The subject of this sketch is a native of Massachusetts. He was born at Duxbury, in 1830, and when sixteen years old started to learn the drug business. He was, however, dissuaded from this purpose by his father, who took him to Wisconsin, and employed him in assisting in his farming and sawmill operations. The father was desirous that his son should acquire a complete college education, but the young man was determined to go to the California gold mines. As his parents strongly objected, he was obliged to formulate his plans in secret. He shipped on the bark Herculaneum for a cruise from Boston to San Francisco. His parents did not divine his purpose until the vessel was nearly ready to sail, and then relented and bade him farewell with a blessing and a hope for his success.
It was his intention to go to the mines and remain until he had accumulated $10,000. He went to the mines, but the $10,000 was there of such slow growth that he determined to try some other means of earning it. He secured the contract of loading a hay bark at Stockton. That completed he went to San Francisco and was for a time engaged as buyer of supplies for the Webb Street House, and subsequently entered the employ of Thomas H. Selby & Co., whose old store and sign are on California Street near Battery, and still a landmark of the early days.
Becoming dissatisfied with his situation, and desirous to make money more rapidly, Mr. Porter engaged in the draying business. He was very successful, and in two years accumulated sufficient capital to establish a mercantile establishment in Santa Cruz County. He continued at this until 1855, and then engaged in farming. In 1856 he was elected sheriff of Santa Cruz County, to the arduous, responsible, and dangerous duties of which position he was by nature peculiarly adapted. All old residents will remember the operations of the criminal element with which Santa Cruz County was at the time infested, many of the worst characters having there taken refuge during the regime of San Francisco’s last and greatest Vigilance Committee-that of 1856. Crimes against life, person, and property were prevalent, and society was at times almost disorganized. Mr. Porter’s fellow-citizens recognized his courage and judgment, which he found necessary in the tasks imposed upon him, and they were not disappointed. For two terms of two years each Sheriff Porter discharged his hazardous and onerous duties, and with determination ran criminals and outlaws to earth, brought many to justice, and inspired the rest with such wholesome terror of the law that they fled to other and more promising places.
J. T. Porter next resigned his office to take the more agreeable one of collector of the port of Monterey, to which he was appointed by President Lincoln. He filled this position until 1865, and, having once more accumulated capital, he embarked in different kinds of business in various portions of the State. Very few men, and certainly no business man, has seen more of our great State than has this gentleman, who for a great part of the time was in the saddle, and many times slept in h is blankets upon the prairie with the earth for his pillow, the sky for his counterpane, and the domain California for his bedroom.
In 1874, Mr. Porter was a prime mover in the organization of the Bank of Watsonville, and in 1888 was one of the founders of the Pajaro Valley Bank, of which institution he is now president and a large stockholder. About the time of his first becoming interested in banking, he removed with his family to his present residence, near Watsonville, just over the line dividing Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties. In 1859 this gentleman married Miss Fannie Cummings, which lady is a native of the Dominion of Canada, and was formerly a schoolteacher, and who has been in the truest sense of the word a wife and helpmate. Two children have born him, a son and daughter, now grown up. His daughter is married, and his son, Warren R. Porter, is secretary of the Lomba Prieta Mill and Lumber Co., in which his father is largely interested.
Mr. Porter has always been extensively interested in real estate, has from time to time added to his landed possessions here and in other portions of California, and is now possessed of numerous parcels of land in town and country. The ground on which his residence stands, consisting of forty acres, is, of course, his own property, together with two hundred and eighty acres closely adjacent, which six hundred acres further up the beautiful Parjaro Valley, and a small ranch in another portion, all “across the river” in Monterey County, stand in his name, beside numerous other pieces in different parts of the State.
John T. Porter has thus lived in Monterey and Santa Cruz County for some thirty-five years, and, as a prominent man of means and influence, is widely known throughout this flourishing section and more distant portions of California. He has acquired a competence by honorable and continuous effort, tireless energy, and the exercise of judgment in the management of his affairs. Physically, as we have said, he is of massive build, standing fully six feet in height, and built in proportion. In manner he is plain, frank, and outspoken, though polite and affable. His strong individuality stands prominently out, and, forming his own ideas on men and affairs, he expresses his opinions openly and forcibly, and in this and other particulars is a typical Californian.
The gentleman is a Republican in politics, and takes an active interest in the political questions of the day. He was a member of the first convention which nominated Leland Stanford for governor of California, and may usually be found at State conventions, exerting his influence for the good of the great party with which he has always affiliated.
Mr. Porter is progressive in his ideas, liberal in his views, and a generous supporter of all enterprises or projects having the advancement of the rich Pajaro Valley as an object. He is universally esteemed as an upright and desirable citizen, as a businessman in business matters, and in private life as a gentleman.
History of Santa Cruz County, California
by E.S. Harrison
Published by Pacific Press Publishing Company
San Francisco, Cal., 1892
Transcribed by Yvonne Valentine 1/18/09, Page 236
Santa Cruz County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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