his successor. He died at Attakapas, La., Jan. 13, 1844.

PORTER, Alexander James, educator, was l)oni at Nashville. Tenn.. .lune 14, 1822; son of James A. and Sarah N. (Murphy) Porter, and grandson of Alexander Porter, who emigrated from Ireland in 1793, and settled first in Wilming- toi\, Del., and then in Nashville. He attended school at Jamaica Plain, Mass.; was graduated from the University of Nashville, A.B., 1841, and studied law under his uncle, Alexander Porter (q.v.), but never practised. He was twice married : first, in 1847, to Martha, daughter of J. W. Allison, and secondly, to Rebecca G., daughter of Andrew Allison. In 1861 he entered the Confederate service as adjutant-general on the staff of Gen. George Manly, and later was attached to the staffs of Gen. John C. Brown and Gen. Benjamin F. Cheatham. He was elected a member of the board of trustees of the University of Nashville in 1873 ; president of the board in 1884, and on the death of Eben S. Stearns in 1885, was made chancellor j)ro tempore, serving as such until his death. He was closely connected with the political life of the state, al- though he never held office. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. He died at Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 11, 1888.

PORTER, Andrew, soldier, was born in "Worcester, Montgomery county, Pa., Sept. 24, 1743 ; son of Robert Porter, who emigrated from Londonderry, Ireland, in 1720, and settled in Londonderry, N. H. Andrew conducted an Eng- lish and mathematical school in Philadelphia, 1767-76. He was appointed captain of marines, and stationed on the frigate Efflngham in 1776 ; transferred to the 4th Pennsylvania artillery ; promoted captain, major, March 13, 1782, lieu- tenant-colonel and colonel, and was engaged in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine and Germantown, being personally commended on the field by General Washington, for his conduct during the last named battle. He was sent to Pliiladelphia, Pa., to enlist men, and prepare for the siege of Yorktown. He accompanied Gen. John Sullivan's expedition against the Indians, and suggested to Gen. James Clinton the plan of raising the water of Otsego lake by means of a dam, thus allowing the passage of the troops by boat to Tioga point. He refused the chair of mathematics in the University of Pennsylvania, and retired to his farm in 1783. He was a mem- ber of tiie Pennsylvania boundary commission, 1784-87, and gave his aid and advice in the com- pletion of the western end of the Mason and Dixon line. He was commissioned brigadier- general of state militia in 1801, and major-general and surveyor-general, 1809-13. He declined the commission of brigadier-general, U.S.A.. and the portfolio of war, tendered by President Monroe in 1812. He died in Harrisburg, Pa., Nov. 16, 1813.