David Rittenhouse Porter

Porter, David Rittenhouse, Manufacturer, and Governor of Pennsylvania, was born October 31st, 1788, in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. General Andrew Porter, his father, was a distinguished soldier of the Revolution, and subsequently the first Surveyor General of the Commonwealth, a branch of science in which he had been the pupil of the eminent David Rittenhouse, after whom he named this son, whom he early destined for the bar. The confinement of legal studies, however, undermined his health, and consequently he chose the more active pursuit of an iron manufacturer, and for that purpose removed to Huntingdon county. Here he gave close attention to the most improved methods of reducing and refining ore. In 1821, he was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the State, and subsequently of the State Senate. His speeches in these bodies, always brief but full of point, of practical wisdom, and sound information, soon attracted the general attention of the community. In 1838, he was elected Governor of the State, an honor he wore with such general satisfaction that again, in 1841, he was called to the chair, and this time with a majority nearly four times as large as at his first election. No stronger testimony could be given of the confidence and esteem which his course of policy had inspired. His insight of men and measures has rarely been surpassed. His appointments of Judges (then not elected as now) have, without exception, given entire satisfaction; while his appreciation of the great industrial discoveries of that day surpassed that of nearly all his contemporaries. In one of his early messages, he predicted that men then living would see a continuous line of railroad from Philadelphia to St. Louis, a prediction ridiculed at the time as chimerical in the highest degree. To his financial integrity and sense of justice in reference to the State debt, Pennsylvania owes much of her present high character in the European money markets; and his personal courage and decision were so fully attested at the period of the Philadelphia riots (1844), that both branches of City Councils publicly thanked him. After the completion of his term, he resumed, in 1845, the manufacture of iron, directing at Harrisburg the first anthracite furnace built in that portion of the State. His success was commensurate with the enlightened intelligence he devoted to this leading branch of industry; but in the severe financial reverses of 1857, he shared heavily in the misfortunes which prostrated all industrial pursuits. They were borne, however, with a dignity and fortitude which corresponded to his firmness of character, and though well advanced in years, he did not yield to discouragement. The war of the Rebellion interested his sympathies strongly on the side of the Union, and he rejoiced that one of his sons, General Horace Porter, had been able to take part in so many of its conflicts. He lived to witness the success of the Union cause, though in declining health. He died on the 6th of August, 1867, in the composed certainty of a Christian's departure, and surrounded by the sorrowing members of a devoted family.

The Biographical Encyclopaedia of Pennsylvania of the Nineteenth Century. Philadelphia: Galaxy Publishing Company, 1874, p. 40.

Submitted by Nancy.