USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial and revolutionary families of Pennsylvania; genealogical and personal memoirs, Vol. III > Part 17
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Mr. Flagg married, April 10, 1883, Elizabeth Fullerton, daughter of James Hamilton Windrim, and they have issue, two children, Stanley Griswold Flagg, 3d, born May 28, 1886; and Mary Windrim Flagg, born May 27, 1889. Resi- dence, 1723 Spruce street, Philadelphia.
HON. WILLIAM WAGENER PORTER
The Porter family, to which William Wagener Porter belongs, is of Scotch- Irish origin, and has probably furnished more eminent men as soldiers, jurists, statesmen, etc., than any other American family during the same period. Pos- sessed to a marked degree of the positive characteristics of that virile race, mem- bers of the family in the succeeding generations have so filled their allotted places, in various walks of life, as to achieve eminence therein and to reflect credit upon themselves, the community in which they lived, and the cause, profession or calling they represented.
ROBERT PORTER, the founder of the family in America, was born, in the year 1698, on the island of Burt, nine miles from the city of Londonderry, where the ruins of the ancestral home of the family may be still seen in the midst of the beetling crags and rugged grandeur of the wild Derry coast. Robert Por- ter, at the age of twenty years, emigrated to America with a number of other Ulster Scots from the same locality and located in Rockingham county, New Hampshire, where the town of Londonderry was named by them. Here Rob- ert Porter married, about 1727, Lilleous, daughter of John and Jane Christy, and here at least five of their fourteen children were born. In 1740 he removed with his family to Worcester township, Philadelphia (now Montgomery) county. He was an elder of the Presbyterian Church of Norriton from 1741 to his death, in 1770. In 1754 he purchased of Anthony and Phebe (Guest) Morris, of Philadelphia, a tract of land on the Skippack road, in Whitpain township, where he resided until his death, July 14, 1770, becoming one of the prominent citizens of that township. His widow died a year later, in her sixty-third year. They had nine sons and five daughters, a number of whose descendants have achieved eminence.
GENERAL ANDREW PORTER, one of the younger sons of Robert Porter, the emigrant, was born in Worcester township, Philadelphia county, September 24, 1743. Not taking kindly to work on the farm, Andrew Porter was apprenticed to an elder brother to learn the trade of carpenter, but as he clearly demon- strated a much stronger liking for books than the tools of an artisan, his father decided to permit him to follow his own bent and sent him to the best teacher of that section, Patrick Mennan, of White Marsh township. He made rapid pro- gress in his studies and, becoming especially interested in astronomy, sought the advice and counsel of David Rittenhouse, and the intimate friendship formed between General Porter and the eminent Pennsylvania astronomer, scientist and scholar lasted through life. In 1767 Andrew Porter, through the advice of his friend Rittenhouse, accepted the position of master of an English and mathe- matical school in Philadelphia. Here he continued his scientific studies and ex- periments and at the period of the breaking out of the Revolution had ac- quired a high reputation as a scholar and master, his specialty being still as- tronomy.
Andrew Porter caught the martial spirit early in the struggle for independence
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and recruited and drilled a company of marines as an adjunct to the little Penn- sylvania navy then being formed. Entering the service as captain of his com- pany of marines he was assigned to duty on board the frigate "Effingham". His capacity and intelligence as a commander attracted the attention of the authori- ties engaged in organizing the land forces of the patriot army and he was trans- ferred to the command known as Captain Thomas Proctor's company, Pennsyl- vania Artillery, while it was stationed at Fort Island, in the autumn of 1776, and under Captain Forrest took part in the capture of the Hessians at Trenton, on Christmas night, 1776, receiving on the field the commendation of General Washington for his conduct in action. He was commissioned captain in Proc- tor's regiment, January 1, 1777. What rank he held at the time of the Battle of Trenton does not appear ; the rolls of Major Proctor's command are far from complete and it is possible that he was in this engagement as a volunteer, recently transferred from the Marines, and commission not issued until a week later. He participated with Colonel Proctor's regiment, created a regiment un- der resolution of Council of Safety, February 6, 1777, in the battles of Brandy- wine and Germantown, the greater part of the men of Captain Porter's com- pany being killed in the latter battle. When Colonel John Lamb's Second Reg- iment of Artillery was organized, under resolution of Congress of March 15, 1778, Captain Andrew Porter was assigned to that regiment, and participated with it in the Battles of Princeton and Monmouth. In the spring of 1779 he was detached with his command and ordered, with Colonel Proctor's regiment, to report to General Clinton at Albany, New York, for service under General Sullivan in the campaign against the Six Nations. After the successful battle of August 29, 1779, he reported with his command at Washington's camp at Morristown, New Jersey, and went into winter quarters. It was the desire of General Washington that the two companies of Colonel Lamb's regiment com- manded by Captain's Porters and Lee be annexed to Colonel Proctor's regi- ment and under date of December 14, 1779, he wrote to the Pennsylvania Board of War as follows :
"If the company lately commanded by Capt. Lee & Capt. Porter can be annexed to Col. Proctor's regt. without producing discontents, it will be desirable; but as we have had so much uneasiness & distraction on the subject of rank it is necessary that it should be inquired what operation the measure would have. When this is made I will communicate the result."
This letter was transmitted to President Reed on December 23, by the Board of War, but when the transfer was really made does not appear ; the two commands seem to have served together from about this date but the first record we have of Captain Porter as included in Proctor's regiment is on January I, 1781, over a year later. In the fall of 1781 Captain Porter peti- tioned Congress for a commission as major of Proctor's regiment, now known as the Fourth Regiment, Pennsylvania Artillery, alleging that Major Ben- jamin Eustace, then filling that position, was not properly accredited thereto. This led to a difficulty between the two officers and Captain Porter, having overheard a remark of Major Eustace to the effect that he, Porter, was a bet- ter schoolmaster than soldier, challenged Eustace to a duel, and at the meeting which occurred October 6, 1781, Eustace was killed at the first shot. A court
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martial resulted some months later which entirely exonerated Captain Porter and he was commissioned major to succeed Eustace, to rank from the day of Eustace's death. At about the same time, in the fall of 1781, Captain Porter was sent to Philadelphia to superintend the chemical laboratory there, at which a large quantity of ammunition was being manufactured. He remonstrated against being deprived of active duty in the field but was consoled by receipt of a letter from the Commander-in-chief, of which the following is an abstract : :
"You say that you are desirous of being placed in that position in which you can render your country the most efficient service. Our success depends much on the manner in which our cartridges, bombs, and matches are prepared. The eye of Science is required to Super- intend their preparation, and if the information of General 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 you."
It would seem that the difficulties in reference to rank dreaded by Wash- mgton in the consolidation of the two regiments resulted as shown by the con- tention between Eustace and Porter. There appears also to have been some contention between Captain Porter and Captain Isaac Craig, senior captain in Proctor's command, who seems to have had the command of the detachment of the regiment sent to Fort Pitt in 1780. This friction was checked on March 13, 1782, by the Supreme Executive Council directing that Captain Porter be promoted to major, to rank from the date of the death of Major Eustace, and further promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and that Captain Craig be made ma- jor to rank from the beginning of Porter's commission as lieutenant-colonel. He was made lieutenant-colonel commanding, December 24, 1782. He signs a report of the regiment as major commanding, March 22, 1782, when the main body of the regiment was stationed at Lancaster and Carlisle; two captains, one lieutenant and thirty-four men at Fort Pitt, and two captains, four captain- lieutenants, one second lieutenant, adjutant, non-commissioned officers and pri- vates, numbering one hundred and twenty-one men, with the Southern army. After the surrender of Cornwallis this latter force was attached to the com- mand of General Greene and in 1783 Colonel Porter retired from the service. Colonel Porter was offered the chair of mathematics at the University of Penn- sylvania but declined it. He was appointed by the Supreme Executive Coun- cil to assist the Boundary Commission in determining the lines between Penn- sylvania, Virginia and Ohio by making the astronomical observations necessary to determine where the line should be laid. He was employed in this service during the years 1784-85-86-87, becoming one of the Boundary Commission proper by appointment of March 25, 1785. In 1787 Colonel Porter retired to his farm in Norriton township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and re- sided there until 1809. He was commissioned brigadier general of militia in 1800, in command of the First Brigade. On May 10, 1809, he was appointed surveyor-general of Pennsylvania and he filled that position until his death, November, 1813. During the war of 1812 he was tendered a commission as brigadier-general of the United States army and also the position of Secretary of War, but declined both.
General Andrew Porter married (first) March 10, 1767, Elizabeth McDow- ell, died in 1773, leaving children: Robert, served as adjutant of his father's regiment during the latter part of the Revolutionary War, later studied law
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and served as President-Judge of the Third Judicial District of Pennsylvania for many years; Elizabeth, married Robert Parker, of Kentucky, and was the grandmother of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln; Mary, married her cousin Robert Por- ter, and also settled in Kentucky; Andrew and William, twins, both eminent merchants, Andrew died in 1805, in New Orleans, and William, in 1835, in Bal- timore. General Porter married (second), May 20, 1777, Elizabeth Parker.
Issue of Andrew and Elizabeth (Parker) Porter :
Charlotte, b. Feb. 1, 1778, m. Robert Brooke, Esq., of Phila .;
John Ewing, b. May II, 1784, studied law in the office of his half-brother, Robert. Porter, in Phila., was admitted to the bar in 1805, and practiced in Chester and Mont- gomery counties; changed his name to Parker, removed to N. C., where he became a successful physician; d. unm., Nov. 14, 1819;
Harriet, b. Oct. 19, 1786; second wife of Col. Thomas McKeen, many years pres. of Easton Bank;
Governor David R. Porter, of whom presently;
George Bryan, b. Feb. 9, 1791, studied law, and settled in Lancaster co., Pa .; representa- tive, Penna. Leg .; Governor of Michigan Ter., 1832-34, d. July, 1834; his second son, Andrew Porter, was Lieut .- Col. in Mexican War, and rose to rank of Brig .- Gen. in Civil War ;
James Madison, b. Jan. 6, 1793, d. Nov. 11, 1862; studied law, admitted to Bar, 1813; settled in Easton, Pa .; became Pres .- Judge of district comprising Dauphin, Lebanon and Schuylkill counties; Sec. of War in cabinet of Pres. John Tyler ; resumed practice of law at termination of term and was later elected judge of a district in the extreme northeastern part of the state, which position he resigned on account of ill health shortly before his death; one of the founders of Lafayette College.
His son Andrew was a graduate of West Point and distinguished army officer; brevetted Brig .- Gen. at close of Civil War for gallant and meritorious services; Two children, d. in inf.
DAVID RITTENHOUSE PORTER, son of General Andrew Porter by his second wife, Elizabeth Parker, was born October 31, 1788, at his father's country seat, "Selma", in Norriton township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. He studied law, but was prevented from practicing by reason of poor health. He was clerk for his father during his term as surveyor-general. In early manhood he removed to Huntingdon county and engaged in the iron manufacturing busi- ness. He early manifested an active interest in public affairs; was elected county auditor in 1815; represented his county in the General Assembly for two terms, 1819-20, and 1821-22; was prothonotary, 1823-26; registrar of wills and recorder of deeds, 1827-32; was elected to the State Senate in 1833, and re-elected in 1836 by a largely increased majority, though his party was in the minority in the county. In 1838, while serving his second term as state senator, he was nominated and elected governor of the state, and re-elected in 1841. At the expiration of his term as governor, in 1845, he returned to the manufacture of iron, in which he was actively engaged up to near the time of his decease, August 6, 1867.
Governor Porter was married in 1820 to Josephine McDermott, who bore him two sons, who have distinguished themselves in public service : Horace Por- ter, born at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, April 15, 1837, soldier, scholar, states man, diplomat ; graduated from West Point, 1860, served throughout the Civil War, filling every commissioned grade up to brigadier-general; private secre- tary to President Grant, 1869-77; prominent business man, being president of several large corporations; distinguished orator and author; received degree
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of LL.D., 1894; ambassador to France, 1897-1905 ; and William Augustus Por- ter, mentioned below.
WILLIAM AUGUSTUS PORTER, son of David Rittenhouse Porter, was justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, corporation counsel for the City of Philadelphia and judge of the first Court of Alabama Claims, at Washington, District of Columbia. He married Emma Wagener.
WILLIAM WAGENER PORTER, son of Judge William Augustus Porter and his wife Emma (Wagener) Porter, was born in Philadelphia, May 5, 1856. He was educated in the private schools of Philadelphia, entered the University of Pennsylvania, and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the class of 1875, and three years later received the degree of Master of Arts. He studied law in the office of his father, Judge William A. Porter, and was admitted to the Philadelphia Bar, May, 1877, and has since practiced his profession in Phil- adelphia. He was appointed associate justice of the Superior Court of Penn- sylvania, to succeed Edward N. Willard, resigned, September 14, 1897, and was elected to the same position, November, 1898. He resigned the position, Jan- uary 27, 1903, and resumed the practice of his profession. He is the author of a legal text book on "The Law of Bills of Lading", and a brochure on the "Legal Responsibilities of Clergyman Solemnizing Marriages." He was the ora- tor on the occasion of the unveiling of the Washington Monument in Philadel- phia, erected by the Society of the Cincinnati, the ceremony being attended by Federal officials and presided over by President Mckinley. He has been vice- president of the Union League of Philadelphia, and is a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, Merion Cricket Club, Scotch-Irish Society, Lawyer's Club, Penn Club, and the Presbyterian Social Union.
Judge Porter married, April 27, 1882, Mary Augusta, daughter of Charles H. and Mary E. (Badeau) Hobart, of Brooklyn, New York. They reside at 2025 Walnut street, Philadelphia.
Issue of William W. and Mary Augusta (Hobart) Porter:
William Hobart, b. Feb. 19, 1883;
Anita, b. June 22, 1886; m. William Jackson Clothier; dau., Anita Porter, b. Nov. 6, 1908;
Andrew Wagener, b. June 29, 1888.
HENRY MARTYN DECHERT
The ancestors of Henry Martyn Dechert, of Philadelphia, lawyer and banker, were among the first settlers of Berks county and earlier settled portions of the Schuylkill valley, and were eminent in public affairs in both Colonial and Rev- olutionary days. On the paternal side he is a great-grandson of Peter Dechert and Elizabeth his wife, who came from the Palatinate, arriving in Philadelphia in the ship "Neptune", Captain Ware, September 30, 1754.
PETER DECHERT, of Reading, raised a company of which he was commis- sioned captain, January 5, 1776, and it was incorporated in the Fifth Battalion, Colonel Robert Magaw, and took part in the disastrous compaign on Long Island and at Fort Washington. By order of Congress of June 1I, 1776, the Third and Fifth Battalions, Pennsylvania Line, Colonels Shee and Magaw, were ordered to proceed to New York. They left Philadelphia on June 15, and ar- rived in New York, June 25. On June 29 they were put under the command of General Mifflin, and both battalions marched towards Kingsbridge and locating on the present site of Fort Washington proceeded to erect that fortification. After the disastrous battle of Long Island in August, 1776, they recrossed to Fort Washington, where through the treachery of Adjutant Demonte they were defeated and the fort captured on November 16, 1776. Captain Peter Dechert was among the numerous prisoners taken by the British. He was later pa roled and resigned from the service, February I, 1777.
After his resignation from the regular service Captain Dechert became an officer of the Berks County Militia, being commissioned major of the Fourth Battalion, Colonel Michael Lindemuth, May 17, 1777. He died intestate in Cumru township, near Reading, Berks county, Pennsylvania, and letters of ad- ministration were granted to his widow Elizabeth Dechert, March 29, 1784.
JOHN DECHERT, one of the seven children of Captain Peter Dechert and Elizabeth Dechert, was a farmer in Cumru township, Berks county. He mar- ried Deborah, daughter of James Davis, of Heidelberg township, Berks county.
Of the sons of John and Deborah (Davis) Dechert, Daniel, the eldest, born in 1793, was a highly respected farmer of Berks county, and died on his farm near Sinking Springs, in 1884, at the age of ninety-one years Samuel, another son, moved to Springfield, Ohio, where he was a leading manufacturer. He died there in 1884, leaving several children and grandchildren.
ELIJAH DECHERT, son of John and Deborah (Davis) Dechert, and father of the subject of this sketch, was born October 15, 1799, in Cumru township. Berks county, Pennsylvania. He received a good education in local schools and in early manhood was for some years chief clerk in the prothonotary's office at Reading, under General John Adams and Marks John Biddle. While filling this position he studied law and was admitted to the Berks county bar, January 4, 1827. He acquired a large practice and held a high position in the bar of his native county at a period when it ranked among the strongest in the State. He was one of the founders of the First Presbyterian Church of Reading and
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many years an elder of that church, and was also many years superintendent of the Sunday school connected therewith. He was from early life a strong advo- cate of temperance and other moral reforms and was known and respected in the community in which he lived as an honorable, public-spirited citizen who avoided politics and political ambition, satisfied to perform the duties of pri- vate life as an exemplary Christian gentleman. He was an early advocate of the public school system and a leader in many local reform movements. He died June 14, 1854, in Philadelphia, where he had lately removed.
Elijah Dechert married, September 15, 1824, Mary Williams, daughter of Hon. Robert Porter, then President-Judge of the judicial district of which Berks county formed a part (see forward), and granddaughter of General An- drew Porter, a detailed sketch of whose career as a scholar, scientist, revolu- tionary soldier and state official is given in the sketch of his great-grandson, Hon. William Wagener Porter, in this work. Mary Williams (Porter) Dechert died in Philadelphia, January 15, 1872, leaving children: Sarah B., married Edmond Stafford Young, a leading lawyer of Dayton, Ohio; Henry Martyn, of whom presently; Agnes G., married Rev. Alfred Taylor, of Brooklyn, New York; William Wirt, deceased, vice-president of the Camden & Amboy Rail- road Company, married Esther, daughter of Colonel Y. D. Dashiel, (U. S. A.), of Georgia; Rev. Howard Porter Dechert, a Presbyterian clergyman, married Caroline Sandford, of New York; Annie Porter, married Rev. Charles E. Griffith, of Philadelphia; Colonel Robert Porter Dechert, a prominent member of the Philadelphia Bar at his death in 1894, lieutenant-colonel of the twenty- ninth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, during the Civil War; Controller of Philadelphia, 1886.
Hon. Robert Porter, father of Mary W. (Porter) Dechert and maternal grand father of Henry Martyn Dechert, was the eldest child of General Andrew Porter, mentioned above, by his first wife, Elizabeth McDowell. He was born January 10, 1768, in Philadelphia, where his father was then conducting a scientific school. He joined his father in the winter quarters of the Continen- tal army at Morristown in the autumn of 1779, and though then but eleven years of age was mustered into the service in Proctor's Fourth Regiment, Pennsylvania Artillery, and, 1781, was commissioned first lieutenant in that regiment, in which he served until the close of the war in 1783, being for a time adjutant of the regiment while it was under the command of his father as lieutenant-colonel.
At the close of the war Robert Porter returned to Philadelphia, where he studied law. He was admitted to the Philadelphia bar, May 15, 1789, and car- ried on a successful practice in that city until 1810, when he was appointed by Governor Simon Snyder president-judge of the Third Judicial District of Penn- sylvania, comprising the counties of Berks, Northampton and Wayne, and took up his residence in Reading, Berks county. He filled the position of president- judge of this district with marked ability for twenty-two years, retiring from professional and judicial life in 1832. Visiting Brookville, Pennsylvania, he died there, June 13, 1842. Judge Porter was a man of profound learning and superior legal attainments. He married Mary Williams, and had children : Elizabeth, married Rev. David Lewis, of Washington, Pennsylvania; Mary
2
Hosmy Ph Drchart
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Williams, mentioned above; Andrew Williams; Robert Williams, a soldier in the Civil War in an Indiana regiment.
HENRY MARTYN DECHERT was born in Reading, Berks county, Pennsylvania, March II, 1832. He received a liberal training in the schools of his native city, and entered Yale University, from which he graduated in 1850. He taught school for two years and began the study of law in his father's office at Reading, but, the family removing to Philadelphia, he entered the law office of Charles B. Penrose, in that city, as a student in 1852, and in 1854 was admitted to the Philadelphia bar and began active practice there. He early manifested a strong interest in the public affairs of his adopted city and exercised a potent influence in shaping local affairs. He was chosen a member of the School Board from his ward, and filled the position of assistant city solicitor, 1856-60, and was the Democratic nominee for city solicitor in 1860 and for a Common Pleas judgeship in 1870. At the outbreak of the Civil War he devoted all his energies to the maintenance of the Union, enlisting in the Fortieth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers, with which he served during the most trying period of the war, in 1862-63.
On the expiration of his term of enlistment he resumed the practice of law in Philadelphia and became one of the prominent legal practitioners of that city in civil cases, especially in corporation and real estate law. At the organ- ization of the Commonwealth Title Insurance and Trust Company in 1886 he was chosen its first president, which position he filled until May, 1906, when, declining a re-election, he was made chairman of the board of directions and of the executive committee. At the organization of the company and for several years thereafter only lawyers and conveyancers were allowed to become stock- holders, and it became known as the Lawyers' Company and exercised a wide influence in convincing the legal fraternity at large of the importance and value of its title insurance and trust facilities ; in its growth and development into one of the strongest financial institutions of its day Henry M. Dechert has been the central figure. Under his skillful guidance the Commonwealth made rapid strides forward in assets, deposits and surplus, the latter reaching the impres- sive sum of one million and one hundred thousand dollars in 1907. Mr. Dechert's policy combines in a rare measure conservatism and progressiveness, and in the significant period of financial and civic development during the past twenty years he has exercised his influence quietly and effectively in building up the in- terests vital to the city's progress. He was from 1891 to 1894 a member of the state commission to select a site and to erect the State Asylum for the Chronic Insane of Pennsylvania, located at South Mountain, near Wernersville, Berks county, and in 1894 he was elected president of the board of trustees, which of- fice he still holds.
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