Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/399

 PORTER

PORTER

mittee of the pay table; colonel of the state militia before the Revolution, and superintendent of the Connecticut iron works at Salisbury, where cannon and ammunition were manu- factured. He commanded the 14:th Connecticut regiment during the war, in the battles of Long Island, White Plains, Monmouth and Saratoga, and at the close of the war served as judge of the court of common pleas for thirteen years, and of the court of probate for thirty-seven years. He was married first, to Abigail, daughter of Capt. Peter and Martha Huntington Grant Buell; secondly, to Jerusha, daughter of Colonel Burr, of Fairfield, Conn., and thirdly, to Lucy, daughter of Col. John Ashley of Sheffield, Mass., and widow of Samuel Dutcher. He died in Salisbury, Conn., Sept. 12, 1825.

PORTER, Noah, educator, was born in Farm- ington. Conn., Dec. 14, 1811; son of the Rev. Dr. Noah and Mehetable (Meigs) Porter. He was graduated at Yale, A.B., 1831, A.M., 1834; was master of the Hopkins grammar school, 1831-33, and tutor at Yale. 1833-35. He attended the Divinity school, 1833-36, was ordained April 27, 1836, and was married April 13, 1836, to Mary, daugliter of the Rev. Dr. Nathaniel W. Taylor, professor of systematic theo- logy at Yale, 1822-58. He was pastor of Congregational cliurches at New Milford, Conn., 1886-42; Springfield, Mass., 1843-46; professor of moral philosophy and meta- physics at Yale, 1846-92, and president of Yale, 1871-86, resigning in 1886 and being succeeded by Timothy Dwight. He received the degree D.D. from the University of the City of New York, 1858, and LL.D. from Western Re- serve, 1870, from Trinity, 1871, and from the University of Edinburgh in 1886. He is said to have been one of the most scholarly metaphy- sicians in the United States; was the principal editor of the revised editions of Noah Webster's Unabridged Dictionary in 1864 and 1880, and is the author of: Historical Discourse at Farm- iiigton, Nov. 4-, IS40 (1841); The Educational Systems of the Puritans and Jesuits Compared (1851); The Human Intellect, used as a text book at Yale and elsewhere (1868); Books and Read- ing (1870); American Colleges and the American Public (1871); Sciences of Nature versus the Science of Man .{1871}; Evangeline: the Place, the Story and the Poem (1882); Science and Sentiment (1882); The Elements of Moral Science (1885); Life of Bishop Berkeley (1885); and KanVs Ethics {188Q). He died in New Haven, Conn.. March 4. 1892.

PORTER, Peter Buel, statesman, was born in Salisbui-y, Conn., Aug. 14, 1773; son of Col.

Joshua (q.v.) and Abigail (BueM) Porter. He was graduated from Yale, A. B., 1791; attended the Litchfield law school, and opened an office in Canandaigua, N.Y., in 1793, and in Black Rock, in 1795. He was a Democratic representative from New York in the lltli and 12th congresses, 1809-13, and again for a part of the 14th congress, 1815-16, resigning in 1816. While in the House, he was chairman of the committee on foreign relations which favored war with England. He declined the commission of major-general in 1813, and became colonel of New York and Penn- sylvania volunteers, including Indian troops, and led tliem against the British, under Colonel Bishop, at Black Rock, in 1813. He served under Gen. Alexander Smyth in his Canadian expedi- tion, and performed gallant service at Cliippewa, at the evacuation of Fort Erie by General Vin- cent, May 28, 1813, and at Lundy's Lane, under Gen. Winfield Scott, July 25, 1814. Congress and the state of New York rewarded him with a gold medal and a sword. He declined the ap- pointment by President Madison of commander- in-chief of the army in 1815. He was a com- missioner to determine the route of the Ei-ie canal in 1815, and the Northwestern boundary in 1816. resulting in the final treaty of Oct. 20, 1818. He declined the secretaryship of the state of New York in 1816; was the unsuccessful candidate for governor of New York in 1817, and was appointed secretary of war by President Adams, May 28, 1828, serving until 1829. He was married in September, 1818, to Letitia, daugliter of John and Mary Hopkins (Cabell) Breckin- ridge, of Kentucky. He died at Niagara Falls, N.Y., March 20, 1844.

PORTER, Rufus, inventor, was born in West Boxford, Mass., May 1, 1792; son of Tyler and Abigail (Johnson) Porter; grandson of Benja- min and Ruth (Foster) Porter, and a descendant of John Porter, who emigrated from England, and settled in Hingham, Mass., about 1635. and in Salem, Mass., in 1644. Rufus Porter made a living as shoemaker, fife-player and house-painter from 1807 until about 1815. He taught school for some time, and in 1820 invented a camera-obscura, which enabled him to produce a portrait in a short time. This invention encouraged his nomadic inclinations, and he supported himself by traveling throughout the country, making portraits, until landscape-painting attracted his attention, and this he abandoned in 1840 for journalism. He became editor of the Neiv York Mechanic, later published in Boston as the American Mechanic, and started the Scientific American in 1845, editing it until 1846, when he became interested in electrotyping. After a few months he devoted himself exclusively to his inventions, which include: a revolving almanac.