John H. Porter, Hagersville, Ontario
Hagersville, being situated in the midst of an unusually fine agricultural district, and at the junction of two well-conducted lines of railway, must naturally be a place of considerable importance as a market and shipping point; but the rapid progress it has made within the past few years must in a large degree be attributed to the push, energy and public spirit of a few of its leading citizens. Ot these John H. Porter has done his full share in improving the village and embellishing it with buildings of a superior class.
He was born in 1837, in the Township of Vaughan, in the West Riding of York, Ontario, where he was educated. His father, a native of North Yorkshire, England, was a contractor on the Welland canal, and took the first contract on that work. After the completion of the Welland canal he took a contract on the Rideau canal, but owing to a dispute which arose between Col. Bye, the Military Engineer, and Mr. Clews, the Civil Engineer in charge of the works, Mr. Porter abandoned his contract and settled in Vaughan. Mr. John II. Porter, at the age of twenty-five, went to British Columbia, and remained on the Pacific coast eleven years, when he returned to Ontario, and in 1872 married Sarah R., daughter of W. Nason, Esq., of Nason, and is the father of two sons.
In 1874 lie removed to Hagersville, having carried on the lumbering business there for two years previously, while living at Weston, north of Toronto. In 1875 he erected a handsome brick residence (of which we give a view), and in 1878 a substantial white brick block, containing two stores, which is one of the handsomest business structures in the village.
In 1876 he was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the County of Haldimand, and has been a useful and active magistrate. He is an active politician, and is President of the Reform Association of the Township of Walpole. He carries on an extensive lumbering business, and is a large dealer in grain. He is possessed of considerable means, which he employs liberally in pushing the progress and prosperity of Hagersville, where he has laid out and sold a number of village lots south of the Indian line.
Source: "The Atlas of Haldimand County 1879" published by H.R. Page and Co.
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