Whitney Scovil Porter

Whitney Scovil Porter graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1911. There he was an active member of the Pi Iota Chapter of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. Here is some of what the editors of the Institute's 1911 Yearbook wrote about Whitney: "The greatest mystery of "Whit's" life has been how one with his numerous attractions so appealing to the "ladies" could appear so indifferent to their advances, but, alas! the mystery is solved. Here again "Whit" "slipped one over on us," and we find after exhaustive investigation that he worked over-time during vacations, and that in the near future there will be a Mrs. W. S. Porter." Whitney and his wife (known as "Aunt Mabel" to his niece, Winifred Porter Rounds) resided until 1947 in Higganum, Connecticut. Whitney was involved with Winifred's father in the management of the D & H Scovil Co.

August 11, 1912--Wallace Porter writes to his son, Philip Wells Porter, Sr., who is temporarily residing in Dillon, Colorado: "Whit [Whitney Scovil Porter] went with Maynard to a brook in the hills which was most (sic) dried up and got about 150 small trout (about-3") and put them in Bell Shop Pond [located in Higganum, Connecticut]. Now the carp has got to come out...[of the Bell Shop Pond]." Wallace is referring to an earlier passage in his letter: "We have not got the carp out of the pond yet. I made a spear and hope some one will jab him this summer. I have seen him but once and could have got him if the spear handle had been long enough. He came near the bank when I was waiting for him."

April 19, 1913 (Saturday) Ralph W. Porter (brother of Whitney Scovil Porter) pencils the following entry in his 1913 diary: "Whit went to Worcester on the One train to the Annual Pig Dinner."

July 1918--It is Whitney Scovil Porter who receives the official telegram disclosing that his brother (Hezekiah Scovil Porter) has been killed in action in France. [Custody of Hezekiah's blood-stained wallet, once with Whitney, is now with Whitney's grandson, William Porter Wightman (as of 2019)].

Nov. 7, 1930--D. & H. Scovil, Inc. grants for nominal consideration a certain parcel of real estate to the Haddam Volunteer Fire Company, Higganum, Connecticut. "The grantees agree that the property herein conveyed shall be used for no other purpose that that of a site for the housing of the Haddam Volunteer Fire Company..The parties hereto agree that the grantees shall have the right to transfer and relinquish this property to said Town of Haddam, only, subject however to the terms and conditions as herein contained." In December Whitney Scovil Porter, on behalf of D & H Scovil, Inc., makes a symbolic presentation of the warranty deed during a formal dedication ceremony at the firehouse. Elmer S. Hubbard, a trustee of the Haddam Volunteer Fire Company, accepts the "deed to the fire house site." The deed is recorded May 9, 1931 [The building, which today (2019) houses the Haddam Veteran's Museum, was originally built in 1930. It was the town's first firehouse. It is located on Candlewood Hill Road, on the south side of Higganum Green. The prior year the Haddam Town Hall had burned down.]

1943--Whitney Scovil Porter is a member of the Middletown [Connecticut] Post-War Planning Council.

1947--Whitney Scovil Porter sells his residence, the Hezekiah Scovil, Jr. House, 72 Maple Avenue East, Higganum, Connecticut. He and his wife (Mabel) purchase and take up residence in "The Flounder," a single-family house at 22 Cove Street, Old Saybrook, Connecticut. [There they resided until their deaths in 1958. The house is stone's throw from the Cypress Cemetery in which their remains are interred.]

May 28, 1948--Whitney Scovil Porter is serving as the Treasurer of D & H Scovil, Inc.

Dec. 29, 1948--Whitney Scovil Porter is a director of the D & H Scovil, Inc. Outstanding is an offer of Frederick W. Waterman, Jr., of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, to purchase all of the stock of the company. The offer will remain open until 5 P.M., Jan. 12, 1949. Whitney Scovil Porter "is satisfied with employment arrangements worked out between him and Mr. Waterman." [The other directors are Helen S. Porter, C. Wellington Walker, and H. Wick Chambers, Jr.].

March 11, 1958--Whitney Scovil Porter dies in the Middlesex Hospital, Middletown, Connecticut, of a burst abdominal aeortal aneurysm, a day after his wife (Mabel) died of a stroke. They are interred in the Cypress Cemetery, Old Saybrook, Connecticut. Theirs was a double funeral (March 12, 1958). He had been employed for forty years by the D & H Scovil Company, Higganum, Connecticut.