David R. Porter

David Rittenhouse Porter (October 31, 1788 – August 6, 1867) was the ninth governor of Pennsylvania. Voted into office during the controversial 1838 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, which was characterized by intense anti-Masonic and anti-abolitionist rhetoric during and after the contest that sparked the post-election Buckshot War, he served as the state's chief executive officer from 1839 to 1845. His son, Horace Porter, who was the aide-de-camp of Union General Ulysses S. Grant during the American Civil War, served as the United States Ambassador to France from 1897 to 1905. Early life and education Porter, the first governor under the State Constitution of 1838, was born October 31, 1788, near Norristown, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, spending his boyhood at Selma Mansion, a home built by his father in 1794. The son of Elizabeth (née Parker) and Andrew Porter, the Revolutionary War officer, he was also the brother of George Bryan Porter who became the Territorial Governor of Michigan from 1831 to 1834 and James Madison Porter who became the Secretary of War from 1843 to 1844. Porter received a classical education at Norristown Academy. In 1813, he moved to Huntingdon where he studied law with Edward Shippen and eventually purchased an iron works.