WILLIAM M. PORTER
William M. Porter was born in Shelby county, Indiana, on the 28th of June, 1844. His father, Merritt Porter, was a farmer, and died when William was but two weeks old. At an early age his mother died, and William went to live with an uncle, William Duckworth, where he remained until the breaking out of the war, when he enlisted in company F, Seventieth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served in the engagements at Resaca, Pine Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, and was with Sherman through Georgia and the Carolinas, besides many skirmishes. In June, 1865, he received an honorable discharge and returned home, where he was engaged in farming. In 1868, he went to Jasper county, Iowa, and was there engaged in farming until 1882, when he came to Cass county and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 9, Massena township, where he owns one of the finest farms in the county. He was married in 1868 to Martha Cameron, who died in March, 1879, leaving a family of five children to mourn her departure--Merritt, Effie, Elmer, Arthur and Nettie. Mr. Porter was married again, in 1880, to Sarah Roots, a native of Kentucky. They have two children--Letta May and Ezra.
Contributed by Lisa Varnes-Rex from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pg. 781-782.
