Aaron Porter (1752 - 1837)

Born 28 Mar 1752 in Boxford, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Ancestors

Husband of Paulina (King) Porter — married 30 Apr 1777 in Scarborough, Cumberland, Massachusetts, United States

Descendants

Died 30 Jun 1837 at age 85 in Portland, Cumberland, Maine, United States

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Biography

Son of Moses Porter and Mary Chadwick

Dr. Aaron Porter was a physician who had a medical practice in Portland, Maine.

He was born 28 March 1752^[1] in Boxford, Essex, Massachusetts.

He "studied medicine with Dr. Thomas Kittridge of Andover, Mass. He settled in Biddeford in 1773. The village surroundings were a pretty wild country Folsom's history of the town, a little work, compiled seventy-five years ago, preserves a description of the place prepared by Dr. Porter, from which I here present a single extract in a condensed form:"^[2]

The roads were by-paths, pole bridges, bushes sweeping across the way; added to these were deer skipping, wolves howling, foxes yelping, owls screaming--music not the most agreeable in the dark to a traveler.

"Four physicians had preceded Dr. Porter, but all had left, so he had the whole town to himself."^[3]

He was married to Paulina King 30 April 1777. They were the parents of twelve children: Rufus King; Moses, Mary; Richard King, Paulina, Isabella Bragdon; Harriet; Almira; Rufus King; Elizabeth; Lucy; and another Lucy. "In 1790, he was chosen to represent the town in the state legislature, and again a few years later."

"In 1802 Biddeford was afflicted with yellow fever, brought there by a vessel, when forty-three took it, eleven of whom died, one being Dr. Porter's son Mosses, who had graduated form college but a few months before."^[4]

His wife, Pauline, died 26 February 1832 in Portland. Dr. Aaron died 30 June 1837 in Portland, Maine, at the age of 85.^[5]

"Upon the right hand side of the Congress street entrance to the Portland Eastern cemetery, three-fourths the way to the turn in the walk to the left may be seen with others of the family two memorial slabs inscribed as follows:^[6]

Here rests the tabernacle of Mrs. Paulina Porter wife of Dr. Aaron porter Died 37th of Feb. 1832. Aged 74

Here rests the tabernacle of Doct. Aaron Porter, who died June 30, 1837. Aged 85.

Sources

1. ↑ Boxford - Births Image of page 78
2. ↑ Scarborough Historical Society Family pages 65-66
3. ↑ Scarborough Historical Society Family pages 65-66.
4. ↑ Scarborough Historical Society Family pages 65-66
5. ↑ "Maine Vital Records, 1670-1921," database with images, FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2HJP-5PR : 2 March 2021, Dr. Aaron Porter, 30 Jun 1837; citing Portland, , Maine, United States, multiple sources, Maine; FHL microfilm.
6. ↑ Scarborough Historical Society Family pages 65-66.

• COFFIN GATHERINGS: Five Generations of Descendants of Tristram Coffin of Newbury and Nantucket, By W. S. Appleton. Boston: Press of David Clapp & Son, 1896, p 5, 21. [An outgrowth of the anniversary meeting of the Coffin family at Nantucket in 1881.]

• A genealogy of the descendants of Richard Porter, who settled at Weymouth, Mass., 1635, and allied families : also, some account of the descendants of John Porter, who settled at Hingham, Mass., 1635, and Salem (Danvers) Mass., 1644 by Porter, Joseph Whitcomb, 1824-1901Page 285 Birth records per Town Records