Wallace Porter

Aug. 26, 1861--Wallace Porter receives (via Joseph Porter, his guardian) from the estate of Fanny Porter (Wallace's deceased mother) property valued at $844.02 [Real estate valued at $750: "One undivided fourth part of a piece of land situated on the corner of Broad and College Street [Middletown, Connecticut], with one undivided fourth of the dwelling house etc., thereon, saving and reserving the Barn which is not included" & Cash: In the amount of $94.02].

Jan. 3, 1871—“The Consistory of the South Reform Church, New Haven, CT in accepting the resignation of Mr. Wallace Porter, organist, would bear testimony to the ability and perfect satisfaction with which he has performed his official duties, and the uniform courtesy and gentlemanly bearing which have marked his intercourse with us. They cordially commend him wherever he may call his lot.”

Dec. 22, 1871--Wallace Porter received a gift of $100 from his uncle, Hezekiah Scovil, Jr., as per a handwritten letter from Hezekiah to Wallace. Wallace would turn 21 years of age that Christmas. The original letter is in the possession of Charles E. Rounds, Jr., 107 Mt. Vernon Street, Boston, MA (2013). The letter is written on D. & H. Scovil stationery. (manufacturers of "Scovil's Improved Planter's Hoe").

1874-1875--Wallace Porter is residing at 18 Olive Street, New Haven, Connecticut. He is a principal of Fellows & Porters, Machinists, 31 and 33 Artizan Street, New Haven, Connecticut. [Shafting, Pulleys and Mill Work; also Punch and Die, Metal Pattern, Tool and Model Making; also Manufacturers of Machine Turned Handles].

April 29, 1880--Wallace Porter is presented with an engraved gold-headed cane from the "Sacred Heart Choir." The cane is in the possession of Charles E. Rounds, Jr., 107 Mount Vernon Street, Boston, Massachusetts.(2016)

[Wallace Porter was a Democrat. He learned the trade of machinist in New Haven, Connecticut in the shop of George Griswold & Co. He finished his professional career as President of D & H Scovil Co., Higganum, Connecticut. Wallace Porter was a member of Trumbull Lodge, No. 22, Free and Accepted Masons of New Haven. He served as Organist for the Higganum Congregational Church.]

July 8, 1881--Daniel Scovil, an uncle of Wallace Porter and a co-founder of the D & H Scovil Co., dies without surviving issue .

Oct. 3, 1881--Hezekiah Scovil, Jr. pens a note to his nephew Edward on D & H Scovil stationery: "We are all well and expecting Wallace [Porter] here [Higganum, Connecticut] with his bride."

1886--Wallace Porter and his family relocate to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

1894--Wallace Porter and his family move back to Higganum, Connecticut. The D & H Scovil Co. hires him as a machinist.

July 23, 1895--Wallace Porter participates as the organist in the celebration of the Fiftieth Anniversary (1845-1895) of the Dedication of the Congregational Church, Higganum, Connecticut. [In the afternoon Mrs Wallace Porter sang solo "I heard the voice of Jesus say.]

Jan. 15, 1896--Esther Jane Adams Scovil, second wife of the late Daniel Scovil, dies.

Dec. 24, 1900—Grace Cordelia Porter Stocking pens a birthday poem to her uncle, Wallace Porter:

There is a dear boy,/ so they say,/ Who is fifty years young/ Xmas day./ Here’s to fifty years more,/ If they’re good as before./ And we’ll drink to his/ health in cold “tay.”

       Here is Wallace’s response [date unknown]:

Many thanks—dear girl—for the wishes/ Expressed in that swell little letter./ We will drink –as you say—/ To his health in cold “Tay”/ If we cannot find any thing better.

June 25, 1902--Wallace Porter is participating as the accompanist in a Musicale. His wife is the soprano. The piano is from the Warerooms of Lyman Payne, Middletown, Connecticut.

Jan. 14, 1903--Hezekiah Scovil, Jr., an uncle of Wallace Porter and a co-founder of the D. & H. Scovil Company, dies without surviving issue.

1903/1904--Wallace Porter, organist for the Higganum Congregational Church, donates a new piano to the church. In December of 1903, Wallace receives as a residuary legatee of the estate of Hezekiah Scovil, Jr. stocks and bonds valued in the aggregate at $113,253.00, as well as a cash distribution of $2,000.

August 19, 1905, from an article in an unknown newspaper: " Higganum -- The strike at the works of D. & H. Scovil Company, manufacturers of hoes, in Higganum, bids fair to be settled so that the striking employees of the company will return to work on Monday morning next. There were 24 men affected by the misunderstanding. It is said that concessions have been made on both sides and that a better understanding is now arranged between employer and employed. The men are no longer to be fined for work that is spoiled in the processes of manufacture, and some concessions are to be made in the matter of helpers. Mr. Porter, who conducts the business now, is said to be a just man and those who know him say that if the men had gone to him with a request instead of an ultimatum there would have been no strike at the start. The people of Higganum find satisfaction in the knowledge that the trouble will soon be over and that all the men will be back at work in their accustomed places Monday morning."

1906--Wallace Porter plants (stocks) the Bell Shop Pond (Higganum, Connecticut) with 300 advanced fry small mouth black bass. As per Report of Fish and Game Commissioners (Connecticut).

July 1907--D & H Scovil Co.is incorporated.

Sept. 5, 1910--Wallace Porter mails his burial instructions to his son, Philip Wells Porter, Sr., who is temporarily residing in Golden, Colorado. The envelope is postmarked "Higganum, 1910, Sep 5, 9 A.M., Conn." Wallace requests that "[t]he funeral service...[be]...the straight Episcopal service with no remarks and no music." .

Nov. 7, 1912--Wallace Porter writes to his son, Philip Wells Porter, Sr., who is residing in Houghton, Michigan: "...After voting Thursday I came home and tried to make up my mind whether or no to go for game once more. While thinking it over I sat down at the card table and played Campbell (?). I won out the first hand so I got the gun and started. I went over Neff's Hill and got a partridge in less than a half hour. I did not get him on the wing. I saw him through the bushes, and as I never had shot one in my life I would take no chances, and banged away before he could jump. I did not see any thing more, but I was quite puffed up to think I had finally killed one, even though it was not a wing shot. In all my hunting I have shot one partridge, one quail and one woodcock. The quail and woodcock were wing shots, but easy ones..."

Dec. 8, 1912--The electrification of Higganum, Connecticut is underway. In a letter of that date, Wallace Porter writes to his son (Philip Wells Porter, Sr.), who is attending the Michigan College of Mines: "We have the wiring all in at the shop ready for the electric plant--which we expect soon." The D & H Scovil Co. is "the shop" referred to in Wallace's letter. Charles E. Rounds, Jr. recalls Philip in the early 1960s referring to the D & H Scovil Co. as "the shop" in informal conversations.(2016)

Dec. 19, 1912 (Thursday): "Father's [Wallace's] funeral was held this afternoon at 2:30 o'clock ..[in the Higganum Congregational Church...]. The flowers were beautiful. Lots of roses his favorite flower. The folks came on the 1.27 and went back on the five train...It is cold and windy tonight." Diary entry of Ralph Wallace Porter, one of Wallace's sons.

The inventory value of the estate of Wallace Porter was $129,000.59. The Homestead, Barn, Carriage-House, & Lot were valued at $7000 in the aggregate. The Grand-Father Clock $75, Automobile $300, Horse $50, Four Carriages & Sleigh $75. It appears Wallace died intestate (without a will) such that the estate was divided equally among his seven children. Joseph Scovil Porter (a nephew of Wallace?) was the court-appointed administrator of the probate estate.