Background
He was born on January 12, 1810 in Farmington, Connecticut, United States. He came of a distinguished New England family, marked by vigorous physical as well as mental characteristics. He was the eldest son of the Rev. Noah Porter of Farmington, Connecticut, and Mehetabel Meigs of Middletown.
His first ancestor in America, Robert Porter, was the son of a Puritan minister and was one of eighty proprietors who settled Farmington, Connecticut, in 1640. His sister, Sarah Porter, established and managed for many years a famous school for young ladies at Farmington. His brother, Noah Porter, was the president of Yale College from 1871 to 1886.
Education
Samuel graduated from Yale at the age of nineteen. Later because of partial loss of hearing he became a student in the Yale Divinity School.
Career
After studies he was employed for a brief time as a tutor in a Southern family. He then studied for the ministry and was licensed to preach, but before his graduation a partial loss of hearing caused him to change his plans and become a teacher of the deaf.
From 1832 to 1836 he was an instructor in the American Asylum at Hartford for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb, founded by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet. From 1840 he was an associate editor of the Congregational Observer. In 1843 he joined the staff of the New York Institution for the Deaf, remaining with this institution until 1846. He then returned to the American Asylum, Hartford, where he served as instructor until 1866.
He contributed numerous articles to the New Englander, the Princeton Review, the publications of the American Philological Society, and the American Annals of the Deaf, of which he was editor from 1854 to 1861.
For several years after leaving the American Asylum at Hartford he studied and wrote, particularly along the line of the pronunciation of the English language, in which he became an expert. His brother, Noah Porter, was the editor of Webster's Dictionary (1864), and Samuel Porter was the associate editor, contributing to this volume a valuable essay on vowel sounds and pronunciation.
While at Hartford he had become acquainted with Edward Miner Gallaudet, who later became president of the National Deaf-Mute College (now Gallaudet) in Washington. On his invitation Porter accepted the professorship of mental science and English philology in that institution. He continued his successful labors here for some seventeen years as an active member of the faculty. In 1894 he was made emeritus professor, assisting with library work and with voluntary classes until a short time before his death. He visited several foreign schools for the deaf in 1873 and reported his impressions in the American Annals of the Deaf.
He returned to his birthplace, Farmington, a few months before he died, to live with his sisters. His life ended quietly and painlessly in the house where he had been born, ninety-one years before.
Personality
Porter was a deep scholar and an able writer on many topics.
He was a man of striking appearance, tall and well built, with a kindly countenance and a friendly manner. He always carried with him a speaking tube and was ready to use it with friends or strangers. In spite of his deafness he studied and understood thoroughly the mechanics of sound.