Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/394

 PORTER

PORTER

wheelers, PoiHiatan and Susquehanna, besides fifty corvettes, sloops of war and gunboats. On Jan. 13, 18G4, the fleet, mounting six hundred and twenty guns, opened a fire (which husted for three days) on Fort Fisiier, while under cover of his guns eight thousand troops were landeil, and on Jan. V), 18G5, the works were captured by a

THE DO^^E.A^D^^E^^T or FO=?T F15HER

combined attack of soldiers, sailors and marines. For this enterprise Admiral Porter received a vote of thanks from congress. He succeeded David G. Farragut as vice-admiral of the navy, July 25, 1866, and was superintendent of the U.S. Naval academy, 1866-69. In March, 1869, lie was as- signed to duty at the navy department in Wash- ington, and on Aug. 15, 1870, succeeded Farragut as admiral, which rank ceased to exist on his death, and was re-created in 1899 for George Dewey. In 1874, when war with Spain was threatened, he was selected to command the fleet. lie was president of the board of inspection for several years. lie is the author of: Life of Com- viodore Darid Porter (1875); Allan Dare and Robert le Diable (1888), which was dramatized and protluced in New York city in 1887; Inci- dents and Anecdotes of the Civil War (1885); Harry Marline (1886), And History of the Navy in the War of the Rebellion (1881). He died at Wiishington, D.C., Feb. 16, 1891, and was buried with the liighest military honors at the Arlington National ct'm<t'Ty.

PORTER, David Rittenhouse, governor of Pennsylvania, was born in Norristown, Pa., Oct. 31, 1788; son of Gen. Andrew Porter (<i.v). He attended the academy at Norristown. and became secretary to his father in the surveyor-general's office at Ilarrisburg in 1809. He removed to Huntingdon county; engaged in iron manufacturing and in agri- culture, an 1 was married in 1826 to Josephine, daughter of Williaia ilcDtrimott. He was a representative in the state legislature. 1834-36; state senator. 18.36-38; was elected governor of the state in 1838 by the Democratic party, and was r*'-ek*ct<d f.jr a second term in 1841. He advocated the completion

of the main lines of canals and rivers across the state from east to west, endeavored to secure the payment of interest on the public debt and sup- pressed the Philadelphia riots of 1844. He returned to his iron business in 1844, and was subsequently interested with Gen. Sam Houston of Texas in the organization of a railroad through Texas to the Pacific coast, but the outbreak of the civil war ruined the project. He died in Ilarrisburg, Pa.. Aug. 6, 1807.

PORTER, Ebenezer, educator, was born in Cornwall, Conn., Oct. 5, 1772; son of Judge Tliomas (173^1833) and Abigail (Howe) Porter, and a descendant of Thomas Porter, who emi- grated from England to America about 1640 and was a proprietor of Farmington, Conn, He was graJuatedat Dartmouth college, A.B., 1792, A.M., 1795; was ordained to the Congregational minis- tr}^ Sept. 6, 1796; was pastor at Washington, Conn., 1796-1812; professor of sacred rhetoric at Andover Theological seminary, 1812-32, and pre- sident of the seminary, 1827-34. He was married in May, 1797, to Lucy Pierce, daughter of the Rev. Noah Mervin. He declined the presidency of the University of Vermont in 1815, the chair of divinity at Yale in 1816, and the presidency of the University of Georgia in 1818. He was also consulted in regard to his possible acceptance of the presidency of Hamilton, Middlebury, South Carolina and Dartmouth colleges. He received the honorary degrees A.M. from Yale in 1795, D.D. from Dartmouth in 1814, and became a member of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1809. He is the author of: The Young Preacher's Manual (1819); An Analysis of the PHnciples of Rhetorical Delivery (1827); Syllabus of Lectures (1829); Rhetorical Reader (1831); The Revivals of Religion (1832); TJie Cultivation of Spiritual Habits and Progress in Study (1833); Hoiniletics, Preaching and Public Prayer (1834); Eloquence and Style, revised by Lyman Matthews (1836), and many sermons. See memoir by the Rev. Lyman Matthews (1836). He died in Andover, l\Iass., April 8, 1834.

PORTER, Elbert Stothoff, clergyman and editor, was born at Hillsborough, N.J., Oct. 23, 1820; .son of John Warburton and Mary Bennett (McColm) Porter. He was graduated at the College of New Jersey, A.B., 1839, A.M., 1842, and began the study of law which he abandoned for theolog}-, graduating at the Theological Sem- inary of the Reformed Dutch clmrch at New Brunswick, N.J., in 1842. He joined the New Brunswick classis in 1842, and was pastor at Chatham. N.Y., 1843-49. He was married in 1845 to Eliza K., daughter of the Rev. Peter S. Wyn- koop of Ghent, N. Y. He was pastor of the First Re- formed Dutch church, Williamsburgh, L.I.,N.Y., 1849-83, and during 1868-69, built a new church