John Porter (abt. 1658 - 1753)

Born about 1658 in Wenham, Massachusetts Bay [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Lydia (Herrick) Porter — married about 1680 in Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died 8 Mar 1753 at about age 95 in Wenham, Essex, Province of Massachusetts

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Marie Chantigny [send private message]

Biography

John Porter was born about 1658 in Wenham, Essex, Massachusetts Bay County. He was the son of Samuel Porter and Hannah (Dodge) Porter (later, Hannah Woodbury). John Porter married Lydia Herrick by 1687, and likely by 1681. He passed away in March 8, 1753 in Wenham, Essex, Province of Massachusetts.^[1]

Joseph W. Porter's 1878 Genealogy ^[2] traces John Porter's line and offers this description of his life:

"John Porter, of Samuel Porter, of John Porter, of Wenham; probably born there in 1658, -- his father's farm, which he inherited and upon which he lived and died, being in that town; his lands extended from Wenham Lake to Pleasant Pond. In May, 1716, he and wife Lydia, gave a deed to John Ober and als., of Beverly, of three-eighths of third division in east part of Wenham, laid out to said Porter. May 28, 1741, by deed of gift to son Samuel, of three acres; April 23, 1723, deed of gift to son John, of forty acres in his possession, and four acres of meadow called Denman's lot, seven acres meadow called Fiske's lot, and one common right in great swamp. 'May 20, 1746 for five shillings, to son Jonathan four acres salt marsh, ten acres wood land, west side Wenham Pond, all other lands bought of John Newman, all my other lands joining what was part of Mr. Fiske's farm; one common right in great swamp; also œ100.' July 2, 1739, 'deed of gift to sons Benjamin, of Boxford, and Nehemiah, of Ipswich, eighteen acres upland and meadow, on the river running out of Wenham pond, on condition they pay their six sisters, Lydia, Hannah, Elisabeth, Mehitable, Mary and Sarah, œ5 each within twelve months after my decease.' Aug. 1, 1738, 'to son Samuel his house and homestead on west side of road leading to Wenham meeting house; five acres salt marsh, ten acres north part of my land on west side of Wenham pond, on condition he pay his six sisters œ30 each within two years after my decease.' April 23, 1723, to son Nehemiah, of Ipswich, gift of forty-six acres of land in his possession. In 1692, during the witchcraft delusion, he and his wife Lydia were witnesses at court, and testified against one Goody Bibber, who accused Sarah Wildes of bewitching her, 'and that said Bibber was an unruly, turbulent woman, would have strange fits when crost, was double tongued, very idle in her calling, mischief making, very much given to speaking bad words against her husband, obscene in her language, and could fall into fits when she pleased, etc.' He was a man of high respectability; representative to General Court 1712, '24, 26; moderator of town meetings, 1723, '24, '27, '28, '29; maltster and farmer; he married Lydia, 3 daughter of Henry2 and Lydia Herrick, of Beverly; born 1661; died Feb. 12, 1737, in the seventy-seventh year of her age. He died March 8, 1753, in the ninety-fifth year of his age."

It is an irony of history that the witch trials in which this John Porter became enmeshed have been shown to have arisen largely out of the tension, in Salem, between his grandfather John Porter -- Salem's largest landowner in his day -- and John Putnam, Sr. Their mid-1600s rivalry, and the factionalism arising from it, set the scene for the later trials; this assessment was at the heart of the 1985 PBS miniseries, "Three Sovereigns for Sarah", which dramatized how town politics significantly gave rise to the madness of the witch hunt.^[3]

Juliet Porter's "A Porter Pedigree" states that John "moved from Danvers to Wenham about 1680." Records in the town of Littleton, Massachusetts, nearly forty miles west of Wenham, also state that for some period of time, "John Porter s[on]. of Samuel Porter who d[ied]. about 1660, came to Littleton from Wenham", but the list of children that follows, plus a daughter whose baptism is recorded on a different page -- their births or christenings running from 1742 to 1749 -- makes clear that the writer was in error: the John Porter in question was of a later generation, and was in fact a grandson of John and Lydia: John Porter (1717-1802), whose death was registered in Littleton.^[4][5]

• Fact: Representative to the General Court; maltster and farmer
• Fact: Parents -- Son of Samuel and Hannah (Dodge) Porter of Wenham, Mass.
• Fact: Testified for defense in witch trial
• Fact: Name Variations -- Porter, Parter, Potter, Lieut. John Porter
• Fact: Burial -- Wenham Cemetery, Wenham, Essex, Massachusetts, United States

Research Notes

The middle name "Dodge" appeared in the original data of this profile; at a later period, use of a mother's maiden surname as a child's middle name became common, but at this time it was extraordinarily rare. As a source has not been found to substantiate the name in this case, it has been removed.

Sources

1. ↑ Original entry by Marie Chantigny, Saturday, August 10, 2013; additional marriage data entered by Christopher Childs 26 March 2019
2. ↑ Genealogy of the descendants Richard Porter who settled at Weymouth, Massachusetts, 1635, and allied families:also some account of the descendants of John Porter, who settled at Hingham, Massachusetts, 1635, and Salem, Massachusetts, 1644. By Joseph W. Porter, of Burlington, Maine, 1878, pp. 235-7.
3. ↑ Personal knowledge of Christopher Childs (Childs-1516), an actor in the miniseries (and a 1st cousin, many times removed, of this John Porter)
4. ↑ Incorrectly claimed residence in Littleton, MA: "John Porter, s. Samuel Porter who d. about 1660, came to Littleton from Wenham. Children : (for more see p. 316)" -- Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1621-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016); https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/i/13484/460/238433523 (subscription required)
5. ↑ "Sepr. 24: 1749. Hannah ye Child of Jno. Porter was Bapd." -- Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1621-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016); https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/i/13484/316/0 (subscription required)

• Marriage to Lydia Herrick by 1687, possibly by 1681: "PORTER, John (1658-1733) & Lydia [HERRICK] (1661, 1666-1738); by 1687, by 1681?; Wenham/Salem {Vineland Hist. Mag. 11:110; Salem 1:305; Boxford Hist. 403; Aspinwall Not. Rec. 123; Herrick 26; Dodge (1894) 62; White (,12) 50; Dawes-Gates 2:429; TAG 14:155" -- New England Marriages to 1700. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015; https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1568/i/21175/1214/426900332 (subscription required)

• Death, and burial (shows birth location at Hingham; presumed inaccurate ) (with photo of original gravestone): Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 26 March 2019), memorial page for John Porter (1658–8 Mar 1753), Find A Grave Memorial no. 19387468, citing Wenham Cemetery, Wenham, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA ; Maintained by Cathy (contributor 47785513); https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19387468

See also:

• A Porter pedigree; being an account of the ancestry and descendants of Samuel and Martha (Perley) Porter and Chester, N. H., by Porter, Juliet, Worcester, Mass., 1907, p. 31; https://archive.org/details/porterpedigreebe01port/page/30

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Marie Chantigny for creating Porter-4318 on 10 Aug 2013. Click the Changes tab for the details on contributions by Marie and others.