This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/25/2024
[PORTER FAMILY]. Manuscript Sale of Land Contract. [Essex County, Massachusetts, 1788]. 1 folio page on 1 folio sheet. On plain white sheet of laid paper with watermark. Two small seals. Signed by the sellers Tyler and Abigail Porter, and witnesses Samuel Kimball and Billay [sic] Porter. Contract is between the Porters and Samuel Barker of Andover. Approximately 12 x 7 ¼”. 1 horizontal and 2 vertical creases, paper is toned, foxed, soiled, a few small tears to creases. Good. It is likely that Samuel Barker served as a sergeant in the company of Captain Nathaniel Lovejoy and “marched at the alarm” in April, 1775 at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Tyler Porter (1757-1842) descended from an old colonial New England family. The family’s first immigrants were Mary and John Porter (ca. 1600-1676), who left Dorset, England for Salem, Massachusetts in the early 17th century. Upon John’s passing in 1676, he was a large landowner, owning property that included portions of the modern cities of Salem, Danvers, Wenham, Beverly, Topsfield, and Boxfield. His descendants include Benjamin Porter, a wealthy businessman, as well as ministers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, an army colonel, a ship’s captain, and various legislators. Tyler and Abigail were the parents of Rufus Porter (1792-1884), painter, inventor, and founder of Scientific American Magazine (this document comes with Rufus Porter Rediscovered by Jean Lipman, 1980).