John Porter Sr

  General Notes:

Research of Jan Botkin Therkildsen on Rootsweb

[Research of R. Jones on www.rootsweb.com]
John & Lydia lived in Salem during the Witch Trials. They were part of the group who opposed the trials and testified on behalf of one Goody Bibber who was accused of witchcraft. The Porters are mentioned in many books about the Salem Witch Trials. Representative to General Court 1712, 1724, 1726. Moderator of town meetings 1723-24, 1727-29( Essex County Archives, Salem -- Witchcraft Vol. 2 Page 56 )

research of T. Merrill on www.rootsweb.com
"A Potter-Richardson Memorial" compiled by Doreen Potter Hanna & Louise Potter Page 285 - sen t to me by Wanda Ryg
"John Porter-3 (Samuel-2, John-1), born in Wenham, Massachusetts, 1658, married about 1680, L ydia Herrick-3, 1661-1737, daughter of Henry-2 and Lydia (Woodbury) Herrick of Beverly. The y lived in Wenham on a farm deeded him, May 10, 1690, in Salem, by his maternal grandfather , William Dodge-1. This land in Wenham belonged to lineal descendants for 200 years. He wa s a maltster; active and influential citizen; moderator; representative to the General Assemb ly. His wife in 1737; he died March 8, 1753; both are buried in the old graveyard, Wenham. Th eir gravestones read: "Here lies buried the body of Mr John Porter who departed this life Mar ch 8, 1753 in the 95th year of his age" and "Here lies buried the body of Mrs Lydia Porter wh o died February 19 1737 in the 76th year of her age."

From: Genealogy of the descendants Richard Porter who settled at Weymouth, Massachusetts, 1635, and allied families:also some account of the descendants of John Porter, who settled at Hingham, Massachusetts, 1635, and Salem, Massachusetts, 1644. By Joseph W. Porter, of Burlington, Maine, 1878.
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John Porter, of Samuel Porter, of John Porter, of Wenham; probably born there in 1658,--his father's farm, which he inherited and upon which he lived and died, being
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in that town; his lands extended from Wenham Lake to Pleasant Pond. In May, 1716, he and wife Lydia, gave a deed to John Ober and als., of Beverly, of three-eighths of third division in east part of Wenham, laid out to said Porter. May 28, 1741, by deed of gift to son Samuel, of three acres; April 23, 1723, deed of gift to son John, of forty acres in his possession, and four acres of meadow called Denman's lot, seven acres meadow called Fiske's lot, and one common right in great swamp. "May 20, 1746 for five shillings, to son Jonathan four acres salt marsh, ten acres wood land, west side Wenham Pond, all other lands bought of John Newman, all my other lands joining what was part of Mr. Fiske's farm; one common right in great swamp; also œ100." July 2, 1739, "deed of gift to sons Benjamin, of Boxford, and Nehemiah, of Ipswich, eighteen acres upland and meadow, on the river running out of Wenham pond, on condition they pay their six sisters, Lydia, Hannah, Elisabeth, Mehitable, Mary and Sarah, œ5 each within twelve months after my decease." Aug. 1, 1738, to son Samuel his house and homestead on west side of road leading to Wenham meeting house; five acres salt marsh, ten acres north part of my land on west side of Wenham pond, on condition he pay his six sisters œ30 each within two years after my decease." April 23, 1723, to son Nehemiah, of Ipswich, gift of forty-six acres of land in his possession. In 1692, during the witchcraft delusion, he and his wife Lydia were witnesses at court, and testified against one Goody Bibber, who accused Sarah Wildes of bewitching her, "and that said Bibber was an unruly, turbulent woman, would have strange fits when crost, was double tongued, very idle in her calling, mischief making, very much given to speaking bad words against her husband, obscene in her language, and could fall into fits when she pleased, etc." He was a man of high respectability; representative to General Court 1712, '24, 26; moderator of town meetings, 1723, '24, '27, '28, '29; maltster and farmer; he married Lydia,3 daughter of Henry2 and Lydia Herrick, of Beverly; born 1661; died Feb. 12, 1737, in the seventy-seventh
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year of her age. He died March 8, 1753, in the ninety-fifth year of his age

GED COM of R. Kerr (sent June 2006)
Moved from Danvers to Wenham about 1680. Was a maltster,
and lived on a farm a part of which he received from his
Grandfather, William Dodge, according to a deed recorded
at Salem, 10 May 1690.
(A Porter Pedigree, Juliet Porter, 1907)

John married Lydia Herrick, daughter of Unknown and Unknown, in 1679. (Lydia Herrick was born in 1661 in Beverly, Essex County, Massachusetts, christened on 26 Sep 1666, died on 12 Feb 1739 in Beverly, Essex County, Massachusetts and was buried in Old Wenham Cem, Wenham, Essex Co, Ma.)