Biography

10/31/1788 -

PORTER, David Rittenhouse, a Representative from Huntingdon County; born, October 31, 1788 in Norristown, Montgomery County, Pa.; graduated, Norristown Academy; major general, 10^th Division, Pennsylvania Militia (1835-1836); clerk, Pennsylvania Surveyor General’s office (1812); engaged, Sligo Forge (1814-1819); elected, auditor, Huntingdon County (1815); engaged, real estate; horse breeder; unsuccessful campaign, sheriff, Huntingdon County (1818); justice of the peace and conveyancer, Warrior Mark (1818-1820); elected as a Democrat to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 1819-1820, 1820-1821 and 1822-1823 terms; unsuccessful campaign for reelection to the House (1821); appointed, prothonotary, clerk of quarter sessions and clerk of the oyer and terminer, Huntingdon County (1823-1827); appointed, prothonotary, clerk of quarter sessions, register and recorder, clerk of the orphans’ court and clerk of the oyer and terminer, Huntingdon County (1827-1835); elected, Pennsylvania State Senate (1836-1838); elected, Governor of Pennsylvania (1839-1845); engaged, iron business and anthracite furnace, Harrisburg (1845-1859); assistant engineer, Pennsylvania Central Railroad; vice president, Rio Grande Railroad Co. (1859-1861); died, August 6, 1867 in Huntingdon, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania; interred, Harrisburg Cemetery, Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.