James Bennett Porter Bio. Hancock County, WV ********************************************************************** USGENWEB 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. ********************************************************************** Submitted by: Valerie Crook The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 233 Hancock County JAMES BENNETT PORTER is vice president of the Globe Brick Company, representing one of the important industrial enterprises of Hancock County, and since 1909 he has main- tained active supervision of a portion of the old Mahan fruit farm near Arroyo, this county, a property inherited by his mother. In this latter connection he is one of the exten- sive apple growers of his native county, and has on the farm a finely productive orchard that receives scientific care. Of both the Porter and Mahan families, representing the paternal and maternal ancestry of Mr. Porter, adequate record is given in other personal reviews in this volume, he being a son of John and Carrie (Mahan) Porter and having been born at New Cumberland, judicial center of Hancock County, on the 14th of November, 1882. Mr. Porter was afforded the advantages of the well or- dered public schools of his native county, and as a youth he became actively identified with the manufacturing of brick, with which industry he has continued his association to the present time, the Globe Brick Company, of which he is vice president, being one of the largest concerns of the kind in this section of the state. The family home of Mr. Porter is maintained in the attractive and modern house which he erected at Arroyo and which commands a fine view up and down the Ohio River and also of the Ohio shore district. Mr. Porter is liberal and progressive as a citizen but has had no desire for political activity or public office. He is affiliated with both the York and Scottish Rite bodies of the time-honored Masonic fraternity. The year 1912 recorded the marriage of Mr. Porter and Miss Josephine Lovell, of Boston, Massachusetts, she being a graduate of Wellesley College and having come to Han- cock County, West Virginia, to visit a classmate, Mary Anna Brenneman, daughter of Herman Brenneman. Romance here became her portion, for here she formed the acquaintance of Mr. Porter, whose importunities resulted in her here remaining as his wife. Mrs. Porter was active in Red Cross and other patriotic service in the World war period, as was also her husband, and she is an active mem- ber of the Nessly Chapel of the Methodist Protestant Church at Arroyo. Mr. and Mrs. Porter have five children, namely: James B., Jr., John Ethan, Josephine Natalie, Helen Cross and Leah Lovell.