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Person Info

• Name: Andrew PORTER
• Sex: M
• Birth: 24 Sep 1743 in Norristown, Pennsylvania ^b
• Death: 16 Nov 1813 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania ^d


Parents:

• Father:
  
• Robert PORTER Birth: 1699 in Isle Of Bert, Near Londonderry, Ireland Death: 14 Jul 1770
Mother:

• Lilliouo CHRISTY Birth: 1707 Death: 1750

Family:
Marriage:

• Elizabeth McDOWELL on 10 Mar 1767 .^m1
  
• Elizabeth McDOWELL Birth: 1747 in Norristown, Pennsylvania Death: 9 Apr 1773 in Norristown, Pennsylvania

Children:

1. Robert PORTER Birth: 10 Jan 1768 Death: 23 Jun 1842 in Brookville, Pennsylvania
2. Elizabeth Rittenhouse PORTER Birth: 27 Sep 1769 in Norristown, Pennsylvania Death: 21 Jan 1850 in Lexington, Kentucky
3. Mary PORTER Birth: 13 Mar 1771
4. Andrew PORTER Birth: 9 Apr 1773 Death: 11 Oct 1805
5. William PORTER Birth: 19 Apr 1773 Death: 16 Nov 1835

Marriage:

• Elizabeth PARKER on 20 May 1777 .^m2
  
• Elizabeth PARKER Birth: 23 Aug 1751 Death: 15 May 1821

Children:

1. Charlotte PORTER Birth: 1 Feb 1778
2. Anna Maria PORTER Birth: 1 Jan 1781 Death: Apr 1781
3. Alexander Parker PORTER Birth: 8 May 1782 Death: Aug 1782
4. John Ewing PORTER Birth: 11 May 1784 Death: 14 Nov 1819 in Plymouth, North Carolina
5. Harriet PORTER Birth: 19 Oct 1786
6. David Rittenhouse PORTER Birth: 31 Oct 1788 Death: 6 Aug 1867 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
7. George Bryan PORTER Birth: 9 Feb 1791 Death: 18 Jul 1834 in Detroit, Michigan
8. James Madison PORTER Birth: 6 Jan 1793 Death: 11 Nov 1862

Bibliography

Sources for birth and parent Information

date:

[Ref: Hart PresidentWives p148, Helm TODD p174],

place:

[Ref: Hart PresidentWives p148],

parents:

[Ref: Hart PresidentWives p148],

father:

[Ref: Helm TODD p174]

Sources for death Information

date:

[Ref: Hart PresidentWives p148, Helm TODD p174],

place:

[Ref: Helm TODD p174]

Sources with Inaccurate death Information

place:

Norristown, Pennsylvania [Ref: Hart PresidentWives p148]

Sources with Information about marriage to Elizabeth McDOWELL

date:

[Ref: Hart PresidentWives p148, Helm TODD p175],

child:

[Ref: Hart PresidentWives p148, Helm TODD p175]

Sources with Information about marriage to Elizabeth PARKER

date:

[Ref: Helm TODD p174],

child:

[Ref: Helm TODD p174, Helm TODD p274, Helm TODD p276]

Research Notes:
Elizabeth PARKER was Andrew PORTER's second wife [Ref: Helm TODD p174]

As a lad young Porter received meagre educational advantages, but he was of a studious disposition, and learned mathematics under Patrick Mennon, an Irish schoolmaster in the neighborhood of his father's farm. He began teaching in the country, but upon the advice of David Rittenhouse, the famous astronomer, he removed to Philadelphia and opened a mathematical school, and conducted it with success for a number of years. The accounts of Mr. Porter's entry upon his Revolutionary career are conflicting. According to a sketch in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History (Vol IV, p263) he was commissioned by Congress, June 19 1776, a captain of marines on the frigate Effingham. The Effingham was an armed boat of the Pennsylvania Navy, but the name of Captain Porter does not appear on the muster rolls. In Heitman's "Historical Register" his record is given as lieutenant of the 4th Md. Battalion of the "Flying Camp," from June to December 1776. This is probably correct, as his record is a continuous one afterward. He was appointed 1st lieutenant of the 5th Reg't Md. Line, Dec 10 1776, and captain in the 2nd captain in the 2nd Continental Artillery, Col. Lamb, Jan 1 1777. He was transferrd to the 4th Continental Artillery, Col. Proctor, Jan 1 1781, with which he served until the close of the war. He was promoted to be major Apr 17 1781, and lieutenant-colonel commandant, Jan 1 1782. Captain Porter was in command of a battery at the battles of Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown. At Brandywine he was commended on the field by Gen. Washington for gallant conduct in that action. In 1779 he served in Gen. James Clinton's brigade, in General Sullivan's expedition against the Indians. When it was determined to invest Yorktown, Col. Porter was directed to take charge of the laboratory at Philadelphia, where the ammunition for the seige was prepared. He objected to being removed from service in the field to assume the direction of what was generally regarded as a mere chemical laboratory, but his objections were silenced by a letter from the Commander-in-chief. "You say that you are desirous of being placed in that situation in which you render your country the most efficient services." Gen Washington wrote. "Our success depends much on the manner in which our cartridges, bombs, and matches are prepared. The eye of science is required to superintend their preparation; and if the information of Gen. Knox, who knows you well and intimately, is to be depended on, there is no officer in the army better qualified than yourself for the station I have assigned to you."
Col. Porter was concerned in one affair during the Revolution of which he was averse to speaking in later years. One day in October, 1781, in a coffee house in Philadelphia, Porter heard Major Benjamin Eustis, a Masschusetts officer, then serving in the 4th Artillery, say: "He is nothing but a ___ schoolmaster." Porter asked if the words were intended for him, and received an answer that means a response in the affirmative. "I have been a schoolmaster, sir," Porter replied, "and have not forgotten my vocation," and after these words he struck Eustis with the flat of his sword. A duel followed in the Cadwallader garden at Ninth and Arch Sts., in which Major Eustis fell at the first fire, shot through the heart. A court martial was ordered, at which Porter was acquitted and he became Eustis' successor in the 4th Artillery.
After the Revolution Colonel Porter was offered the chair of mathematics in the University of Pennsylvania, but he declined it and retired to a farm that he had purchased in Montgomery County. He served as a commissioner in behalf of Pennsylvania for running the boundary lines between Pennsylvania and Virginia, and Pennsylvania and what is now Ohio, 1783-87. He left an interesting journal of his share in the work, which was printed in the Pennsylvania Magazine, Vol. IV, pp 268-80. In 1800, he was appointed with General Irvine and Boude to settle the controversies of the Pennsylvania claimants in the seventeen townships in the county of Luzerne, but he resigned in the spring of 1801. He was also appointed brigadier-general of the First Brigade, Second Division P.M., in 1800, and he succeeded Gen. Peter Muhlenberg as major-general of the division. In April 1809, he was appointed by Governor Snyder, Surveyor General of Pennsylvania, and filled this office until his death. At the outbreak of the second war with Great Britian, General Porter was offered a commission as brigadier-general in the U.S.Army, but he declined it because of his advanced year. [Ref: Helm TODD p173-174]



Pedigree of Andrew PORTER
          /-----Robert PORTER
 /-----Robert PORTER
|         \-----Eleanor ROGERS
Andrew PORTER
|         /-----John CHRISTY
 \-----Lilliouo CHRISTY
          \-----Jane SMITH



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