Harriet Lavinia Porter

   FamilySearch ID: K2FH-NCM. Find a Grave ID: 182539302.

  General Notes:

Was the niece of Margaret Dubois Ham, the close friend of Mayhew Daggett and Mary Mott. She met Wesley Mott through the Ham's. See the note on Peter Ham.

An educated woman, she entered fields that were not common to women of her day. Educated at the Polytechnic Institute at Chittenango,NY and at the Cazanovia Seminary she graduated from there in 1857. She studied math and later taught math, French and painting and drawing. After graduation she taught at a boarding school in Warrenton, North Carolina, returning to New York State just before the outbreak of the Civil War. She taught in Chittenango and was later the preceptress of the academy at Cortland. About 1870, when 34 years old, she made the trip west to Wisconsin to visit her aunt, Margaret DuBois Ham, who was living on a farm outside of Neenah, Wisconsin. There she met 36 year old Wesley Mott, whom she would marry.

She bore three children of that marriage, giving birth to the youngest at the age of 36. She encouraged her husband to make the transition from farmer to full time lawyer and evidently insisted that the family move to town in the mid 1880's so that her son, Mayhew, could get the full benefits of the educational system there and follow in his father's footsteps as a lawyer.

Porter, Harriet L., Chittenango, N.Y. 1857. Preceptress of Vernon Academy, Vernon, N.Y.;
Preceptress of Cortland (N.Y.) Academy; teacher of French and Mathematics in Warrenton (N. C.)
Collegiate Institute; and since Preceptress of Yates Polytechnic Institute, Chittenango, N.Y.
Married, May 29, 1871, to Wesley Mott. Residence, Winchester, Wis.

(http://madisoncountynewyork.com/CazJub/Ladies/P.htm) - First Fifty Years of Cazenovia Seminary, Cazenovia, N.Y., MDCCCLXXVII.
Printed by Nelson & Phillips, 805 Broadway, New York

  Events

• Census, 1850, Sullivan, Madison County, NY. ⁵⁴⁶ Dwelling number 329 which is the same as 54 year old Noble Davis, his wife Anna, their newly married daughter Chloa and Sylvester Rogers who is presumably her husband. (They would relocate to Michigan by 1860.)

• residence, 1870, Chittenango, Sullivan Township, Madison Co., NY. ⁵⁴⁷ Two listings away from Abram C.

• residence: 205 3rd Street, 1900, Neenah, Winnebago Co., WI. ³⁴²

• Cause of Death: Chronic Rheumatism | Bronchitis: secondary contributor.

• Obituary: Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, 26 Dec 1912, Oshkosh, Winnebago Co., WI. Page 11 - Cause of Death: rheumatism.

• Obituary: Wausau Daily Herald page 5, 28 Dec 1912, Wausau, Marathon Co., Wisconsin. "...dead at her home here, her demise following several paralytic strokes."
Duplicated the next day in the Eau Claire Leader, page 6.

Harriet married Wesley Mott, son of Mayhew Daggett Mott and Mary Wager, 30 Jun 1871 in Chittenango, Sullivan Township, Madison Co., NY.⁵⁴⁴ (Wesley Mott was born 28 Feb 1835 in Rome, Oneida Co., NY, died 24 Dec 1918 in Neenah, Winnebago Co., WI and was buried in Neenah, Winnebago Co., WI.)