The City Of Chester.

charge of her duties sold the property, April 28, 1799, to Thomas Laycock. The estate subsequently was purchased by Maj. William Anderson. Evelina Anderson, the daughter of the major, having intermarried with David Porter, in that year the newly-wedded couple made their home at the old mansion, excepting during the times when Porter was located at naval stations in charge of the government yards. Feb. 24, 1816, William Anderson and Elizabeth, his wife, "in consideration of the natural love and affection which they have and bear for their son-in-law, the said David Porter, as well for and in consideration of one dollar," conveyed to David Porter, in fee, the house, improvements, and a trifle over three acres and a half of land.

David Porter was born in Boston, Feb. 1, 1780, and was appointed midshipman April 3, 1793. He was a lieutenant on board the "Constellation" when that frigate captured the French vessel of war, "L'Insurgent," in February, 1799, and was promoted for his bravery on that occasion. In 1800 he was wounded in an engagement with pirates off Santo Domingo, and was promoted to the command of the "Enterprise." While commanding that vessel he captured a Tripolitan corsair. He had charge of the expedition which destroyed several feluccas, ladened with wheat, under the batteries at Tripoli, in which engagement he was again wounded. In 1803 he was captured in the frigate "Philadelphia," when that vessel grounded in the harbor of Tripoli, was taken prisoner, and for eighteen months was held as a slave. In 1806 he commanded the "Enterprise," and fought and severely handled twelve Spanish gunboats near Gibraltar. In 1812 he was commissioned captain, and placed in command of the "Essex," which vessel he rendered famous in our country's annals, although he finally lost the ship in one of the most noted naval combats of history with two British vessels of war off Valparaiso. In 1815 to 1816 he was one of the naval commissioners, and in the latter year made a successful cruise against the pirates that then infested the Gulf of Mexico. In consequence of some infraction of naval law he was suspended for six months; in 1826 he resigned his commission and entered the Mexican navy as its commander-in-chief, an office which he soon resigned. In 1829 he was appointed United States consul at Algiers, and when that country was conquered by the French he was made United States charge d'affairs at Constantinople, and while discharging the duties of that office he negotiated several important treaties with that government. He died at Pera, near Constantinople, March 3, 1843, and his remains were brought to this country and interred in Woodland Cemetery, Philadelphia. Mrs. Evelina Porter survived her husband twenty-eight years, dying Oct. 1, 1871, in her eightieth year.

David Porter left five sons and two daughters. The eldest daughter, Evelina, married Capt. Harris Heap, and the youngest, Imogene, married Mr. Harris.

William David Porter, the eldest son, born in New Orleans in 1810, entered the navy in his eighteenth year. During the early part of the Rebellion his loyalty was unjustly suspected when he was in command of the sloop-of-war "St. Mary," on the Pacific station. He was, however, assigned to duty on the Mississippi River, where he fitted out the gunboat fleet, and was placed in command of the "Essex," which took part in the attack on Forts Henry and Donelson, in which latter engagement a ball from the fort plunged through the boiler of his vessel, and the escaping steam so severely scalded Porter that he ultimately died from its effects, May 1, 1864. Notwithstanding his feeble health, he ran the batteries between Cairo and New Orleans, took part in the attack on Vicksburg, destroyed the rebel ram "Arkansas" near Baton Rouge, and assisted in the attack on Port Hudson. He had by this time become so ill that he was ordered to New York to recruit his shattered health, and died there at the date stated.

David D. Porter, the present admiral, is said to have been born in Philadelphia in 1813, although in his letter to the Hanley Hose Company respecting the date-stone of the Porter house he speaks of Chester as his native place. When a mere lad at school in this city, one Saturday afternoon he and the late George W. Piper provided themselves with several pounds of powder, and made what the boys call a squib. The match seeming to have gone out, David Porter and his companion got down on their knees and blew the flame. The squib exploded, and Porter and Piper were blown over the fence, near the old mansion. The hair on their heads was burned off, as well as their eyebrows, and the skin of their faces and hands was blistered badly. This was the future admiral's "baptism of fire." He entered the navy as midshipman in 1829, and from 1836 to 1840 was attached to the coast survey. He took part in the Mexican war, and in 1861 joined the Gulf Squadron, in command of the "Powhatan." He was in command of the mortar-boats in the attack on the forts below New Orleans, in 1862, and did important duties on the Mississippi and Red Rivers in 1863-64. He was conspicuous in the siege of Vicksburg, for which he was made rear-admiral. In 1864 he was in command of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, and rendered efficient services in the capture of Fort Fisher, in January, 1865. In 1866 he was made vice-admiral, and in 1876 admiral of the United States. He is the present owner of the old Porter property in this city.

Theodoric Porter, the third son, entered the regular army in 1838 as lieutenant in the Seventh United States Infantry, and was killed in a skirmish with the Mexicans, April 18, 1846, during Gen. Taylor's advance previous to the battle of Palo Alto. It is stated by army officers that he stayed out of camp the night before the battle, and his body was found the next morning with several dead Mexicans lying around his corpse.