BIO: William Montgomery Porter, Cumberland County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter

Copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/
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History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania.
Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, 
Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and 
Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and 
Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc.  Illustrated.  Chicago: Warner, Beers 
& Co., 1886.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm
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                                PART II.

             HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA.

                            CHAPTER XXXVIII.

                          BOROUGH OF CARLISLE.

391  BOROUGH OF CARLISLE.

  CAPT. WILLIAM MONTGOMERY PORTER (deceased), was born in Carlisle, 
August 5, 1808, and died July 27, 1873.  His grandfather, Robert 
Porter, with his family, left Scotland and settled at Coleraine, 
Ireland.  Robert Porter was stamp master of County Down until the 
Rebellion of 1798, when he took part as a "United Irishman," and was 
the friend of James Nappertandy, Thomas Sedley Birch, Robert Emmet, and 
Lord Fitzgerald, who were all "United Irishmen," and leaders in the 
Rebellion.  He and his eldest son, William, the father of the subject 
of this sketch, were pursued by the king's troops and obliged to flee 
for their lives.  They found their way to a seaport, got on board of a 
vessel bound for America, and after a three months' voyage, landed at 
Camden, New Jersey.  They, with the rest of the family, soon afterward 
settled on a small stream in Lancaster County, called "Swatara," and 
after a time they moved to Perry County and finally to Carlisle.  Sarah 
Montgomery Porter, the mother of William M. Porter, was born in 
Carlisle, near the close of the Revolution.  Her family, the 
Montgomerys, were from Scotland.  William M. Porter read law under 
Samuel A. McCoskry, afterward bishop of Michigan, and was admitted to 
the Carlisle bar in 1835.  He practiced for a time, but from 1836 to 
1839 was editor of the Perry County Freeman, and from 1856 to 1861 of 
the Carlisle Herald.  In October, 1839, he was commissioned by Gov. 
David R. Porter as captain of the Carlisle Light Artillery.  In 1841 he 
was appointed postmaster of Carlisle, and served four years under the 
administration of President Tyler.  In October, 1862, he was 
commissioned by Gov. Curtin as captain of Company A, One Hundred and 
Thirtieth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and served until 
May 21, 1863, having been in the engagements at South Mountain, 
Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Petersburg.  Before this 
time, 1851, Capt. Porter had been elected treasurer of Cumberland 
County.  He was a corresponding member of the Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania.  His last position was under Gov. Hartranft, in the 
office of Secretary of the Commonwealth.  Capt. Porter married Martha 
Vashon, by whom he had five daughters:  Sarah J., now Mrs. Petinos; 
Fanny M., now Mrs. William Mullen; Mattie, now Mrs. Sellers; Ida H., 
now Mrs. Crook; and Minnie, now Mrs. Buckingham.  As a husband and 
father Capt. Porter was kind, as an editor able, as a soldier brave, 
and as a citizen esteemed, quiet and unostentatious.  He is among the 
number of the citizens of Carlisle, who have died within the memory of 
this generation, and who well deserve to be remembered.