#11 Continuing the Adams Family: Alexander and Mary Jane (Porter) Adams and the Porter Family
In previous posts on the Maple Hill, Kansas Facebook Page, I have written about the migration of Alexander and Mary Jane (Porter) Adams from Wayne County, Ohio to LaSalle County, Illinois and on to Maple Hill, Kansas. They brought adult children with them to Maple Hill, where Alexander and Mary Jane Adams lived the remainder of their lives. They had two sons and two daughters. The sons remained in Maple Hill and became prominent farmers, ranchers and businessmen. The daughters married men from the area, but moved to other areas and states to raise their families. Well talk about the Alexander and Mary Jane (Porter) Adams children in a later post.
There really isnt a great deal more to say about Alexander and Mary Jane Adams than Ive already written. In the last post, they were in their seventies and mostly retired. Alexander had purchased land in 1879 on which he established an excellent farm. He also bought other land with the intent of improving it (breaking the sod and fencing the land) and then selling it for a profit. In addition, in the days before banks, Alexander Adams executed legal notes for money he was lending to families coming to the area. Alexander and Mary Jane Adams arrived in the spring of 1879, and lived the remainder of their lives in Maple Hill Township.
As weve mentioned earlier, his oldest son, Franklin Adams purchased land and developed his own farm and small ranch north of his parents, as well as speculating in land, improving it and selling to pioneer farmers.
Horace G. Adams, Sr. at first rented the land that belonged to his parents, began to develop a ranch and cattle feeding operation there, and then bought land in the area to enlarge his cattled operations. A little later, he bought large parcels of land in Western Kansas and Oklahoma where he became one of the most important ranchers and largest landowners.
Alexander Adams died on January 16, 1904 at the age of 82, from pneumonia complications. He is buried in the Maple Hill (Old Stone Church) Cemetery. Mary Jane (Porter) Adams continued to live in the large, two-story farm house built in 1879, until the infirmities of old age caused her to move to California. She then lived her daughters and their families. She died March 2, 1917 in California. Her body was brought to Maple Hill by train, and is buried beside her husband in the Maple Hill (Old Stone Church) Cemetery. Both of their obituaries from local papers are found in my earlier post about the Adams family in Maple Hill News Items.
I have not written about the Porter family yet, and I now want to provide a little information about Mary Jane Adams family. If youll recall, many members of the Adams and Porter Families moved from Wayne County, Ohio to LaSalle County, Illinois in 1853. Alexander Adams and Mary Jane Porter had grown up knowing each other and had lived on adjoining farms in Wayne County, Ohio. Three generations of the Porter family eventually migrated from their homes in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania to Wayne and Stark Counties in Ohio. Wayne and Stark Counties adjoin and their farms were not far apart.
Let us look first at the grandparents of Mary Jane (Porter) Adams, who were Patrick and Margaret (Harkins) Porter.
Patrick Porter and Margaret (Harkins) Porter were both born in Ireland. The following account is taken from the Wayne County, Ohio Pioneers and First Settlers, written by Ben Douglas and published in 1878. I might add, that finding this information in an historical book about Wayne County, Ohio is rather strange since Patrick and Margaret Porter never lived in Wayne County, but in Stark County, Ohio. Perhaps it is because several of their children did move from Stark to Wayne County.
Patrick Porter was born in 1759 in Ireland. About 1784, he married Margaret Harkins in Ireland. She was born there in 1762. About 1793, they immigrated to the United States and lived in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania until about 1814, when they moved to a farm in Stark County, Ohio. There they raised their family of 10 children. Patrick died July 27, 1823 and is buried in the Old Presbyterian Cemetery, Canal Fulton, Stark County, Ohio. Margaret (Harkins) Porter died on December 21, 1837 in Wayne County, Ohio and is also buried in the Old Presbyterian Cemetery, Canal Fulton, Stark County, Ohio. The Old Presbyterian Cemetery is also known as The Clover Hill Cemetery.
The Old Presbyterian Cemetery is now known as the Clover Hill Cemetery, stands on a small hill and is about one acre in size. It is on Deerfield Road N.W., about four miles north of US Highway 30. In this burial ground are many burials of the Harkins and Porter Families. Nearly all of the older stones from both families are inscribed Native of Ireland.
The children of Patrick and Margaret (Harkins) Porter were:
Richard A. Porter 1786 to 1852
Jane (Jenny) Porter 1791 to 1849
John L. Porter 1792 to 1867
Alexander Porter 1794 to 1836
Thomas J. Porter 1795 to 1844
William Porter 1800 to 1870
Margaret Porter 1802 1860
Joseph Porter 1803 to 1880
Charles Porter 1804
Robert Porter 1806 1875
Most of the children of Patrick and Margaret (Harkins) Porter continued to live either in Stark or Wayne Counties in Ohio. Included in that number were Richard, Jenny, Alexander, Thomas J., William, Margaret and Joseph L. Porter.
Two of their children migrated west. They were John L. Porter who moved to Indiana and Robert Porter, who moved his family from Ohio to Illinois with the Adams Family migration in 1853.
Robert Porter was born in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, the last of the children of Patrick and Margaret (Harkins) Porter. He lived in Allegheny County until his family removed to Wayne County, Ohio about 1814. Robert and Isabella (Scott) Porter were married on April 5, 1827 in Wayne County, Ohio.
They were the parents of nine children:
Mary Jane 1828 1917
Cyrus M. 1830 – 1914
Margaret A. 1832 1893
David S. 836 1909
Emma 1836 1909
Isabella 1840 1842
Sarah Melissa 1845 1924
Albert Erwin 1850 1928
I want to just briefly stop at this point and talk about the family of Isabelle (Scott) Porter. Her parents were Matthew J. and Nancy (Eaton) Scott. Matthew was born in Ireland and immigrated to America with his parents, George and Catherine Scott, at the age of 12 in 1790. They settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania for several years and it was there that he married Nancy Eaton. They had five children and first moved to Washington County, Pennsylvania and then moved to Columbiana County, Ohio soon after 1800. There Nancy (Eaton) Scott died leaving Matthew with young children. Her burial place is not known at this time. He married a second time Lucinda Bevington and they were the parents of nine additional children.
Matthew J. Scott was a soldier in the War of 1812 and fought against the allied Indian Tribes of Ohio and Indiana in Western Ohio battles. He was commanded by General Mad Anthony Wayne. He served in several township elected offices and was a school trustee. He died at the age of 80 and is buried in the Westlawn Cemetery, Wayne County, Ohio.
In January 1853, Alexander and Mary Jane Adams were married in Wayne County, Ohio, and at least eight of the Adams and Porter Families left Ohio and moved to Illinois that same year. The 1860 US Census for Ophir Township, LaSalle County, Illinois lists Robert and Margaret (Harkins) Porter as residents along with all of their children, except for the oldest, Mary Jane, who had already married Alexander Adams.
Among those making the move to Illinois, were Robert and Isabella (Scott) Porter, the parents of Mary Jane (Porter) Adams. Mary Jane (Porter) Adams was the eldest of their children. She and Alexander Adams moved first to Ophir Township and then Troy Grove Township, LaSalle County, Illinois.
All of the remaining children of Robert and Isabella (Scott) Porter moved west to LaSalle County, Illinois, eight in all. On the US Census for 1870, Robert and Isabelle (Scott) Porter are shown owning real estate valued at $4000 and personal property worth $1,200. At land prices in that period, they likely owned a 160-acre farm. Their two youngest children, Amanda Porter and Albert E. Porter are 22 and 20-years-old and are still living at home. Amandas occupation is listed as school teacher and Albert is listed as farm hand.
Robert Porter died on October 3, 1875 and is buried in the Troy Grove Cemetery, Troy Grove Township, LaSalle County, Illinois. Isabelle (Scott) Porter died on October 31, 1889 and is buried beside her husband.
Of the nine children, Cyrus M. Porter and Margaret (Porter) McDowell continued to farm in LaSalle County, Illinois and are buried with their spouses in the Restland Cemetery, Mendota, IL. David Porter served with distinction as an officer in the Civil War, married, had three children and moved to Glidden, Iowa where his sister Emma had moved with her husband Henry S. Orris. They were the parents of six children. David and Emma and their spouses are all buried in the Glidden Cemetery, Glidden, Iowa. Sarah Melissa Porter married Henry Case, a large-scale farmer in LaSalle County, Illinois. After his death, she moved to Long Beach, California where she lived the remainder of her life with an only maiden daughter, Mable Helen Case. Albert Erwin Porter returned home to Wayne County, Ohio to marry Amanda Seller. They then returned to LaSalle County, Illinois where they raised seven children and farmed. In their old age, Albert and Amanda Porter moved to Guthrie, Oklahoma to be near several of their children who lived in Guthrie and Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Albert Porter died August 11, 1928 and Amanda (Sellers) Porter, February 20, 1936. They are both buried in Summit View Cemetery, Guthrie, Oklahoma.
And so we bring to an end this story of the Porter Family, relatives of Mary Jane (Porter) Adams.
Photo 1 – Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
Photo 2 – Alexander Adams
Photo 3 – Mary Jane (Porter) Adams surrounded by her four children.
Photo 4 – Wayne County, Ohio.
Photo 5 – LaSalle County, Illinois
Photo 6 – The tombstone of Robert and Isabelle (Scott) Porter in the Troy Grove Cemetery, Troy Grove, LaSalle County, Illinois
Photo 7 – A photo of Matthew J. Scott, father of Isabelle (Scott) Porter.
Photo 8 – The tombstone of Matthew J. Scott in Westlawn Cemetery, Wayne County, Ohio
