Medad Porter Jr.

   FamilySearch ID: L7BD-4X6.

  General Notes:

A three page biography of Medad was prepared by his granddaughters Harriet Elizabeth Mott ('Aunt Bessie') and Florence Mott Bradford. The 'genealogical data' was based on notes that Florence took in conversation with Medad's eldest child Elizabeth, her aunt, before she died in 1916 (ca 1913). Elizabeth lived with her nieces in Neenah for five years before she died and is buried in Neenah. She had never married and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery. ( Find A Grave Memorial# 175427943 )

The census records shed some light on this, the assertion that he had a brother Asahel or Levi is suspect. I suspect that they were cousins and being brought up by an aunt the young boys were called. So who was the aunt? The 1810 census of Half Moon (only three miles northwest of Waterford) has a Sally Porter with one young male under 10 and 2 females under 10 and two females 25-45. No older male.

As far as personal data is concerned, the biography indicates that:
1. Medad was a Methodist and a Mason.
2. His parents died when he was young and he was raised by an aunt.
3. He was a skilled carpenter and cabinetmaker who built in 1826 the house in Chittenago in which his children grew up. The house burned in 1901 shortly after it's sale. (Writing on the back of the picture of said house indicates 1834 as the date of it's building.)
4 He taught school and raised food on the homestead.
5. He was never healthy, having contracted 'fever and ague' (malaria) as a young man and suffered more or less from its effects his whole life. "An odd peculiarity of his was that when ill with fever he was prone to express himself in rhyme, as, 'Come my daughter, bring some water, To put on my head while I'm in bed."
6. He died of an overdose of opium administered by the family physician.

The stories include a tale from his youth about being chased by a wolf on his was back from town with a churn which he used to scare off the wolf and in the process destroyed the 'dasher' churn.

There's a story about a man who worked for Medad in the fall of 1843 or '43 who was evidently a Millerite and refused pay because the 'world was coming to an end'. Medad told him that if it didn't he could come back for his pay. He did.

Another story: "A minister was once being entertained at the Porter home when some one called at the house for the church keys of which Medad Porter was custodian. The occasion was a lecture to be given at the church. The visiting clergyman, when he learned that the speaker was to be a woman, drew himself up in pompous austerity and delivered himself of his opinion of such doings in full voice: 'Everything in creation, even the beasts of the field, knows its place, except the women!' The woman speaker was Sucan B. Anthony."

There is a story of his assisting a slave woman in flight to Canada from Texas.

There is also an assertion that Medad "assisted in the investigation of a claim that one, Louis Leroy, was the 'Lost Dauphin' of France". (The son of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI) and although the biography goes on at length about this 'fascinating' story, there is no indication as to how Medad "assisted" or was even related to the case.

The several things the family knows of Medad Porter, Jr are quite reliable, being based on interviews taken in 1913 with his eldest daughter and since written down. Medad was a Methodist and a Mason. A skilled carpenter by trade he was also a farmer. Several stories of him indicate that he liked to speak in rhyme. Unfortunately, he was never a healthy man, dying of an overdose of opium administered for pain by a doctor. He was only 61 years old. It is not known where he or his wife are buried. ⁵⁴⁸

  Research Notes:

See notes on his father as to possible ancestors and locations. Original information indicated that he was of Waterford, Rensselaer County but that county should be Saratoga.

  Events

• Occupation. Carpenter And Cabinetmaker per censuses of 1850 and 1860.

• residence, 1830, Sullivan, Madison County, NY. ⁵⁴⁹

• residence, 1840, Sullivan Township, Madison Co., NY. ⁵⁵⁰ 2 males 5-10 (Abram and William); 1 male 30-40 (Medad); 2 females under 5 (Harriet and Jane), 2 females 10-15 (Elizabeth and Mary); 1 female 30-40 (Charity)

• 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.)

• Census, 1860, Chittenango, Sullivan Township, Madison Co., NY. ⁵⁵¹

Medad married Charity Dubois, daughter of Jonathan Dubois and Elizabeth Ham, 9 Feb 1826. (Charity Dubois was born 4 Jun 1804 in East Greenbush, NY (Drc Record) ⁵⁵², christened in 1805 in East Greenbush, Rensselaer Co., NY,^552,553 died 12 Sep 1877 in Chittenango, Sullivan Township, Madison Co., NY and was buried in Chittenango, Sullivan Township, Madison Co., NY.)