Eliza (Chappell) Porter
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Eliza Emily (Chappell) Porter (1807 - 1888)

Eliza Emily Porter formerly Chappell
Born in Geneseo, Livingston, New York, United Statesmap
Ancestors ancestors
Wife of — married 15 Jun 1835 in Rochester, Monroe, New York, United Statesmap
Mother of
Died at age 80 in Santa Barbara, California, United Statesmap
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Profile last modified | Created 29 Jun 2020
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Biography

'New York state flag'
Eliza (Chappell) Porter was was born in New York.
Eliza was a nurse with the Chicago Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, initially collecting and distributing supplies, and then working with "Mother" Mary Bickerdyke in the care of the ill and wounded for over four years.
Eliza (Chappell) Porter was a Californian.

Eliza was born in 1807. In her early childhood, she was raised by Mr and Mrs Bower of Franklin NY.[1] She married Rev. Jeremiah Porter 15 June 1835 in Rochester, New York.

Children: William Robert Porter 1836-1837, James W Porter 1837-?, John Edward Porter 1839-1840, Edwards William Porter 1841-1928, Charlotte E Porter 1843-1859, Henry D Porter 1845-1916, Mary H Porter 1846-?, Eliza Maria Porter 1848-1849, Robert Otto Porter 1851-1859[2]

The 1850 US Census shows the Porter family in Green Bay, Wisconsin.[3]

Name Age Sex Birthplace
Jeremiah Porter45MMassachusetts
Eliza G Porter43FNew York
James W Porter12MIllinois
Edward W Porter9MWisconsin
Charlotte E Porter7FWisconsin
Henry D Porter5MWisconsin
Mary H Porter3FWisconsin
Eluta Gibson12FMichigan
Josette Carbanean18FWisconsin
Rebecca Rees45FPennsylvania

Mrs. Porter did missionary work as well as teaching in the Great Lakes region of the United States and later in the American South West and Plains States regions traveling with her husband who was a US Army Chaplin. Mrs. Porter is regarded as establishing the first school in Chicago in September 1833.

During the US Civil War, she was chosen to work for the Chicago Sanitary Commission when the organization opened it's first supply depot. She was corresponding with committees of women volunteers who were making supplies for the commission and in turn sending out those supplies and escorting volunteer nurses to military hospitals.[4] Mrs. Porter began field service in 1862 going to Cairo, Illinois and nearby places. She performed hospital inspections and distributed supplies before joining “Mother” Mary Ann Bickerdyke. Mrs. Porter and Mother Bickerdyke worked well together with Mrs. Porter rounding off Mrs. Bickerdyke's passionate plain spoken manner with a more tender and nuanced approach. Mrs. Porter effectively spoke with the officers and Mrs. Bickerdyke the enlisted soldiers.[5]

"I first met Mrs Jeremiah Porter at Cairo, Brigade Hospital, after the battle of Belmont. I never needed a friend so bad as when Mrs. Porter walked in. I needed her loving sympathy, which came as a balm. For four years we walked side by side, I had her loving kindness and sympathy. She was fearless in her work, she feared nothing. She would cheerfully go to the bed-side of a severe case of small-pox, erysipelas, or gangrene as she would to a wounded man, and stay with them until they would take that journey from whence no traveler ever returns." - Mary Bickerdyke, Russel, Kansas, Sep. 16, 1892[6]

Mrs. Porter was the first and the last field agent of the Northwest Sanitary commission with her service spanning four and a half years.[7]

Her daughter Mary and son Henry performed missionary work in China. She passed away in 1888 and was laid to rest at Rose Hill Cemetery in Chicago.

"It seems to me that her biography, like that of our Lord, may be condensed into one phrase 'she went about doing good.'But I do not forget that her war record was but one chapter in her useful life, which was filled to the utmost with love to God and man." Mary A. Livermore[8]

Sources

  1. Porter, Mary H. Eliza Chappell Porter, A Memoir. Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1892. pg 12-13.
  2. Porter, Mary H. Eliza Chappell Porter, A Memoir. Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1892.
  3. "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4D6-2KV : 4 April 2020), Eliza C Porter in household of Jeremiah Porter, Green Bay, Brown, Wisconsin, United States; citing family 249, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
  4. Henshaw, Sarah Edwards, Blatchford, E.W., Skinner, Mark. Our branch and its tributaries : being a history of the work of the Northwestern Sanitary Commission and its auxiliaries, during the war of the rebellion. A.L. Sewell. Chicago. 1868. pg.28
  5. Henshaw, Sarah Edwards, Blatchford, E.W., Skinner, Mark. Our branch and its tributaries : being a history of the work of the Northwestern Sanitary Commission and its auxiliaries, during the war of the rebellion. Chicago: A.L. Sewell. 1868. pg.72
  6. Porter, Mary H. "Letter from Mrs. Bickerdike." In Eliza Chappell Porter, A Memoir. Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1892. pp 356-360.
  7. Henshaw, Sarah Edwards, Blatchford, E.W., Skinner, Mark. Our branch and its tributaries : being a history of the work of the Northwestern Sanitary Commission and its auxiliaries, during the war of the rebellion. A.L. Sewell. Chicago. 1868. pg.306
  8. Porter, Mary H. Eliza Chappell Porter, A Memoir. Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1892. pp 331.

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C  >  Chappell  |  P  >  Porter  >  Eliza Emily (Chappell) Porter

Categories: Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum, Chicago, Illinois | Nurses, United States Civil War