Sgt. John Porter

d. 1717

Died 1717

Father: Richard Porter

Children include Nicholas

John Porter was a son of Richard Porter, one of the first settlers of Weymouth, Massachusetts. He lived at Weymouth all his life and carried the militia rank of sergeant. On 9 February 1660 he married Deliverance, a daughter of Ensign Nicholas Byram.

He was one of the most enterprising men of his town. He took many grants of land at Weymouth. He also bought land in the old town of Bridgewater in 1686, 1687, 1693, 1694, 1696 and 1699. On 13 February 1686 the purchasers of Bridgewater lands met and "did agree to give to Rev. Mr. Keith, so many as were willing, out of their thirty acre wood lots as followeth, two acres each." John Porter signed that agreement. About the same time he joined others in giving land for a common in Bridgewater "for good of all."

In 1693 he built the first saw mill in what is now South Abington, at a place called "Little Comfort." In 1696 he sold half of the mill to Joseph Josselyn. In 1680 he and John Holbrook of Weymouth took a mortgage from Robert Cox on a brewery in Boston, which stood near the site of the later post office. In 1705 he and his wife sold Grape Island, in Weymouth.

He held all the town offices at one time or another, and served several times on the committee to run the town lines. No record shows that the General Court ever made him a freeman. In his day that was said to be required of any man who held public office.

His children were Mary, who married William Pittee; Susanna, who married Matthew Pratt; John; Samuel, who married Mary Nash; Nicholas, born 11 April 1672; Ruth, born 18 September 1676, who married Nathaniel Willis; Thomas; Ebenezer; and Sarah, who married John Dingley.

He made his will on 8 February 1715/16, calling himself "John Porter, of Weymouth, in the County of Suffolk, in New England, Yeoman, being aged but of perfect memory and Disposing mind." He died at Weymouth on 7 August 1717. Deliverance survived him by three years.

Parents

Richard Porter

Children

Nicholas Porter 1672-1773

Sources

Joseph W. Porter, A Genealogy of the Descendants of Richard Porter, who Settled at Weymouth, Mass., 1635 (Bangor, 1878), archive.org genealogyofdesce1878port, p. 19, https://archive.org/details/genealogyofdesce1878port/page/n22

Joseph W. Porter, A Genealogy of the Descendants of Richard Porter, who Settled at Weymouth, Mass., 1635 (Bangor, 1878), archive.org genealogyofdesce1878port, p. 11, printing the will from the Suffolk Probate Records, https://archive.org/details/genealogyofdesce1878port/page/n14

Joseph W. Porter, A Genealogy of the Descendants of Richard Porter, who Settled at Weymouth, Mass., 1635 (Bangor, 1878), archive.org genealogyofdesce1878port, p. 10, https://archive.org/details/genealogyofdesce1878port/page/n13

Joseph W. Porter, A Genealogy of the Descendants of Richard Porter, who Settled at Weymouth, Mass., 1635 (Bangor, 1878), archive.org genealogyofdesce1878port, pp. 10-13 (leaves 13-15); Vital Records of Weymouth, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (1910), vol. I, archive.org vitalrecordsofwe01weym; Vital Records of Weymouth, vol. II (1910), archive.org vitalrecordsofwe02weym

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Cite: Heirology, "Sgt. John Porter (d. 1717)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/sgt-john-porter-1717-e78d0a.