| 4. |
Charles Dorwin Porter - was born on 3 Apr 1850 in Decatur, Adams Co., Indiana and died on 15 Dec 1926 in Ft. Wayne, Allen Co., Indiana .
He was the son of John Pomeroy Porter and Elizabeth Dorwin.
Charles married Geneva Grace Stratton on 21 Apr 1886.
Geneva was born on 17 Aug 1863 in near Wabash, Indiana.
She was the daughter of Mark Stratton.
She died on 6 Dec 1924 in Los Angeles, Ca .
Geneva -
is better known as Gene Stratton-Porter, the well-know author of such famous books as "Freckles", "Girl of the Limberlost", "Song of the Cardinal", "Laddie", and "The Harvester", to mention just a few.
Her parents were avid nature enthusiasts who passed along a love of the unspoiled outdoors to their daughter-a love she kept close to her throughout her life as a respected author, naturalist, photographer and illustrator.
In 1886, Gene married Charles Dorwin Porter, a pharmacist and banker. The couple lived for a short time in Decatur. After the birth of their daughter, Jeannette, they built a home in Geneva, Indiana near the Limberlost Swamp in 1895. The Porters lived in this home until the swamp was drained in 1913. Architects describe the home, which Stratton-Porter designed, as a 14-room Queen Anne, rustic log cabin. The interior is finished in both Victorian and Arts and Crafts style.
At that time, they moved to a new home in a beautiful wooded area on the shores of Sylvan Lake near Rome City. It is also a state historic site called the Gene Stratton-Porter State Historic Site.
During World War I Gene Stratton-Porter moved to California. She wrote editorials for McCall's magazine and founded, in 1922, the Stratton Porter film company to produce movies of her books. She also began building homes in Bel Air and on Catalina Island. Gene Stratton-Porter died on December 6, 1924, in Los Angeles, from injuries following a traffic accident - her limousine was hit by a trolley car.
| Author's remains coming home |
ROME CITY -- When Gene Stratton Porter was killed in a car accident in California in 1924, her husband had her body put in a mausoleum. He hoped to bring her back for burial in Indiana later. But her husband, Charles Porter, died within two years, before he was able to move her body from that temporary entombment.
Nearly 75 years after her death, the Hoosier author and naturalist born as Geneva Stratton, is finally coming home to her beloved Sylvan Lake near Rome City. She is returning to the area known as the Limberlost, which was the setting for many of her books.
Mrs. Porter, hailed in her time as one of Indiana's top authors and a respected nature photographer, died at the age of 61 in collision between an automobile and a streetcar in Hollywood, Calif. Although she had wished to be buried near her home overlooking northeastern Indiana's Sylvan Lake, she was entombed in Hollywood Cemetery, where her daughter, Jeannette Porter Meehan, was buried after her 1977 death. Mrs. Porter's grandchildren eventually decided to move both bodies to Indiana, but had to overcome numerous legal roadblocks.
The final step in that quest came recently when an Indiana Department of Natural Resources commission approved the entombment of the bodies at the Gene Stratton Porter State Historic Site in Rome City. Surrounded by gardens and woods, the site includes the lakeside residence where Mrs. Porter once lived. The mother and daughter will be buried in a private family service before the end of April.
South Bend Tribune -- March 27, 1999 -- By LINDA MULLEN - Tribune Staff Writer |
Charles -
| Biographical and Historical Record |
Charles Dorwin Porter, druggist, Geneva, was born in Decatur, this county, April 3, 1850, the eldest son of Dr. John Pomeroy Porter. He remained at home and attended the common school until sixteen years of age, then engaged in the drug trade at Fort Wayne, remaining in the business a few months, and removed to Decatur, where he remained until 1872. He then came to Geneva and established the first drug store in the place. He started with limited means, but by good management and economy he is able to carry a stock of $6,000. Mr. Porter is a staunch Republican, and has been a member of the county central committee six years; has also served as treasurer of Geneva three years; is a member of the Masonic order, and of the Sons of Veterans, being a member of McPherson Camp, No. 11, Geneva, the G. A. R. post being named for his father, who was killed in the war. Mr. Porter was married April 21, 1886, to Geneva Stratton, a daughter of Mark and Mary Stratton, of Wabash, Indiana. She was born on a farm near North Manchester, in August, 1863; is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
(Adams and Wells Co. Indiana Lewis Publishing Co. Chicago, IL 1887) |
Lived in the household ot Lawrence W. Watson in the 1880 Census of Wabash, Adams Co., Indiana. Listed as a druggist. Father and mother born in Ohio.
|
Gene Stratton-Porter
1863-1924
|
|
