ELMER C. PORCH.
Elmer C. Porch, a farmer of Audubon township, Audubon county, Iowa, who is the owner of two hundred acres of land in Audubon and Exira townships, was born on September 22, 1863, in Knox county, the son of Joshua and Maria (Smith) Porch, natives of Holmes and Wayne counties, Ohio, respectively. The former was a son of David and Catherine Porch, who were natives of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and the latter was the daughter of Isaac and Delilah (Smith) Smith, natives of Wayne county, Ohio. The Porch family is of Pennsylvania-Dutch descent, though Joshua Porch became a farmer in Ohio; he came to Iowa in 1874, located in Cass county. After living at Atlantic for several months, in 1875 he purchased a farm in Grant township, Cass county, where he lived until 1912, when he retired from active farm life and removed to Anita.
Elmer C. Porch was the only child born to his parents. After receiving a good common school education, he lived at home until his marriage, when he purchased eighty acres of land in section 31, Audubon township, where he is now living. He has since purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land in addition to the original tract, forty acres of which is located in section 36 of Exira township and eighty acres in Audubon township. When Mr. Porch first purchased this farm there were no improvements whatever. After building a fourteen-by-twenty-foot shack, he lived in this building for three years, and then added two more rooms, which served until 1910, when he remodeled it, and now has a large seven-room house, with waterworks and other modern conveniences. In 1902 Mr. Porch built a large barn, forty-eight by fifty-four feet in size, and in the meantime has added other outbuildings, such as cribs, granaries, etc. Mr. Porch makes a specialty of thoroughbred Duroc-Jersey hogs.
On June 30, 1886, in Cass county, Iowa. Mr. Porch was married to Mary Parker, who was born in LaSalle county, Illinois, and who is a daughter of John A. and Esther (Garver) Parker, who came west to Cass county in 1880. Mrs. Mary (Parker) Porch died in 1893, leaving two children, Esta, born May 22, 1887, and Clarence Glenn, born July 24, 1894. The former married James Rickle, and they have one daughter, Marie Violet. A third child of Mr. and Mrs. Porch died in infancy.
On February 26, 1902, in Cass county, Mr. Porch was married to Anna Griffith, who was born January 28, 1872, in Marion county, Iowa, and who is a daughter of Levi and Minerva C. (Adams) Griffith, the former of whom was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and the latter of whom is a native of Herkimer county, New York. When seven years of age, Levi H. Griffith removed from Pennsylvania to Ohio with his parents, and eventually came from that state to Marion county, Iowa. The Adams family removed from New York state to Kansas in an early day, and from that state to Marion county, Iowa, where Mrs. Porch's father and mother were married. In 1869 they came to Cass county, Iowa, where they rented land for a time, after which they purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land, where they lived the remainder of their lives, Mr. Griffith's death occurring in 1911, while his wife passed away in 1895. Mr. and Mrs. Griffith were the parents of nine children, eight of whom are still living, Mrs. Louisa J. Regan, Mrs. Delia C. Winder, Mrs. Sarah Norton, Mrs. Anna M. Porch, Ella, Grant J., Roscoe C. and Isaac. Edwin died in 1901.
By his second marriage, Mr. Porch has had three children, two of whom are living, Mildred L., born October 24, 1904, and Roscoe E., born April 28, 1910, while Carlton B., the eldest child of this second marriage, who was born on December 20, 1902, died on April 27, 1906.
Mr. and Mrs. Porch are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, although Mrs. Porch is a supporter of the Christian Science faith. She is also an enthusiastic member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and of the Woman's Home Missionary Society, in both of which organizations she takes an active interest. Mr. Porch formerly belonged to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, but has not been active in this organization during late years. Politically, he is an adherent of the Democratic party, but has not held any public offices. Mr. and Mrs. Porch are popular members of society in the community where they live, and Mr. Porch is an honored citizen of Audubon township. His success as a farmer is a result of his unceasing industry and his careful and wise management.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 708-709.
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