Obituaries for Ellen (Parks) PORTER (b. 1842 NH, d. 1925 MN) Early pioneer and resident of Blue Earth County, MN ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. http://www.usgwarchives.net ************************************************************************ Submitted by: William W. Porter (email: wwp@unique-software.com) Source: Newspaper, Mankato Free Press; 16 January 1925 Page 12: Column 1; Reads as follows: LAST RITES ARE HELD Funeral of Mrs. Ellen [Parks] Porter At Vernon TRIBUTE TO A GOOD LADY She Had Long Been Resident of Blue Earth County; Life Story Vernon Center, January 15 -- The funeral of the late Mrs. Ellen Porter, who passed away early Friday morning at the Curtis Hotel, Minneapolis, was held Monday afternoon at 1:30 from the home of Mr. and Mrs. F. Leslie Cooper at Vernon Center. Rev. T. Ross Paden of Mankato officiated. He delivered a most impressive sermon full of words of comfort, sympathy and encouragement to the relatives and friends and paid a fine tribute to the memory of this good woman. A quartette, consisting of C. M. Warren, H. J. Hoffert, Lillie Halverson and Alice Warren sang "Beautiful Isle of Somewhere," and "Some Sweet Day, By and By," favorite songs of Mrs. Porter. E. W. Washburn sang a beautiful solo, "In the Garden," with fine effect. Mrs. H. R. Halverson, accompanied the singers on the piano. The floral tributes were many and exceptionally beautiful. A corner of the living room was banked with flowers, making a beautiful background for the casket which was covered with roses and carnations. A large wreath of myrtle leaves pink roses and white carnations from the five grandchildren stood stood [typo] on a stand at the head of the casket. A large spray of white tulips and violets came from friends at Redwood Falls and the D.A.R. and B.P.O.E. No. 225 of Mankato sent sprays of roses and carnations. Other flowers were sent by friends from Lake Crystal, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Fairmont, Mankato and Vernon Center. The pallbearers were old friends of the Porter family: T. D. Hays, H. C. Kraus, Lewis Brown, D. A. Slater, A. W. Petrich, and Gust Nelson. Interment [internment] was made in the Union cemetery [Vernon Center, MN]. Those from a distance attending the funeral were: Congressman Frank Clague, Washington; Mrs. Miles Porter, Joyce and Barbara Porter, Minneapolis; J. H. Engles and sons Lewis and James, Mrs. Mary Waite, Mrs. Myrtle Wrightson, Mrs. Ed Nutt and Mrs. Hugh Norman and G. W. Champlin, Lake Crystal; H. Pay and sister, Miss Nettie Pay, Mr. and Mrs. J. Cain and daughter Laura, Mankato; Mr. and Mrs. George Cooling, Madelia, County Attorney Lovell, Fairmont. Ellen Parks Porter was the oldest of a family of four daughters of Captain E. A. Parks and wife Nancy Gilmore Parks. She was born September 30, 1842 at South Acwoth [Acworth], N. H. where she lived until nine years of age. In 1851 her father, together with several others had been reading and hearing glowing reports of the advantages of the west and decided to go to Fox Lakes [Lake] Wis. They were well satisfied and sent for their families. On July 4, 1852, Ellen Porter, two sisters and mother were driven to Belims Falls, Vermont [probably Bellows Falls, NH], the nearest station for train service to Buffalo, N. Y. Here they took a boat to Chicago where they were transferred in a one horse cab to another boat bound for Milwaukee, where Captain Parks was to meet them. In Milwaukee the family spent one week with the Mitchell's who were Acworth, New Hampshire neighbors and friends. From here they took the train as far as Fox Lake Wis. Here they lived until1858. In 1857 Captain Parks and his brother Milton had again become restless, having heard much of the beauty, fertility of the soil and general excellence of Blue Earth county Minnesota. So they came on and each pre-empted government lands three and one-half miles west of Vernon Center and spent the summer hauling logs from near-by timber and constructed walls of what was to be the home of the family. In the fall they returned to their home people at Fox Lake and in May 1858 the husband wife and four daughters came on to Blue Earth county. The same fall, the mother, Mrs. Parks died and Ellen was left in charge of her three younger sisters and at the head of her father's home. On March 17, 1861, Ellen Parks was married to John Porter born at Howard Flats, N. Y. who had pre-empted government land only two miles to them during the stress of war and Indian massacre. In 1862 a draft was ordered to replace the soldiers killed on the southern battle fields and only a few men were left to protect the women and children on the frontier. They were between two Indian tribes Winnebagoes East and the Sioux North and South. These were anxious days and neighbors had for several days congregated at Captain Parks' log house which was on a rise of ground from which one could see afar. Many nights they could see signals of the indians, (lights thrown high in the air) to locate each other. On August 18, 1862 when the smoke was seen arising from the attempt to burn New Ulm, the gathered neighborhood began their flight. They took sacks of flour and other necessities and camped and with potatoes from the fields and prairie chickens shot along the way, they were occassionally fed. The Parks and Porter families remained at Clarmont [Claremont], Minn., but others never stopped until they got out of the state. The husbands and fathers returned to stack their grain, the mothers and children returned after four weeks of separation. The second attack on New Ulm August 23, 1862, was when the historic battle took place. The siege lasted all day and night and their retreat was caused by a piece of strategy. The Indians had a horror of the sight of artillery. Some of the citizens had mounted stove pipe on carts with anvils to make the necessary noise. The Indians were led to believe that the cannon was bought in during the night. The 2500 people gathered here, left and New Ulm was deserted for a time. General Sibley captured over 300 Indians, who had taken part in the Massacre and these were condemned to death one month later, December 7, 1862. President Lincoln ordered that out of that number only 39 should be hanged in Mankato on December 26. Not until July 3, 1863 was Little Crow, the leader of the Sioux captured when he was shot by a boy on the prairie near Hutchinson, Minn. The Indians still harrassed the pioneers and two years later killed Messrs. Mack and Root at Willow Creek, within three miles of the John Porter homestead. One year later the whole Jewett family was murdered. On the Porter homestead there was a large grove [of burr oaks] through the center of which was a ravine leading to Porter's Lake, a quarter of a mile distant. The Indians camped there many times. One evening as Ellen Porter was standing outside her home, she heard a bullet whizz past her ears. At that time her husband was at the lake watering his horses. Imagine her fears until she saw Mr. Porter returned unharmed. Corn and potatoes furnished the main diet in those days and the pioneers always referred to them as "Johnny Cake Times." From 1873 to 1878 the grasshopper plague interferred with progress of blazing the trail but in spite of all calamities the pioneers kept faithfully on. People of today little realize what the early settlers of Minnesota had to endure. Times were serious financially but the glory of the warm greeting extended to one another Ð that hand of brotherly love and charity Ð those days were truly days in which people loved their neighbors as themselves. When Ellen Porter came to the state in 1858 the country was almost a wilderness. Railroads at that time only reached as far west as Tomah, Wis., with no railroads in the state, no telegraph by which to notify their eastern friends of their arrival, no street cars, no kerosene, gas or electricity, but instead the tallow dip; no bridges, flour mills, schools, telephones, automobiles or radio, but without all these luxuries, they were happy and tried to build well, that their children might realize the presence of God in the midst of their great strife. On this homestead their children Milton, Stella and Miles Porter [son Charles, deceased, is missing from this list of siblings] were born and here they began learning their a, b, c's in a school house built on a site donated by John and Ellen Porter. This school house [the "Porter school"] was the "community center" of that long ago. Here six to eight months of school was held during the year, church and Sunday school services, Christmas exercises, etc. In fact everything was held here. On this old home place and its vicinity Ellen Porter had lived since 1858. She loved her home, family and friends ardently. She was particularly fond of the young people of the neighborhood and always had a warm welcome to extend to them and the spirit of "come on over and stay awhile" was one of her permanent characteristics. Mr. Porter built a house in Lake Crystal in 1891 and moved there late in the fall of that year with his family. Here they lived until the death of Mr. Porter in 1894. In 1895 the only daughter [Stella] was married to Frank Clague. Then in the fall of that year Mrs. Porter and the three boys moved to Vernon Center to engage in the hardware business. In 1901 the second son Charles died. This was the first and deepest sorrow of Mrs. Porter's life. In 1914 the oldest son Milton, died and again a mother's sorrow was had. The tragic death by drowning of Miles her youngest and only remaining son in 1919 was almost more than she could bear and heartbroken she sold her village home and went to live with her daughter, Mrs. Frank Clague [Stella] of Redwood Falls [MN]. The next year brought new scenes into her life when in the fall of 1920 she began to plan on going to Washington, a placed she had always wished to visit and where she spent part of the past four years. She never tired of visiting Mt. Vernon the home of Washington; Monticello the home of Jefferson and Fredricksburg, the home of George Washington [?]. Mrs. Porter joined Anthony Wayne Chapter D. A. R. at Mankato in 1904. In Washington she became a member of the Congressional club and was probably its oldest member. [Information in brackets added by the transcriber Ð William W. Porter on 2-8-2001] Source #2: Newspaper clipping Unknown Mankato publisher; January 1925 Page ?: Column ?; Reads as follows: The following article was taken from the Claremont Advocate, Claremont, N.H.: "Word was received here that Mrs. Ellen Parks Porter died at the Curtis Hotel, Minneapolis, Minn.: January 14, Mrs. Porter was born September 30, 1825 [correction - 1842]. One hundred years ago this house now owned by George Cummings, which her father built in 1825, one hundred hundred years ago this year. At that time Hon. Elisha Parks owned the now Cumming's farm, the old up-and- down saw mill, the woolen mill, store and Stearns lot toward Grant hill. The [Parks family] house has sixteen large rooms, high posted with many large closets, seven fireplaces, three pantries, two brick ovens, two brick arches with set kettles, large general cellar, milk cellar, root cellar and wine coset [closet?]. There is more brick in this house than in the large Bamer's brick house. From cellar to garret, this house is rich with antiques and hand work of long ago. The locks on the doors, hinges, door latches, fireplaces and mantles are of rare workmanship of master hands, the equal of which could not be found at the present time. The front hall winding stairs are hand carved, all hard wood of a century ago. Mrs. Porter's maternal grandfather, Garvin [Gawen or Gowen] Gilmore Esq. came to Acworth in 1790 and built the large colonial home which is still well preserved in the center village. He had a long and noted career as the first Sheriff of Sullivan county, N.H., presidential elector and justice of the piece [peace]. In her western home Ellen Porter "carried on" in courage, perseversance [perseverance] and ambition, the ideals of her New England ancestry." [Information in brackets added by the transcriber Ð William W. Porter on 2-8-2001] Source #3: Newspaper clipping Unknown publisher; January 1925 Page ?: Column ?; Reads as follows: MRS. ELLEN PORTER DEAD Mother of Mrs. Frank Clague [Stella (Porter) Clague] Died in Minneapolis Today Mrs. Ellen Porter formerly of Vernon Center [MN], but who has been making her home with her daughter, Mrs. Frank Clague of Redwoods Falls, died this morning at six o'clock at the Curtis Hotel in Minneapolis. Mrs. Porter was enroute to Washington, D. C., with her daughter and became ill. The body will be taken to Vernon Center, her old home, for burial. As yet no funeral arrangements have been made until Congressman Clague arrives from Washington. [Information in brackets added by the transcriber Ð William W. Porter on 2-9-2001] Source #4: Newspaper clipping Minneapolis Journal; 10 January 1925 Page 1: Column ?; Reads as follows: MRS. CLAGUE'S MOTHER TO BE BURIED MONDAY Funeral services for Mrs. Ellen Porter, 82 years old, mother- in-law of Representative Frank Clague of Redwood Falls, Minnesota, will be conducted Monday at Vernon Center, Minnesota her former home. Mrs. Porter died suddenly Friday at the Curtis Hotel here following a paralytic stroke. She had lived in Minnesota since 1858, for 62 years in Blue Earth county. Her daughter formerly Stella Porter, married Congressman Clague in 1895. Mrs. Porter came to Minneapolis from Redwood Falls a week ago. She is survived by her daughter [Stella] and five grandchildren [all children of her son Miles Porter, now deceased]. [Information in brackets added by the transcriber, William W. Porter on 2-10-2001]