Alva Rich Porter

The ancestor I am talking about this week is my husband’s uncle, Alva Rich Porter, who was married to my mother-in-laws only sister, Anna Isabel Mortenson.  Alva Rich Porter was born February 19, 1907 in Central, Graham County, Arizona the son of Alva Sylvenus Porter and Eliza Bratton Porter.  He was the next to the youngest and only surviving son of his parents, having had two brothers that died the same day they were born and also seven older sisters.   As far as I know he never went by his first name, but always used his middle name of Rich instead.

Uncle Rich’s siblings were: Joseph Lyman Porter 1887-1887, Mary Hazel Porter 1889-1921, Birdie Electa ‘Verda’ Porter 1891-1976, Cora Eliza Porter 1894-1968, Millie Viola Porter 1896-1899, Nancy Mildred Porter 1899-1979, Afton Luella Porter 1901-1978, Athena Pearl Porter 1904-1968 and John Parley Porter 1911-1911.

The following is a family picture of Uncle Rich, his parents, and four of his sisters taken in about 1915 in Webb, Cochise County, Arizona from left to right: Mildred, Cora, Alva, Eliza, Rich, Afton and Athena.

We loved going and visiting with Uncle Rich and he always had fantastic stories to tell, most of them my husband had heard over and over since he was just a little kid.   Uncle Rich wasn't much of a talker if there were a lot of people around, but just one or two and he would get started and could go on for hours.  We always loved listening to his stories.

One of Uncle Rich’s stories is one I will never forget and one Uncle Rich never forgot either.  That was the day that he meet a world famous aviator, none other than Amelia Earhart on September 12, 1928 in McNeal, Cochise County, Arizona.   Amelia Earhart was on a solo flight heading to Los Angeles and going across Southern Arizona when she noticed her plane was running low on fuel.   Just below her was the tiny little farming and ranching community of McNeal.  McNeal is about 20 miles north of Douglas and about 25 miles northeast of Bisbee.  Uncle Rich was working at the little mechanic shop there in McNeal when he saw her plane headed right towards them.  Amelia set her plane down safely, but unfortunately the mesquite tree needles punctured her tires.   Uncle Rich always told how he took the tires off the plane and got them fixed for her.   While Uncle Rich and the other men got Amelia’s plane back in working order, members of the Ladies Aid Society from the area, fed her and visited with her while her plane was being fixed.  I also have the old newspaper, from the Douglas Dispatch, that Aunt Anna saved, that shows Uncle Rich with Amelia Earhart in McNeal, now all I need to do is find it so I can get it scanned and add to this little bio.

The following picture is Amelia Earhart at McNeal on September 12, 1928.  She apparently posed for a picture while she was there and this photo is found at the Bisbee Mining & Historical Museum, in Bisbee, Arizona.

This next is a newspaper report that I found of her landing in McNeal, Arizona dated Thursday, September 13, 1928 from the Oregonian a newspaper in Portland, Oregon.  This article says McNeal had an airport but they really didn't, it was just a dirt field barely big enough for her to land.  If it had been an actually airfield she probably wouldn't have gotten mesquite needles in her tires.

The next picture is of Uncle Rich, which was taken on July 24th, which was Pioneer Day, in Whitewater, Arizona which is a little town about 26 miles north of Douglas.  Not sure what year this was taken, but I am assuming in the 1930’s, though it could be even a little later say early 1940’s.  The back of the picture just said, Rich, Pioneer Day’s on it.

I can see why Aunt Anna, said yes when Uncle Rich ask her to marry him, he was a good looking young man.  Rich’s family lived there in Webb and Anna’s family lived in Whitewater both in Cochise County, Arizona, two tiny little towns about 26 miles north of Douglas and the Mexican border, which are both now called Elfrida.  Both families were from early LDS pioneer stock and they attended church there together.  Rich and Anna were married there in Webb on September 28, 1932.  Unfortunately, Rich and Anna never had any children of their own, but Anna was a surrogate mother to many of the children in the area.  All of her nieces and nephews thought the world of her and always made sure and stopped to visit with Uncle Rich and Aunt Anna, anytime they were home for a visit.  They had huge pecan trees around their house and we would always stop and pick up all we wanted anytime we were there for a visit.

Uncle Rich also served as the second Bishop of the Whitewater LDS Ward from August 2, 1942 until February 16, 1947.  Before the Whitewater Ward was made a ward it had been a small branch of the LDS Church there in the Sulpher Springs Valley of Cochise County, Arizona.  At the time he was Bishop the members meet in the old church house that was there by the cemetery.   The building was so old that it was being propped up by 2x4’s, when Uncle Rich was Bishop.   It was during his time as Bishop that he was ask to go to Salt Lake City and met with Apostle, Joseph F. Merrill to see about getting a new chapel built there in Whitewater.   He was able to get the needed approval and land was soon bought on Highway 666, just down from Gleeson Road in March 1948 from Bessie Shirley and the ground breaking for the new chapel was July 17, 1948.   The new building was finished on June 23, 1952 and the members of the LDS Church in the area still go to that building to this day.  The following pictures show Uncle Rich when he was Bishop, the old building in 1932, the ground breaking for the new chapel in 1948 and the new building in 1968.  The new building was built from native rock quarried from the hills in nearby Gleeson.

Uncle Rich did many things for his community and for those less fortunate.  He would gather up old items of clothes and toys and in his work shop by the side of their house he would fix and repair items that people had thrown out such as toasters, irons, ovens, anything mechanical and then take all of these items across the line to Aqua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico and give to the poor Mexican’s, mainly members of the little LDS Branch there in Aqua Prieta.  He also would buy food and pass it out as well on his trips across the line.  People knew that Uncle Rich did this all the time, so they would just drop stuff off at their house, Aunt Anna would fix up the clothes when needed and Uncle Rich fixed anything else.

Uncle Rich drove a really old pickup truck and the back of it would be filled with all matter of things for the poor.  It is a good thing he passed away before 9-11 or the border agents would have never let him cross into Mexico with his treasures for those less fortunate.  I know he was still driving that old truck up until at least a couple of years before he passed.  I don’t think he ever went over 30 miles per hour those last few years.  We use to joke that we could leave the same time as Uncle Rich, we just lived a mile down the road from him, and go to town in Douglas get our groceries, stop at the bank and be back home before Uncle Rich ever made it into Aqua Prieta.

Another thing that Uncle Rich did, which benefited not only the Mexican’s, but anyone else who needed it was that he made tombstones out of concrete for anyone who was being buried at the Whitewater Cemetery.  He did this for those who could not afford a traditional stone and I doubt he ever charged anything for them, but if he did, I doubt it was even enough to cover the cost of the concrete.  He made the mold and letters and when it was set he would take and place the stones at the cemetery.  You can see his handwork all over that little desert cemetery.  Some people have in recent years, had new stones placed for their ancestors, but may have left Uncle Rich’s concrete stones there by their loved ones graves for the most part.

Apparently Uncle Rich didn't like having his picture taken, because pictures of him are hard to find.  We have lots of Aunt Anna, but very few of Uncle Rich himself.  The following picture of Uncle Rich and Aunt Anna was taken in 1968 in their home in Elfrida, Arizona and I am not sure when the next one was taken, but probably after 1968, since they look a little older in that one.

Aunt Anna loved doing family history as much as I do and after she passed, Uncle Rich gave me just about everything Aunt Anna had ever collected.  I do know that he gave the majority of his Porter family history to a nephew of his, possible Fred Stope, but I don’t remember for sure.  The following is a picture of Aunt Anna working on her family history, if she wasn't doing this she was sewing, canning, etc. she was never idle and neither was my mother-in-law, her sister, Elnora Mortenson Thompson.

Aunt Anna died of cancer on May 20, 1987 at their home in Elfrida, almost seven years later Uncle Rich joined her when he passed away on March 13, 1994 at the hospital in Douglas.  They were both laid to rest side by side in the Whitewater Cemetery in Elfrida, Cochise County, Arizona.  The following pictures are of the gate going into the cemetery and of their stone, which my brother-in-law, Dan had made for them after Uncle Rich died and also you can see the type of stones Uncle Rich made out of concrete just like this one he made for his sister Verda after she passed away.

Meriam Eddy Stillwell

My ancestor this week is from my Mom’s side of the family and is my 8^th great-grandmother, Meriam Eddy.  Meriam Eddy was born January 29, 1708/1709 in Woodbridge, Middlesex County, New Jersey the daughter of Scottish immigrants, John Eddie and Elizabeth Edwards who were married in Woodbridge on March 31, 1706.  After her mother died Meriam’s father married Janet McCullough in about 1731.  Meriam was the second child of her parents and she had ten siblings and four half-siblings and all of them were born in Woodbridge.

Meriam’s siblings were: Allison Eddy 1707, James Eddy 1710, Jeane Eddy 1712, Elizabeth Eddy 1715, Robert Eddy 1717, John Eddy 1719, Gavin Eddy 1721, William Eddy 1723 and Thomas Eddy 1725.  Meriam’s half-siblings were: Samuel Eddy 1732-1809, David Eddy 1734, Agnes Eddy 1736 and Alexander Eddy 1738.

I have yet to find the actual marriage date but sometime around 1731, Meriam Eddy met and married Elias Stillwell and they became the parents of at least nine children.  These children were: Elizabeth Stillwell 1732-1804, Obadiah Stillwell about 1735-before 1780, Jeremiah Stillwell 1739-1821, Joseph Stillwell about 1740, Rebecca Stillwell 1742-1836, Sarah Stillwell 1744-1801, John Stillwell 1746-1823, Rachel Stillwell about 1748 and Mary Stillwell about 1750-after 1813.  My direct line is their daughter Elizabeth Stillwell who married James Thomas Graham.

Meriam and Elias and their family lived in New Jersey up until about 1745 when they had moved to Frederick County, Maryland.  However, by 1765 they had moved up into Pennsylvania.   They lived in an area that is now the present day counties of Bedford and Fulton.  They lived along the Tonoloway Creek and the following little history about the Tonoloway area was taken from the Heady Family Newsletter that I found at the Salt Lake Family History Library many years ago.  "The stream now known as Tonoloway Creek, but called 'Konolawa' by the Indians living along its bank and 'The Conolloways' by the white settlers, follows a meandering course through the southern part of present Fulton County, Pennsylvania crossing the boundary line into Maryland about three miles before it joins the Potomac at a point just below that river's northern most bend.   The Big and Little Tonoloway Settlements lay about five miles north of the Potomac along branches of Tonoloway Creek and immediately west of the large and small basins named, respectively, the Great (Big) Cove and Little Cove.   These settlements had been founded by a few Scotch-Irish immigrants, at least one Welch family (that of Evan Shelby), and a band of Monmouth and Middlesex county, New Jersey families which included those of Moses Graham, William Linn, Joseph Warford, Adam Stiger, John Melott, Benjamin Truax and Elias, Richard and Jeremiah Stillwell, Thomas Heady, Gavin Eddy, Samuel Hedden, the Coombs, Belieus, Applegate's and no doubt others.   Whether the Monmouth and Middlesex county families came as a unit or over a period of several years, is not known but they were all there by 1765 or earlier.”   

For your information the Eddy’s, Stillwell’s, Graham’s, Warford’s and Truax’s are all blood lines of mine through my Mom’s side of the family.

Life in Pennsylvania which was considered the frontier during those days, would have been wild and dangerous to say the least.  I am sure they lived in forts or close to each other to help in protecting the people in the area as well as everyone’s livestock and crops to keep the Indians from stealing the livestock and burning down the crops.  Things would not have been easy for anyone and illness, epidemics and every day injuries would have been common place and deadly in the majority of instances.

Stories that have been passed down through the years, state that Meriam was a great doctress, and examples of her handwriting show she was a woman with an education.  We are talking America before the French & Indian and the Revolutionary Wars.  It was not a common thing for a woman to be educated, that was left to the men back in those days, and here in America during that time would have been something very rare to say the least.  Even in Europe and the British Isles that would have been rare.  Unfortunately I don’t have any examples of her handwriting, so I need to see if I can find some, so I can see for myself.   

Meriam, I am sure knew all of the common folk medicines and possibly even regular medicines that would have been used during those days and she apparently had a knack for doctoring which would have been a very handy occupation to have on the frontier.  I wonder if her talent was more towards being a midwife and delivering babies then it was being a regular doctor, but if she knew anything at all about medicine, she would have been someone you wanted to have in the fort with you.

Meriam lived to a ripe old age and again this was a rare occurrence in America and really anywhere in the world back then.  In the summer of 2002, I was able to go to the Tonoloway Primitive Baptist Church and cemetery just outside Warfordsburg, Fulton County, Pennsylvania where Meriam and her husband Elias were buried and others of their family, and you could still read their tombstones, somewhat, even as old as they are.  Meriam’s stone reads, “In Memory of Meriam Stillwell Wife of Elias Stillwell Esq. Who departed this life Oct the 19th Anno 1803 aged 95 years, My loving mate I did survive And true my age was great, I lived the years of 95 But here behold my fate.”  Elias’ stone reads: “Elias Stillwell departed this life Feb the 4, 1792 Good God on what a strand Hang everlasting things The eternal fates of all the dead Upon life's feeble strings.”  You could tell that the stones were probably placed very close to the time of their deaths, because of the style that was used, and not ones that were added years after their deaths.

I took a lot of pictures when I was there that day, but unfortunately I have not been able to find them.  I thought I had scanned most of my cemetery pictures, but apparently not these ones.   I also took some pictures of the old church building which was built in 1828, but so far no luck in finding any of them yet.  If I run across them I will post to this article later.  I know that www.findagrave.com has some pictures that others have taken and placed on that site, of the church and Elias and Meriam’s graves so check there to see those if you would like.

Well it took a few days but I finally found the pictures I took on July 6, 2002 and here they are.  First the old church house and for your information this building has been standing here since 1828, but the church was started here in the mid 1700's.  Then Meriam's marker, then Elias' marker, then the church house again in the background with me in the picture this time.