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Augustus Seymour Porter (January 18, 1798 – September 18, 1872) was a U.S. statesman from the state of Michigan.
Augustus S. Porter | |
|---|---|
 | |
| United States Senator from Michigan | |
| In office January 20, 1840 – March 3, 1845 | |
| Preceded by | Lucius Lyon |
| Succeeded by | Lewis Cass |
| 14th Mayor of Detroit | |
| In office 1838 – March 14, 1839 | |
| Preceded by | Henry Howard |
| Succeeded by | Asher B. Bates |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 18, 1798 Canandaigua, New York |
| Died | September 18, 1872 (aged 74) Niagara Falls, New York |
| Political party | Whig |
| Spouses | Sarah A. Mansfield
(m. 1822; died 1824)Sarah G. Barnard (m. 1832) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | Augustus Porter Lavinia Steele |
| Relatives | Peter Porter, Jr. (half-brother) Peter Buell Porter (uncle) Peter A. Porter (cousin) |
| Education | Canandaigua Academy |
| Alma mater | Union College |
| Profession | Lawyer |
He was born in Canandaigua, New York, the son of Augustus Porter (1769–1849) and his first wife, Lavinia Steele.[1] His brothers were Albert Howell Porter (1801-1888) and Peter Buell Porter, Jr. (1806–1871), and his uncle was Peter Buell Porter (1773–1844), the United States Secretary of War under John Quincy Adams.
He attended Canandaigua Academy,[2] and graduated from Union College, in Schenectady, New York, in 1818, studied law and was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Detroit, Michigan.[3]
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Porter became the recorder of Detroit in 1830 and was the treasurer of the Michigan Pioneer Society in 1837.[2] He was elected mayor of Detroit in 1838,[2] resigning in 1839 to run for the United States Senate, and was succeeded as mayor by Asher B. Bates on March 14, 1839.[2]
He was elected as a Whig to the United States Senate, and served from January 20, 1840, until March 3, 1845.[4] He did not run for reelection in 1844.[2] He was chairman of the Committee on Roads and Canals, 1841–1845, and was on the Committee on Enrolled Bills, 1841–1843.[2]
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On July 25, 1822, he married Sarah A. Mansfield (d. 1824). Mansfield died a few months after the birth of Porter's only son:[5]
- Samuel M. Porter (b. 1824), who died in youth.[5]
On September 24, 1832, he married his second wife, Sarah G. Barnard (1807–1885),[6] his cousin and the daughter of Robert Foster Barnard (1784–1850) and Augusta Porter (1786–1833). Sarah was the sister of Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard (1809–1889), a Columbia University President, and Gen. John G. Barnard (1815–1882).[7] She was also a niece of Senator Henry Clay (1777–1852).[8] Together, they had:[5]
- Jane A. Porter (b. 1833)[5]
- Sarah Frederica Porter (b. 1836), who married Stephen E. Burrall (1826–1868),[9][5] in 1863,[10][11] and who lived in London in 1885.[7]
In 1848, he moved to his father's residence, in Niagara Falls, New York, and died there on September 18, 1872.[3] He is interred in Oakwood Cemetery in Niagara Falls, New York.[12] Sarah died at Newport, Isle of Wight on April 30, 1885.[5][7]
Descendants
Through his youngest daughter, he was the grandfather of Guy Augustus Porter–Burrall (1865–1890),[13] a Cambridge University lawyer and Lieutenant in the British Army,[14] and Stephen E. Porter–Burrall (1868–1896), an 1883 Eton College graduate.[15] The family assumed the name of Porter–Burrall, by letters patent from Queen Victoria, on August 16, 1886.[9]
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