My Genealogy Hound

RICHARD PORTER was born in Bedford, Trimble Co., Ky., September 25, 1827, and is the fourth of six children born to Jeremiah and Nancy W. (Hardy) Porter, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Maryland. They were of Irish and English descent respectively. When only a small boy Jeremiah Porter removed with his parents to Woodford County, Ky. At the age of twenty-one he enlisted in Shelby’s regiment and served with the same under Gen. Harrison through the war of 1812. He participated in all the principal battles of the northwest, and in the Canada campaign. He was married immediately after his return from the army, and soon afterward removed to Bedford, Trimble Co., Ky., where he was engaged in merchandising until 1832, when he came with his family to Hickman County. There he entered land near Columbus, and subsequently improved a farm. After a few years he sold this place, and bought another in the same neighborhood, where he resided until 1844. He then came to Ballard County, which had then just been organized, and was one of the commissioners who located the first county seat. He bought a farm near Blandville, which he sold after a few years, and bought another near the present site of Arlington, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death in the spring of 1862, in his seventy-first year. Mr. Porter served as sheriff in Hickman County for some eight years. He and wife were life-long members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Richard Porter was employed on his father’s farm until he attained his majority. He then went to Phillips County, Ark., where he bought a partially improved farm of 120 acres, to which he afterward added 270 acres. There he was engaged in farming until the breaking out of the late civil war. In January, 1862, he enlisted in Company E, First Regiment of Arkansas Cavalry, and served under Gen. Price until the fall of 1864, when he was taken prisoner while on detached service. He was paroled, but being in very poor health he was never exchanged. After the close of the war he returned to Ballard County and purchased the old homestead, upon which he still resides. He was married February 28, 1854, to Miss Matilda A. Sullenger, a native of Ballard County, Ky., and a daughter of Robert Sullenger, an early pioneer. To this union were born four children, of whom two sons and one daughter are yet living. Mrs. Matilda A. Porter departed this life May 21, 1865. She was a member of the Baptist Church. March 20, 1866, Mr. Porter married Miss Frances L. Birkhead, a native of Ballard County, Ky.; one son and two daughters have blessed this union. Mr. Porter and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church; he is also an earnest advocate of the temperance cause. In politics he is a Democrat.