Educator. Born November 5, 1807, in Geneseo, New York, she began teaching school at age 16 and had opened a school for mixed-race Indian children in Michigan in 1831. In 1835, she married Jeremiah Porter a Presbyterian clergyman and was the first school teacher in Chicago, Illinois. During the Civil War, she was an organizer for the Sanitary Commission 1861 to 1865, serving at Vicksburg, Pittsburg Landing and other battle fields of the war. She also was a leader in the Missionary Councils of the Women’s Board of the Interior. And after the war, she established schools for African American children in the south. In 1868, she and her husband moved to Brownsville, Texas and opened the coeducational Rio Grande Seminary. She conducted schools there, at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Fort D.A. Russell, Wyoming and in the west until her death. She died January 1, 1888, in Santa Barbara, California. (bio by: John “J-Cat” Griffith)  Family links:  Spouse:  Jeremiah Porter (1804 – 1893)* *Calculated relationship