Monday, December 21, 2015

Memorial to Nathan Porter in 1878 I.O.O.F. Proceedings of the Annual Right Worthy Grand Encampment of Rhode Island


Memorial page for Nathan Porter, included in the 1878 Proceedings of the Annual Session of the Right Worthy Grand Encampment of Rhode Island for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Click on any image to enlarge it.


The booklet, which consists of about 67 pages, contains many names and has 5 other memorial pages, in page order:  [Please take all dates and places with a grain of salt, in case the informant was mistaken]
  • Horace Almy Manchester, born at Tiverton Four Corners, Rhode Island, in 1812; died at Stockton, California on April 30, 1877
  • Thomas Rodman Gardiner, born March 28, 1840 at Lime Rock, Rhode Island; died May 10, 1877 at Providence, Rhode Island
  • Francis Cusick, born August 7, 1822 in Omagh, County of Tyrone, in the North of Ireland; died January 21, 1878 at Providence, Rhode Island
  • Horatio Lewis Holmes, born October 24, 1815 at Lexington, Massachusetts; died January 9, 1878 at Providence, Rhode Island
  • Frederick D. Stuart, born July 12, 1814 at Brooklyn, New York; died January 25, 1878 at Washington, D.C.

Text of the Memorial page dedicated to Nathan Porter:

Nathan Porter
P.G. Rep.
Born in Salem, Massachusetts, March 28, 1817.
Came to Providence, R.I., in 1841.
Exalted into Moshassuck Encampment No. 2, 
June 17, 1852
Joined Golden Gate Encampment, No. 1, San Francisco, Cal., 
September 10, 1859
Admitted a Member of the R. W. G. Encampment of California,
May 1, 1865.
Admitted a Member of the R. W. G. Lodge of the United States,
from the Grand Encampment of California,
September 19, 1870.
Died in the City of Sacramento, Cal., January 6, 1878
aged 61 Years

From brief online research, hopefully correct:  [corrections and additions requested!]

According to the birth date and place on the Memorial page, Nathan Porter was born at Salem, Massachusetts, on March 28, 1817.  I haven't determined the names of his parents.  About 1844 at Boston, Massachusetts, he married Sarah Ann Reed, daughter of sea captain and shipmaster Paul Maxwell Reed and wife Mary (Sparr or Speare) Reed.  Sarah Ann was born February 22, 1822, according to the History of the Reed Family, by J. W. Reed.  Nathan and Sarah would have three daughters, Sarah E. Porter; Clara B. Porter and Rena B. Porter.  

Nathan went to Rhode Island to study law and became an assemblyman in the Rhode Island General Assembly.  After the family moved to California, Nathan served as a district attorney for San Francisco County and in the California legislature, where he died in office on January 6, 1878.  

The publication "The Half Century of California Odd Fellowship, by George Henry Tinkham, published in 1906, includes a brief biography of Nathan Porter and his photograph.


See Nathan Porter's obituary in the Daily Alta California, Volume 30, Number 10133, dated January 7, 1878.  [Better to read the obituary itself than to try to make sense of the digitized text.]

If you have corrections and/or addition to the information above, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

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