Handsome, strong-willed
and capable, Pennsylvanian George Porter was appointed to fill the
post of Governor of the Michigan Territory by his friend President
Andrew Jackson in 1831.
Porter was born in Morristown, Pennsylvania in 1791. His father
had been a general during the Revolutionary War. His brother was
Governor of Pennsylvania. He was educated at the Litchfield Law
School (later the law school of Yale University) and he was admitted
to the bar of Pennsylvania. He served in the military during the
War of 1812 rising to the rank of Major General in the Pennsylvania
Militia. After the war he was elected to the Pennsylvania House
of Representatives. In 1816 he married Sarah Hume, and they had
two sons. He served in the government and military of Pennsylvania
until 1831.
During his governorship of the Michigan Territory some milestones
were; two outbreaks of cholera, and the Black Hawk Indian War. Porter
established the first public school district system in Detroit,
the first mail routes in Michigan and treaties with the Indians
at Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Porter died of cholera in 1834, in Detroit, at the home he was building
for his family.
Born: February
9, 1791
Died: July 6, 1834
Buried: Section F, Lot 48
