Wife of Augustus Porter
In January, 1801, Augustus Porter went to Blooming Grove in Orange county, and there, on the 24th of the month, he married Jane Howell whose brother* had been for six years a resident of Canandaigua. Jane was the only daughter of Hezekiah Howell, and her family too was old and distinguished. Her great-great-grandfather, Edward Howell, had come to Boston from England in 1639, the same year, curiously enough, in which John Porter—the first of the Porter emigrants—came over. He was the leader of the new settlement of Southampton, Long Island, was a magistrate, and served until his death as a member of the colonial legislature at Hartford. The old stone manor house of the Howell family, in Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire, still stands; and is known to have been occupied in 1536, by Howells that preceded Jane by six generations.
Augustus Porter took his bride to Canandaigua, to a house which he had built the year before, situated opposite to the Academy. And from the time she joined him he took a more active part in public affairs and less, it seems, in surveying. For the lot on which the house stood Porter paid, in 1799, $1000. If uniform with the other Phelps and Gorham lots in Canandaigua, it contained about 40 acres, fronting 380 feet on Main street and extending seven-eighths of a mile back, to the corporation line.
On October 24, 1801, Jane Porter bore to Augustus a son, who was named Albert Howell, his Christian name having been chosen in honor of Albert Gallatin. In the next year Porter was awarded the contract for carrying the mails from Utica to Fort Niagara. It was a stage line now, and the route was the usual one to Buffalo, and thence down the river, by the old portage road, to the fort. In the fall of that year he was elected to the state legislature from the counties of Ontario and Genesee, serving as one of the three assemblymen for all that region in the session of 1803. Thus the year 1802 was notable to Augustus Porter as marking his first appearance in the transportation business, and his first election to public office.
* Judge Howell, who three years before had married Sally Chapin, youngest daughter of General Israel Chapin. In 1799 he had built the house later known as the Howell Homestead. On the opening of Howell street it was moved to Dungan street, where it still stood a hundred years later, in fragments, forming two houses. It had a fine drawing room, and in its large kitchen tradition says "more matches were made than in any other five houses in town."
There was probably little feeling of loneliness for these pioneers in Canandaigua, for in addition to his own family, and the family of his brother-in-law, and the wide acquaintance that his eminence as a surveyor had gained for him, Augustus Porter had with him also his own brother, Peter BuellPorter, who had come to Canandaigua in 1795, and had settled there in the practice of law.
Peter B. Porter, the junior of Augustus by fourteen years, had been graduated from Yale in 1791, and had then gained his professional education with Judge Reeves, of Litchfield, Conn., a very famous advocate. Judge Reeves, by the way, was a brother-in-law of Aaron Burr. The building in which he held his renowned law school still stands in Litchfield, and the youthful autographs of Calhoun, Pierpont, and others are said to be visible cut in its small square panes. The young pioneer-barrister, whose name was soon to become so famous in the annals of his country, took at once a high position in the new settlement. The year of his arrival he was counsel at Canandaigua in the first trial in a court of record in Western New York. Two years later he was appointed clerk of Ontario county, and in 1801 made Augustus Porter his deputy; in 1802 he served in the legislature as an assemblyman for the counties of Ontario and Steuben, and retired at the close of the session only that his brother might be elected to succeed him, as has been alreadv told.
In Peter B. Porter's appearance in the first jury trial held west of Herkimer county there were coincidences which came to be of unusual family interest. He had been admitted to practice in the courts of Ontario county at the same time with Nathaniel W. Howell, afterwards judge, who was his sister-in-law's brother. This first trial by jury, which was on an indictment for stealing a cowbell, took place just after their admission, and the very year that Peter B. Porter arrived. The prosecution was managed by Nathaniel W. Howell and the defense by Peter B. Porter and Vincent Matthews, the latter already a distant cousin, and destined to be yet more closely connected as the father-in-law of ono of the nephews of the former! In 1804 Peter B. Porter was connected with another interesting case, when he was associated with Red Jacket, the Indian orator, in defense of an Indian charged with the murder of a white man near Buffalo.
On May 7, 1806, another son was born to Augustus Porter, and this child was named Peter Buell, for the young lawyer. Early in June of the same year the family removed to Niagara Falls. After the fashion of those days Porter, though well off, was his own teamster, coming to his new home with whip and reins in hand. The weather was favorable, but four or five days were needed for the journey, and it must have been a rough one for a mother with a month old child. The house at Canandaigua was sold to John Greig, who, having studied law in Judge Howell's office, had entered into partnership with him in 1804. Just thirty years afterwards, the princely "Greig Hall" having been completed, the Porter residence was donated to the Episcopal church for a parsonage and was removed to Gibson street where, very little modernized, it was still standing in 1896, good it was thought for another century. The church had sold it to Edward G. Tyler, the retired principal of Ontario Female Seminary and his family still owned it. Lafayette was a guest at the house in 1825.
With the trip to Niagara closes definitely the first phase in the already changing life of Augustus Porter. He is no more the pioneer-surveyor; but becomes, for a time, the business man.
(info provided by Msmith #47320929)
In January, 1801, Augustus Porter went to Blooming Grove in Orange county, and there, on the 24th of the month, he married Jane Howell whose brother* had been for six years a resident of Canandaigua. Jane was the only daughter of Hezekiah Howell, and her family too was old and distinguished. Her great-great-grandfather, Edward Howell, had come to Boston from England in 1639, the same year, curiously enough, in which John Porter—the first of the Porter emigrants—came over. He was the leader of the new settlement of Southampton, Long Island, was a magistrate, and served until his death as a member of the colonial legislature at Hartford. The old stone manor house of the Howell family, in Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire, still stands; and is known to have been occupied in 1536, by Howells that preceded Jane by six generations.
Augustus Porter took his bride to Canandaigua, to a house which he had built the year before, situated opposite to the Academy. And from the time she joined him he took a more active part in public affairs and less, it seems, in surveying. For the lot on which the house stood Porter paid, in 1799, $1000. If uniform with the other Phelps and Gorham lots in Canandaigua, it contained about 40 acres, fronting 380 feet on Main street and extending seven-eighths of a mile back, to the corporation line.
On October 24, 1801, Jane Porter bore to Augustus a son, who was named Albert Howell, his Christian name having been chosen in honor of Albert Gallatin. In the next year Porter was awarded the contract for carrying the mails from Utica to Fort Niagara. It was a stage line now, and the route was the usual one to Buffalo, and thence down the river, by the old portage road, to the fort. In the fall of that year he was elected to the state legislature from the counties of Ontario and Genesee, serving as one of the three assemblymen for all that region in the session of 1803. Thus the year 1802 was notable to Augustus Porter as marking his first appearance in the transportation business, and his first election to public office.
* Judge Howell, who three years before had married Sally Chapin, youngest daughter of General Israel Chapin. In 1799 he had built the house later known as the Howell Homestead. On the opening of Howell street it was moved to Dungan street, where it still stood a hundred years later, in fragments, forming two houses. It had a fine drawing room, and in its large kitchen tradition says "more matches were made than in any other five houses in town."
There was probably little feeling of loneliness for these pioneers in Canandaigua, for in addition to his own family, and the family of his brother-in-law, and the wide acquaintance that his eminence as a surveyor had gained for him, Augustus Porter had with him also his own brother, Peter BuellPorter, who had come to Canandaigua in 1795, and had settled there in the practice of law.
Peter B. Porter, the junior of Augustus by fourteen years, had been graduated from Yale in 1791, and had then gained his professional education with Judge Reeves, of Litchfield, Conn., a very famous advocate. Judge Reeves, by the way, was a brother-in-law of Aaron Burr. The building in which he held his renowned law school still stands in Litchfield, and the youthful autographs of Calhoun, Pierpont, and others are said to be visible cut in its small square panes. The young pioneer-barrister, whose name was soon to become so famous in the annals of his country, took at once a high position in the new settlement. The year of his arrival he was counsel at Canandaigua in the first trial in a court of record in Western New York. Two years later he was appointed clerk of Ontario county, and in 1801 made Augustus Porter his deputy; in 1802 he served in the legislature as an assemblyman for the counties of Ontario and Steuben, and retired at the close of the session only that his brother might be elected to succeed him, as has been alreadv told.
In Peter B. Porter's appearance in the first jury trial held west of Herkimer county there were coincidences which came to be of unusual family interest. He had been admitted to practice in the courts of Ontario county at the same time with Nathaniel W. Howell, afterwards judge, who was his sister-in-law's brother. This first trial by jury, which was on an indictment for stealing a cowbell, took place just after their admission, and the very year that Peter B. Porter arrived. The prosecution was managed by Nathaniel W. Howell and the defense by Peter B. Porter and Vincent Matthews, the latter already a distant cousin, and destined to be yet more closely connected as the father-in-law of ono of the nephews of the former! In 1804 Peter B. Porter was connected with another interesting case, when he was associated with Red Jacket, the Indian orator, in defense of an Indian charged with the murder of a white man near Buffalo.
On May 7, 1806, another son was born to Augustus Porter, and this child was named Peter Buell, for the young lawyer. Early in June of the same year the family removed to Niagara Falls. After the fashion of those days Porter, though well off, was his own teamster, coming to his new home with whip and reins in hand. The weather was favorable, but four or five days were needed for the journey, and it must have been a rough one for a mother with a month old child. The house at Canandaigua was sold to John Greig, who, having studied law in Judge Howell's office, had entered into partnership with him in 1804. Just thirty years afterwards, the princely "Greig Hall" having been completed, the Porter residence was donated to the Episcopal church for a parsonage and was removed to Gibson street where, very little modernized, it was still standing in 1896, good it was thought for another century. The church had sold it to Edward G. Tyler, the retired principal of Ontario Female Seminary and his family still owned it. Lafayette was a guest at the house in 1825.
With the trip to Niagara closes definitely the first phase in the already changing life of Augustus Porter. He is no more the pioneer-surveyor; but becomes, for a time, the business man.
(info provided by Msmith #47320929)
Wife of Augustus Porter
In January, 1801, Augustus Porter went to Blooming Grove in Orange county, and there, on the 24th of the month, he married Jane Howell whose brother* had been for six years a resident of Canandaigua. Jane was the only daughter of Hezekiah Howell, and her family too was old and distinguished. Her great-great-grandfather, Edward Howell, had come to Boston from England in 1639, the same year, curiously enough, in which John Porter—the first of the Porter emigrants—came over. He was the leader of the new settlement of Southampton, Long Island, was a magistrate, and served until his death as a member of the colonial legislature at Hartford. The old stone manor house of the Howell family, in Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire, still stands; and is known to have been occupied in 1536, by Howells that preceded Jane by six generations.
Augustus Porter took his bride to Canandaigua, to a house which he had built the year before, situated opposite to the Academy. And from the time she joined him he took a more active part in public affairs and less, it seems, in surveying. For the lot on which the house stood Porter paid, in 1799, $1000. If uniform with the other Phelps and Gorham lots in Canandaigua, it contained about 40 acres, fronting 380 feet on Main street and extending seven-eighths of a mile back, to the corporation line.
On October 24, 1801, Jane Porter bore to Augustus a son, who was named Albert Howell, his Christian name having been chosen in honor of Albert Gallatin. In the next year Porter was awarded the contract for carrying the mails from Utica to Fort Niagara. It was a stage line now, and the route was the usual one to Buffalo, and thence down the river, by the old portage road, to the fort. In the fall of that year he was elected to the state legislature from the counties of Ontario and Genesee, serving as one of the three assemblymen for all that region in the session of 1803. Thus the year 1802 was notable to Augustus Porter as marking his first appearance in the transportation business, and his first election to public office.
* Judge Howell, who three years before had married Sally Chapin, youngest daughter of General Israel Chapin. In 1799 he had built the house later known as the Howell Homestead. On the opening of Howell street it was moved to Dungan street, where it still stood a hundred years later, in fragments, forming two houses. It had a fine drawing room, and in its large kitchen tradition says "more matches were made than in any other five houses in town."
There was probably little feeling of loneliness for these pioneers in Canandaigua, for in addition to his own family, and the family of his brother-in-law, and the wide acquaintance that his eminence as a surveyor had gained for him, Augustus Porter had with him also his own brother, Peter BuellPorter, who had come to Canandaigua in 1795, and had settled there in the practice of law.
Peter B. Porter, the junior of Augustus by fourteen years, had been graduated from Yale in 1791, and had then gained his professional education with Judge Reeves, of Litchfield, Conn., a very famous advocate. Judge Reeves, by the way, was a brother-in-law of Aaron Burr. The building in which he held his renowned law school still stands in Litchfield, and the youthful autographs of Calhoun, Pierpont, and others are said to be visible cut in its small square panes. The young pioneer-barrister, whose name was soon to become so famous in the annals of his country, took at once a high position in the new settlement. The year of his arrival he was counsel at Canandaigua in the first trial in a court of record in Western New York. Two years later he was appointed clerk of Ontario county, and in 1801 made Augustus Porter his deputy; in 1802 he served in the legislature as an assemblyman for the counties of Ontario and Steuben, and retired at the close of the session only that his brother might be elected to succeed him, as has been alreadv told.
In Peter B. Porter's appearance in the first jury trial held west of Herkimer county there were coincidences which came to be of unusual family interest. He had been admitted to practice in the courts of Ontario county at the same time with Nathaniel W. Howell, afterwards judge, who was his sister-in-law's brother. This first trial by jury, which was on an indictment for stealing a cowbell, took place just after their admission, and the very year that Peter B. Porter arrived. The prosecution was managed by Nathaniel W. Howell and the defense by Peter B. Porter and Vincent Matthews, the latter already a distant cousin, and destined to be yet more closely connected as the father-in-law of ono of the nephews of the former! In 1804 Peter B. Porter was connected with another interesting case, when he was associated with Red Jacket, the Indian orator, in defense of an Indian charged with the murder of a white man near Buffalo.
On May 7, 1806, another son was born to Augustus Porter, and this child was named Peter Buell, for the young lawyer. Early in June of the same year the family removed to Niagara Falls. After the fashion of those days Porter, though well off, was his own teamster, coming to his new home with whip and reins in hand. The weather was favorable, but four or five days were needed for the journey, and it must have been a rough one for a mother with a month old child. The house at Canandaigua was sold to John Greig, who, having studied law in Judge Howell's office, had entered into partnership with him in 1804. Just thirty years afterwards, the princely "Greig Hall" having been completed, the Porter residence was donated to the Episcopal church for a parsonage and was removed to Gibson street where, very little modernized, it was still standing in 1896, good it was thought for another century. The church had sold it to Edward G. Tyler, the retired principal of Ontario Female Seminary and his family still owned it. Lafayette was a guest at the house in 1825.
With the trip to Niagara closes definitely the first phase in the already changing life of Augustus Porter. He is no more the pioneer-surveyor; but becomes, for a time, the business man.
(info provided by Msmith #47320929)
In January, 1801, Augustus Porter went to Blooming Grove in Orange county, and there, on the 24th of the month, he married Jane Howell whose brother* had been for six years a resident of Canandaigua. Jane was the only daughter of Hezekiah Howell, and her family too was old and distinguished. Her great-great-grandfather, Edward Howell, had come to Boston from England in 1639, the same year, curiously enough, in which John Porter—the first of the Porter emigrants—came over. He was the leader of the new settlement of Southampton, Long Island, was a magistrate, and served until his death as a member of the colonial legislature at Hartford. The old stone manor house of the Howell family, in Marsh Gibbon, Buckinghamshire, still stands; and is known to have been occupied in 1536, by Howells that preceded Jane by six generations.
Augustus Porter took his bride to Canandaigua, to a house which he had built the year before, situated opposite to the Academy. And from the time she joined him he took a more active part in public affairs and less, it seems, in surveying. For the lot on which the house stood Porter paid, in 1799, $1000. If uniform with the other Phelps and Gorham lots in Canandaigua, it contained about 40 acres, fronting 380 feet on Main street and extending seven-eighths of a mile back, to the corporation line.
On October 24, 1801, Jane Porter bore to Augustus a son, who was named Albert Howell, his Christian name having been chosen in honor of Albert Gallatin. In the next year Porter was awarded the contract for carrying the mails from Utica to Fort Niagara. It was a stage line now, and the route was the usual one to Buffalo, and thence down the river, by the old portage road, to the fort. In the fall of that year he was elected to the state legislature from the counties of Ontario and Genesee, serving as one of the three assemblymen for all that region in the session of 1803. Thus the year 1802 was notable to Augustus Porter as marking his first appearance in the transportation business, and his first election to public office.
* Judge Howell, who three years before had married Sally Chapin, youngest daughter of General Israel Chapin. In 1799 he had built the house later known as the Howell Homestead. On the opening of Howell street it was moved to Dungan street, where it still stood a hundred years later, in fragments, forming two houses. It had a fine drawing room, and in its large kitchen tradition says "more matches were made than in any other five houses in town."
There was probably little feeling of loneliness for these pioneers in Canandaigua, for in addition to his own family, and the family of his brother-in-law, and the wide acquaintance that his eminence as a surveyor had gained for him, Augustus Porter had with him also his own brother, Peter BuellPorter, who had come to Canandaigua in 1795, and had settled there in the practice of law.
Peter B. Porter, the junior of Augustus by fourteen years, had been graduated from Yale in 1791, and had then gained his professional education with Judge Reeves, of Litchfield, Conn., a very famous advocate. Judge Reeves, by the way, was a brother-in-law of Aaron Burr. The building in which he held his renowned law school still stands in Litchfield, and the youthful autographs of Calhoun, Pierpont, and others are said to be visible cut in its small square panes. The young pioneer-barrister, whose name was soon to become so famous in the annals of his country, took at once a high position in the new settlement. The year of his arrival he was counsel at Canandaigua in the first trial in a court of record in Western New York. Two years later he was appointed clerk of Ontario county, and in 1801 made Augustus Porter his deputy; in 1802 he served in the legislature as an assemblyman for the counties of Ontario and Steuben, and retired at the close of the session only that his brother might be elected to succeed him, as has been alreadv told.
In Peter B. Porter's appearance in the first jury trial held west of Herkimer county there were coincidences which came to be of unusual family interest. He had been admitted to practice in the courts of Ontario county at the same time with Nathaniel W. Howell, afterwards judge, who was his sister-in-law's brother. This first trial by jury, which was on an indictment for stealing a cowbell, took place just after their admission, and the very year that Peter B. Porter arrived. The prosecution was managed by Nathaniel W. Howell and the defense by Peter B. Porter and Vincent Matthews, the latter already a distant cousin, and destined to be yet more closely connected as the father-in-law of ono of the nephews of the former! In 1804 Peter B. Porter was connected with another interesting case, when he was associated with Red Jacket, the Indian orator, in defense of an Indian charged with the murder of a white man near Buffalo.
On May 7, 1806, another son was born to Augustus Porter, and this child was named Peter Buell, for the young lawyer. Early in June of the same year the family removed to Niagara Falls. After the fashion of those days Porter, though well off, was his own teamster, coming to his new home with whip and reins in hand. The weather was favorable, but four or five days were needed for the journey, and it must have been a rough one for a mother with a month old child. The house at Canandaigua was sold to John Greig, who, having studied law in Judge Howell's office, had entered into partnership with him in 1804. Just thirty years afterwards, the princely "Greig Hall" having been completed, the Porter residence was donated to the Episcopal church for a parsonage and was removed to Gibson street where, very little modernized, it was still standing in 1896, good it was thought for another century. The church had sold it to Edward G. Tyler, the retired principal of Ontario Female Seminary and his family still owned it. Lafayette was a guest at the house in 1825.
With the trip to Niagara closes definitely the first phase in the already changing life of Augustus Porter. He is no more the pioneer-surveyor; but becomes, for a time, the business man.
(info provided by Msmith #47320929)
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