A
1994 National Geographic map of New England in 1830 (specifically, Boston to
Washington) carries the following note: Barely scratching a living from Connecticut’s rocky hill sides,
farmers rarely owned enough arable land to divide among their children. Between
1800 and 1830, hundreds of thousands of people left the state to head west. One of those “hundreds of thousands” was evidently our
ancestor, Curtis Porter. He was born in Bethlehem, Connecticut, eight weeks
after George Washington began his second term. Was Curtis’s father, Robert, one
of those farmers “barely scratching out a living on the rocky hillsides”? He
may have been because Bethlehem (even today) is a tiny town in the western
hills, near no large city or main traffic artery. [See information on Bethlehem
in Robert Porter history.] When
Curtis was fifteen months old, his mother, Betsey Ford Porter, gave birth to a
baby girl, also named Betsey.[1]
Four days later, Betsey the mother died, undoubtedly from complications of the
birth. Intriguing question: Was baby Betsey given her name by her father and
her mother while the latter was still alive? or did Robert name her that after
her mother’s death? The name was used three more times that we know of in the
family. In
Mary Ann Porter’s 1923 family history, she reported no remarriage for Robert
and stated she had no further knowledge of Curtis’s childhood (Curtis had been
dead ten years when Mary joined the family). But in 1995 it was learned that on
January 4, 1795, Robert married a Lucy Hannah. So Lucy, who is buried with
Robert and Betsey, raised Curtis and Betsey and was the only mother they ever
knew. We also know they had at least one half-brother, Alfred, born in 1802,
when Curtis was ten.[2]
[See entire Robert Porter history.] HEADING WEST TO NEW YORK
A metal “vet” spike on his grave in Michigan suggested that he served in
the War of 1812. A publication identified as "Index to Comp. Service Rec.
War of 1812" provides confirmation. Curtis was a corporal in Lieutenant
Carter's Company of the Connecticut militia. No information as to why he
returned to Connecticut to serve. It is intriguing to think that Curtis has been dead for more than 120 years, yet during all that time the "vet" spike has been maintained by his headstone. In
1813, a baby girl was born to Curtis and Hannah; they named her Betsey. When
she was 3 ½ (March 1817), a son, David
Curtis,[3]
was born. In an eerie similarity to Curtis’s own mother, Hannah died eight days
later. Between Christmas and New Years that year, Curtis (then 25) married
17-year-old Hannah Holt, and she took on the responsibility of raising his two
motherless children. To her and Curtis were born three sons of their own,
spread over fifteen years—Henry (1821); Robert (1823); and George Ford (1832).
In 1820 Curtis was five pounds in the will of his grandfather, Thomas Ford. CONNECTICUT ROOTS This
would seem to suggest that when Curtis left his Connecticut roots and went to
New York state, it was not a “forever” break, as was often common in those days
due to travel difficulties. Hamilton, New York, where Curtis
lived until moving to Michigan at age 55 (four years after his father’s death),
is between 160 and 200 miles from Bethlehem, Connecticut, over nearly entirely
mountainous terrain, especially the New York portion. Traveling the distance
between the two places in the early 1800s may well have taken as much as two
weeks. We
can only imagine the trips that may have been made during Robert’s lifetime,
the anticipation of getting reacquainted with extended family, the joy for
Robert of having his five New York grandchildren visit. And we can only imagine
what brought Betsey Ann back to Connecticut long enough to find a husband and
marry him (five years before Robert died). In the end, she and John joined the
rest of her immediate family in migrating westward. HEADING WEST TO MICHIGAN In
1847, when Curtis was 55, he and Hannah and fifteen-year-old George made the
move to Grand Rapids. His other grown children—Betsey Porter Bennett, David,
and Robert E.—all eventually found their way to Michigan, too, though the only
date we have is for Robert (1851).[5]
PIONEER AND SOLID CITIZEN
At first Curtis, a stone mason by trade, lived in Grand Rapids and was involved in building many of the earliest buildings in Kent County. In 1865 he bought 40 acres of land in Chester Township, where he lived the rest of his life. At one time he was “overseer of the poor.” When a man died of smallpox and no one was willing to bury him for fear of contagion, Curtis took the casket on his shoulder, carried it away, and buried it alone.[6] Some of the above information comes from a book, Portrait and Bio Records of Muskegon and Ottawa County, page 252. "An able official, he held many important public offices in Kent County, in all of which he served with fidelity and efficiency." From another book, Ten Thousand Names and Scetches of Pioneer Settlers of Madison Co. (Tuttle), we have the following: Religion _ Episcopalian. Formed company to build Eagle Hotel in Hamilton, Madison Co., NY in 1814. Post Master 1832. Received $336.41 as salary that year" [the year George was born].Curtis and Hannah were married 56 years and had at least thirty grandchildren, all in Michigan, before he died at age 81. She died five years later. They are buried in the Lisbon Cemetery, north of Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the same plot as son George with his first wife and their five children who died in infancy (see George Porter history). [1] Porter Family History by Mary Ann Batson Porter, 1923. All information on Curtis Porter’s birth and later life, and the dates on other members of his family come from this source. [2] Alfred was married in 1826 to Lucina Hannah; daughter Betsey Jane was born to them in 1832. [3] See reference in Robert Porter history to a David Curtis Porter who was born and died in Connecticut. [4] Memorial written for Frances Porter (Mrs. Wm.) Shear by grandson Roy Brownell following her death in August 1928. [5] Henry’s daughter Frances Shear, born 1843, was still alive when the first Porter family reunions were held, beginning in 1922. [6] Porter Family History, 1923 |