BIO: David Rittenhouse PORTER, Dauphin County, PA

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Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, 
Containing Sketches of Representative Citizens, and Many of the 
Early Scotch-Irish and German Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: 
J. M. Runk & Company, 1896, pages 210-212.
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  PORTER, GOV. DAVID RITTENHOUSE, the son of Andrew Porter, was born 
October 31, 1788, near Norristown, Montgomery county, Pa.  He received 
his early education at an academy in Norristown, where the branches of 
a good English education, mathematics and the elementary classical 
studies, were successfully taught.  With his brothers George and James, 
he was here pursuing a course preparatory to entering Princeton 
College, when the buildings of that institution were destroyed by fire, 
and the purpose of a collegiate course was abandoned.  When the father 
was appointed surveyor general he took his son David with him to the 
seat of government as his assistant.  While thus employed the son also 
studied law, with the intention of entering upon its practice at 
Harrisburg, but the labor and confinement of these double duties were 
too severe, and his health was so much impaired, as was thought, to 
preclude the possibility of his pursuing any sedentary employment.  He 
decided, therefore, to seek more active occupation, and removed to the 
county of Huntingdon, where he engaged in the manufacturing of iron.
  The Messrs. Dorsey then owned that magnificent estate known as the 
Barree Forges.  Mr. Porter was first employed by them for a year as a 
clerk, and during the following year was made manager of their works.  
Having thus acquired an acquaintance with the business, he embarked in 
it on his own account, in partnership with Edward Patton, on Spruce 
creek, but so great was the depression into which all branches of 
manufactures fell for some years succeeding the war of 1812 that their 
enterprise was not successful.  He continued, however, through life to 
take a deep interest in all that related to the business.
  He was in 1819 elected a member of the Assembly from Huntingdon 
county, and was returned for the following year, having as a colleague 
John Scott, father of the present senator of the United States.
  On retiring from the Legislature he was appointed by the governor 
prothonotary and clerk of the several courts of Huntingdon county, and 
to these were afterwards added the offices of recorder of deeds and 
register of wills.  There was then little business in these offices, 
and the pecuniary returns were meager.  He had in 1820 married 
Josephine, daughter of William McDermott, who had emigrated from 
Scotland for the purpose of manufacturing steel by a new process and 
who was one of the pioneers in that art. 
  In 1836 he was elected a member of the State Senate from the district 
then composed of the counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, Perry 
and Union.  The soundness of his judgment and the readiness of his 
understanding made him an acknowledged leader.
  In 1838 Mr. Porter was elected governor of Pennsylvania, and in 1841 
was re-elected by a majority almost four times as great as that given 
at his first election.  His inauguration as governor occurred on the 
15th of January, 1839.
  Governor Porter took much interest in the success of the system of 
common schools then in its infancy, and having appointed Francis R. 
Shunk superintendent, devoted with him much time in resolving the 
numerous and difficult questions which then came up from the county 
officers for decision.
  His efforts to sustain the credit of the State and to secure the 
payment of interest on the public debt drew upon him national 
attention, and were frequently noticed in Europe, where many of the 
obligations of the State were held.  By his recommendation the act of 
1840 was passed, requiring the interest on the State debt to be paid in 
specie or its equivalent.  One of his last acts as governor was the 
suppression of the riots which occurred in Philadelphia in 1844, and 
the courage and decision displayed on his taking command of the 
military in person were generally commended and long remembered by men 
of all parties.  Both branches of the city council, then opposed to his 
administration, honored him with an expression of their thanks, and a 
resolution unanimously passed by those bodies was presented to him in 
person, accompanied with an address by the mayor of the city.
  Having completed, in 1845, the longest term as governor allowed by 
the new Constitution, he retired from public life and returned to his 
favorite pursuit of making iron.  The adaptation of anthracite coal to 
the manufacture of this metal was then almost unknown, and having given 
much reflection to the subject and made many practical experiments, he 
erected at Harrisburg, at a large cost, the first anthracite furnace 
built in that portion of the State.
  He was for many years the friend of the late President Buchanan, and 
the correspondence which they maintained for a long period shows how 
frequently that statesman consulted him on questions of national 
interest and how greatly he relied upon his judgment.
  There was another public man with whom his intimacy was even closer, 
Gen. Sam. Houston, of Texas, whose career as a military commander, an 
executive officer, and effective orator is yet fresh in the public 
recollection.
  Mr. Porter returned to his home in Harrisburg and contributed his 
influence to sustain the government in the fierce conflict which had 
commenced.  He scouted the doctrine of secession.  To encourage others 
he shouldered his musket at the age of more than seventy years, and 
with the young men of the town joined in military drill.  He rejoiced 
greatly over the success of the Union arms.
  During the winter of 1867, while attending at night a meeting of his 
church, he contracted a severe cold.  While others regarded the attack 
as light, he believed that it would prove fatal and began to prepare 
for the approaching change.  During the succeeding summer he was able 
to walk out, but in the beginning of August his strength declined.  
With great composure and even cheerfulness he arranged several matters 
of business and conversed calmly of his approaching end.  On the 6th of 
August, surrounded by several children and a devoted wife, his hands 
having been folded on his breast, he thanked those about him for their 
kindness and dutifulness and composed himself as if to fall asleep.  As 
one and another passage of Scripture was repeated he expressed his 
assent, until the pulse became still and the aged heart ceased to beat.  
He had passed away as gently as a child falls to sleep in its mother's 
arms.  The public business was, at the request of the governor of the 
Commonwealth, generally suspended.  Large numbers of citizens came from 
every section of the State to pay to his memory the last sad tribute of 
their respect.