Cabell County, West Virginia Biography of Henry L. PORTER ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , April 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 119-120 HENRY L. PORTER studied and qualified for the law, but the profession has been of only incidental service to him in a very practical business career. He early became asso- ciated with the timber and mineral industry of Eastern Kentucky, where some of his heavy interests are yet located. As a coal operator he came into the West Virginia fields several years ago, and is now a resident of Huntington and secretary of the Eureka Coal & Mining Company. Mr. Porter was born in Floyd County, Kentucky, October 13, 1877. The Porter ancestors came originally from Ire- land and were Colonial settlers in Virginia. His grand- father, Samuel Porter, was born in old Virginia in 1797, and was a pioneer in Johnson County, Kentucky. He acquired and developed to farming uses a large amount of land there. This land afterward became exceedingly valuable for coal deposits, and was acquired as some of the property of the Consolidation Coal Company. Samuel Porter was a useful soldier in the War of 1812, being stationed on duty at the mouth of the James River. He died in Johnson County, Kentucky, in 1882. His wife was Anna Raines, who was born in Tazewell County, Virginia, in 1800, and died in Johnson County in 1884. Henry L. Porter, Sr., father of the Huntington coal operator, was born in Johnson County, Kentucky, in 1843, was reared and married there, and soon after his marriage he moved to Floyd County, and for many years was a successful merchant in that vicinity. He served as a soldier in the Civil war, was a democrat, and was one of the very earnest and active supporters of the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He died in Boyd County in 1912. His wife was Minta Wells, who was born in Johnson County in 1845 and died in Floyd County in 1891. A brief record of their children is as follows: Maggie, of Prestonsburg, Kentucky, widow of Col. C. Cline, who was in the timber business there; Laura, who died at Anderson, Indiana, at the age of thirty-five, wife of E. L. dine, now engaged in the timber business in Floyd County; Maryland, wife of Thomas M. Peery, a blacksmith at Pike- ville, Kentucky; Henry L., Jr.; and Samuel, at Ashland, Kentucky, who owns and operates several coal mines in Floyd County. Henry L. Porter, Jr., attended rural schools near his father's home, continued his education in the Prestonsburg Normal School, and for five years was a teacher in Floyd County and one year in Meeker County, Minnesota. He taught his first school at the age of eighteen. While teach- ing he studied law, and for two years was a student of law in what is now called the Western State Normal School at Bowling Green, Kentucky. He graduated LL. B. with the class of 1901. Instead of beginning law practice, he con- tinued teaching in Floyd County until 1905, and for about ten years was also interested in timber operations in that section of Eastern Kentucky. Mr. Porter began dealing in coal lands at John's Creek in Floyd County in 1914, and his association with this business for three years led to more active connections with coal mining. In 1917 he helped organize the Long Branch Coal Company, of which he is a director. He and Harry Leaberry in 1918 organized the Eureka Coal and Mining Company, with mines at Prestons- burg. Mr. Porter is still secretary of this company. The company's mines are equipped to handle from 2,000 to 3,000 tons per day. Mr. Porter in March, 1921, was one of the organizers of the Coal River Collieries, developing mines on Coal River and in Boone County, West Virginia, where the company has over 5,000 acres under lease. The officers of both the Eureka and the Coal River companies are at 522 Tenth Street in Huntington, and Mr. Porter is secretary and treasurer of the Coal River Company. While a resident of Floyd County Mr. Porter served four years as justice of the peace. He is a democrat, a member of the Johnson Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of Huntington, of which he is a steward, is a past senior warden of Zebulon Lodge No. 273, F. and A. M., at Prestonsburg, a member of Paintsville Chapter No. 131, R. A. M., Huntington Lodge of Perfection No. 4, Hunting- ton Rose Croix Chapter No. 4 of the Scottish Rite, and West Virginia Consistory No. 1 of the thirty-second degree at Wheeling. He belongs to Beni-Kedem Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Charleston. Since coming to Huntington Mr. Porter has made some investments in real estate, including his fine home, a ten room brick house in a restricted residential section, at 229 Fifth Avenue. In December, 1903, in Floyd County, Ken- tucky, he married Miss Myrtle Clark, daughter of Morgan and Rebecca (Graham) Clark, the latter still living in Floyd County, where the father died after a successful career as a farmer and stock raiser. Mr. and Mrs. Porter have four children: Ruth, born October 17, 1905, and Esther, born in June, 1908, both students in the Central High School at Huntington; Henry Howard, born October 17, 1910, and Jean, born May 25, 1914, students in the grammar school at Huntington.