Joseph Porter was once the oldest man living in Fleming County

(Article as it appeared in the Flemingsburg Times Democrat about 1880)

Joseph Porter, the oldest man in Fleming County, was born at Red Stone Old Fort, on the Susquehanna River, in the state of Pennsylvania, February 10, 1787, and is therefore now in the ninety-third year of his age.

He resides on the waters of Three Mile Creek, a small tributary of the Licking River, about midway between the towns of Tilton and Sherburne

Here he has lived ever since he first came to the county, seventy-three years ago, and here doubtless he will die.

One evening not long since the writer of this sketch, in the company of Elder Hawkins of Tilton, paid the old gentleman a visit.

We found him in fair health for one so far advanced in age.

He is almost blind—can scarcely distinguish between light and darkness—but his mental faculties are remarkably good; his recollection of what transpired in his boyhood, clear and distinct.

After shaking hands with him and giving him our names—although acquainted with us he did not recognize our voices—he inquired if we had come expressly to see him.

On being told that we had, he seemed much pleased and at once entered into a lively and, to me, a very interesting conversation.

He gave a brief history of his life from childhood down to the present, interspersing it with pleasing anecdotes of early times, giving dates as readily, and doubtless as accurately, as many historians of the present day could do who are half a century younger than he.

As he sat there in his big easy chair by the fire, his lengthened locks white as the driven snow, with cheek and brow deeply furrowed by time—there surrounded by his children and his children’s children, apparently contented and happy—he presented a picture not often seen in modern days, but once seen never to be forgotten.

The father of Joseph Porter, for whom the son was named, was a native of Ireland.

He immigrated to America in the year 1758, being then but nineteen years of age.

The final struggle between England and France for dominion in America was drawing to a close

For a hundred years, the ongoing war had been waged, and for the last half of that period, almost incessantly.

But finally justice and the superiority of the English and Colonial soldiery gained the supremacy over the French and their Indian allies.

The Treaty of Paris gave comparative peace to the country.

Only an occasional outbreak of the savages on the frontier disturbed the settlers in their quiet pursuits, and these affected none but those living immediately on the border.

On his arrival in America young Porter, who was by occupation a tiller of the soil, located on a farm in a populous part of the colony of Maryland, far from the scenes of the Indian depredations, and therefore he was never called upon to take part in any of the retaliatory expeditions against the savages.

While living here, he became acquainted with and married Jane Death, daughter of a neighboring Welshman, being herself a native of Wales.

After a few years residence in Maryland, he moved to Pennsylvania, locating at Red Stone Old Fort on the banks of the Susquehanna.

There he remained till the size of his family suggested a removal to some locality where the land was more productive and less expensive.

Having heard much of the fertility of Kentucky’s soil, he decided to make that territory his future home.

In company with another family likewise emigrating to the west, he came down the Ohio River in a flat boat built by himself for the purpose, landing at Limestone (now known as Maysville) in the month of April 1789, a few days before the inauguration of George Washington, the first president of the United States, and three years before Kentucky was admitted to the Union as a state.

Joseph Porter Jr., the subject of this sketch was then two years old.

At that time Maysville was in her infancy, and consisted of a few scattering log houses, occupied by hardy pioneers and known by the name of Limestone.

The first station erected in this part of the state was that of Simon Kenton, in 1784, and the same year the first cabin was built in Maysville.

So the present Joseph Porter is almost as old as the oldest settlement in North-eastern Kentucky.

From Maysville, old man Porter and family were transported by wagon to Paris.

The only station between the two points was at Lower Blue Licks, the intervening territory being almost unbroken wilderness, through which the lurking savage still crept, seeking the white man’s horse or his scalp.

A guard accompanied the wagon, which, in due time and without accident, arrived at their destination.

Paris, like Maysville, contained a scanty population.

In 1789, shortly after Mr. Porter came to Kentucky, it was established by the Virginia Legislature as the county seat of Bourbon, under the name of Hopewell.

Mr. Porter settled on what was called military land, on Hinkston Creek, six miles from Paris.

This land was owned by John McDowell, a grand uncle of Dr. Lucien McDowell of Flemingsburg.

After a residence of thirteen years in Bourbon, he moved to the adjoining county of Fayette, locating near Lexington on the land of Hon. John Breckinridge, grandfather of Gen.John C. Breckinridge.

Here he remained until New Years Day 1806, when he moved to Fleming County, upon the farm now occupied by Joseph Porter Jr. where in 1810 he died.

As stated at the beginning of this sketch, the present Joseph Porter, now the oldest man in Fleming County, was born in 1787.

This was only four years after England had recognized the independence of the American colonies, and two years before the constitution for the government of the United States was adopted.

In numerical order, he was the twelfth child in a family of thirteen children—five sons and eight daughters—of whom he alone survives.

When he emigrated west, Kentucky was a part of Virginia, and was composed of nine counties—Bourbon, Woodford, Fayette, Mercer, Madison, Jefferson, Nelson, Lincoln, and Mason.

Three years later it became an independent state, Lexington was established as the capital, and Col. Isaac Shelby was chosen as the first Governor. The country being new and the population much scattered, of course the schools were few and far between, so that Mr. Porter’s facilities for acquiring an education were not such as are now accessible to almost all of Kentucky’s children. The country schools in those days were of most humble pretensions.

The only branches taught in most of them were reading, spelling, writing and arithmetic.

Spelling and reading were taught from Dillworth’s Spellers; writing was done with goose-quill pens on paper rough and unruled; and the science of arithmetic was frequently taught without the aid of books. Mr. Porter tells us that he was started to school when about seven years of age, but that he very distinctly remembers his first teacher, Mr. James McCann of Bourbon.

He says that McCann was the ugliest white man he ever saw, his face being horribly marked with small-pox. His next teacher was John Cook. This man had some odd rules for the government of his school and the thoughtless urchin who violated one of them was sure to receive the penalty—a severe whipping.

It was his custom to call the boys up every Friday evening to inspect their clothing, which in warm weather consisted of tow-linen pants and shirts of the same material.

If any of these were found to be torn or unnecessarily soiled, the wearer was punished according to the extent of the damage sustained by the clothing.

On one occasion, a luckless chap by accident got his pants quite dirty early in the week.

This did not escape the keen eye of Mr. Cook, but he appeared to take no notice at the time, and the boy forthwith set his wits to work to devise means by which to escape punishment.

Friday evening came and the youngster appeared on inspection inside a totally clean pair of pants.

But the artifice did not succeed; it was too thin; and the young man wilted when the teacher asked him how the seams of his “britches” came to be on the outside. He had turned his pants wrong side out. His best teacher was James Wonter, and Irishman with whom he says he always learned remarkably well.

As a reward for diligence and general good conduct this teacher gave him four dollars in money.

He relates that while living in Bourbon on one occasion he went with his father to drive a cow to Lexington.

In those days there were no lanes, and the roads were merely paths through the woods, so that stock driving then was much more difficult than it is now.

The cow being disinclined to drive quietly, the old gentleman resorted to the usual mode of treating such cases.

He fastened a board in front of her face by tying it to her horns, and thus partially blinded she was driven without much trouble.

On the way to Lexington they met a party of ten friendly Indians.

The savages halted and laughed immoderately, one Indian asking, “That the way white man drive cow?”

These little anecdotes and many others appear fresh in the memory of Mr. Porter, and are related by him as pleasant reminiscences of his youth. He says that while the family were living on the Breckinridge farm in Fayette, he was much in the company of Joseph Cabell Breckinridge, the father of Gen. John C. Breckinridge, who was one year his senior, and of whom he speaks in terms of great praise.

In the year 1889 he married Mary Dillon, of Fleming County, and shortly after began housekeeping on the farm he now occupies. He raised a family of ten children—eight sons and two daughters—all but one of whom are still living, seven in Fleming County and two in the state of Missouri. Three sons, Will, “Doc”, and Frank have never married, but still live with him and take care of their old father, for whom they manifest unbounded kindness and affection.