George Bryan Porter Explained

George Bryan Porter
Office:3rd Territorial Governor of Michigan
President:Andrew Jackson
Term Start:August 6, 1831
Term End:July 6, 1834
Predecessor:Lewis Cass
Successor:Stevens T. Mason
Office2:Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Term Start2:1827
Term End2:1827
Birth Date:9 February 1791
Birth Place:Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Death Place:Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Resting Place:Elmwood Cemetery
Detroit, Michigan
Party:Democratic party
Parents:Andrew Porter
Elizabeth Parker Porter
Spouse:Sarah Humes Porter
Children:Andrew Porter
Relations:David Rittenhouse Porter (b)
James Madison Porter (b)
Horace Porter (n)
Occupation:Attorney
Politician
Branch:United States Army
Serviceyears:1812
Battles:War of 1812
Rank:Major

George Bryan Porter (February 9, 1791 – July 6, 1834) was an American statesman in Pennsylvania and Territorial governor of Michigan from August 6, 1831, until his death on July 6, 1834.

Early life

Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Porter attended the Norristown Academy. While he and his two brothers were preparing to enter college, there was a student "rebellion" at Princeton University and many school buildings had been burned. As a result, Porter and his brothers continued their studies in their father's library rather than at Princeton.

Career

Porter was a major in the United States Army during the War of 1812. He attended Litchfield Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut, and was admitted to the bar in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1813. He served as Prothonotary (Chief Court Clerk) in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1818.[1]

A lawyer in Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Porter eventually entered state politics. He served as Adjutant General from 1824 to 1829; became a Democratic party member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1827.[2]

Porter was United States Marshall for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1831. Appointed by President Andrew Jackson in 1831, Porter served as the Territorial Governor of Michigan[3] from 1832 until his death in 1834. In this role he accompanied Oneida chief Daniel Bread to the White House to ask President Jackson for alternative land arrangements for the Oneida in response to the 1831 Treaty of Washington, which along with the 1927 Treaty of Butte Morts had reduced Oneida lands by 90%.[4] The trip was successful in that the president agreed to exchange Oneida lands for "better, more fertile" lands.[4]

Death

Porter died while in office on July 6, 1834, during a cholera epidemic in Detroit, Michigan.[5] He is interred at Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit.

A portrait of Porter was unveiled in November 2015 and hangs on the second floor of the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing.

Family life

Porter married Sarah Humes of Pennsylvania on October 31, 1816, and had at least four children, one of whom was General Andrew Porter, one of the generals at the First Battle of Bull Run, who married Margarite Biddle of the famous Biddle family.

Porter was the son of Andrew Porter who served in the U.S. Revolutionary War, and Elizabeth Parker Porter. He was also the brother of David Rittenhouse Porter, Pennsylvania Governor 1839–1845, and James Madison Porter, Secretary of War 1843–1844, and the uncle of Horace Porter, U.S. Ambassador to France 1897–1905.

External links


Notes and References

  1. Web site: George Bryan Porter. 2010 by the Litchfield Historical Society. June 9, 2014.
  2. http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/porter4.html#541.67.99 The Political Graveyard: Porter, George Bryan
  3. Book: Sons of the American Revolution. A National Register of the Society, Sons of the American Revolution, Volume 2 Volume 2 of A National Register of the Society Sons of the American Revolution: Comp. and Pub. Under the Auspices of the National Publication Committee, Sons of the American Revolution A National Register of the Society, Sons of the American Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution. 1902. Press of A. H. Kellogg, 1902. 332. June 9, 2014.
  4. Book: Hauptman. Laurence. Seven Generations of Iroquois Leadership: The Six Nations Since 1800. 2008. Syracuse University Press. 978-0-8156-3165-1. 91.
  5. Book: Herringshaw. Thomas William. Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the Nineteenth Century: Accurate and Succinct Biographies of Famous Men and Women in All Walks of Life who are Or Have Been the Acknowledged Leaders of Life and Thought of the United States Since Its Formation. 1904. American Publishers' Association, 1904. 753. June 9, 2014.