Andrew Porter was an American teacher, Revolutionary soldier, and surveyor.
Background
He was born on September 24, 1743 on a farm in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. He was son the of Robert Porter and one of fourteen children. His father emigrated from Londonderry, Ireland, to Londonderry, about 1720, later moving to Pennsylvania where he became a prosperous farmer near Norristown.
He expected his son Andrew to become a carpenter, but the drudgery of an apprentice held no attractions for the boy. He loved books and figures, his mathematical inclinations once inspiring him to construct a sun dial from a stone which he reduced to the proper size and shape by using his brother's carpenter tools. He was forthwith banished from their shop. Attempts to make him a farmer proving equally futile, his father decided that he should be a schoolmaster.
Education
He was sent to Patrick Menan's school where he made rapid strides in mathematics.
Career
He opened a school near his home. On the advice of David Rittenhouse, however, in 1767 he went to Philadelphia to take charge of an English and mathematical school which he conducted until 1776. His school enjoyed a reputation for high standards and enabled him to support his family comfortably.
On June 25, 1776, Porter was commissioned a captain of marines by Congress and assigned to the frigate Effingham. Not finding this branch of the service to his liking, he obtained a transfer to the artillery shortly thereafter where he found a better opportunity for his mathematical abilities. He saw action at Trenton, Princeton, the Brandywine, and at Germantown, where nearly all of his company were killed or taken as prisoners, and in 1779 joined Sullivan's expedition against the Indians of central New York.
He supervised the manufacture of ammunition at Philadelphia for the siege of Yorktown, though remonstrating against his removal from active service to a chemical laboratory. Proud and quicktempered, while in the army he wounded a fellow officer fatally in a duel which was provoked by insulting remarks about his being a schoolmaster. He was acquitted by a court martial and curiously was appointed to his opponent's place in the army, becoming a major on March 12, 1782. Subsequently he became a lieutenant-colonel and also colonel of the 4th or Pennsylvania Artillery.
After the war Porter took up farming. He declined the post of professor of mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania, humorously remarking that having commanded men so long he could not go back to flogging boys. In 1784 he was commissary for the commission which surveyed the southwestern boundary of Pennsylvania and during the years 1785-87 was one of the commissioners appointed to run the western and northern boundaries of the state. He was appointed a commissioner to settle land claims in the Wyoming Valley (1800) but resigned before actively assuming the duties of the post. Governor McKean commissioned him brigadier-general of militia (1800) and later major-general.
From 1809 until his death at Harrisburg he was surveyor-general of Pennsylvania. President Madison tendered him the posts of brigadier-general and secretary of war respectively (1812 - 13), but he declined them on account of his age.
Achievements
Andrew Porter has been listed as a noteworthy army officer, surveyor by Marquis Who's Who.
Personality
As a public servant Porter was faithful and exacting.
Connections
He was married twice: first, on March 10, 1767, to Elizabeth McDowell, by whom he had five children. She died in 1773 and on May 20, 1777, he married Elizabeth Parker, eight children issuing from this marriage. James Madison and David Rittenhouse Porter were his sons.
