Porter, Joshua (1730–1825)
Joshua Porter, the younger son of Nathaniel Porter and Eunice Horton, was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, June 26, 1730. At the age of fourteen, as his father had died and his mother had married again, he chose his great uncle, Peter Buell of Coventry, Connecticut, as his guardian and spent the next five years on a farm in that town. Then he was prepared for Yale College, in a year, by his brother and graduated in 1754. After graduation he taught for a year in Newbern, North Carolina, then returned to Connecticut to study medicine with Dr. Josiah Rose of Coventry. He began the practice of medicine in Lebanon, but in November, 1757, moved to Salisbury, where there was a greater opening, and there spent the remainder of his life. He was one of the incorporators of the Connecticut Medical Society and became very eminent in his profession. He was also prominent in civil affairs, serving as a selectman of Salisbury for about twenty years and as a representative from that town to the general assembly for over fifty sessions between 1764 and 1801. In 1766 he was appointed justice of the peace and from 1778 to 1791 as justice of the Quorum, sat on the bench of the County Court of which he was chief judge for the succeeding seventeen years. He was likewise judge of probate for the Sharon district from 1774–1812. In 1774 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 17th regiment of militia and commanded one of the State regiments in the campaign against General Burgoyne in 1777. In that year he also served in the repulse of the British after their Danbury raid. Resigning his commission in 1780, he served under a commission from state authorities as the manager of the iron works in Salisbury and thus superintended the manufacture of the first home-made cannon balls that were used during the war. In 1778 he was appointed a member of the Council of Safety.
Retaining full possession of his faculties, he died in Salisbury on April 2, 1825, aged 94 years and three-quarters.
He was three times married, his first wife being Abigail, daughter of his former guardian, Deacon Peter Buell and Martha Huntington Grant Buell. She died on October 7, 1797, leaving three sons and three daughters, all of whom lived to maturity. He next married on December 31, 1799, Jerusha, youngest daughter of Col. Andrew and Sarah Sturges Burr, and widow of Hezekiah Fitch of Salisbury. She died in February, 1808, and in the following August he married Jane, daughter of Col. John Ashley of Sheffield, Massachusetts. She had been previously twice married.