Rufus Porter (painter)
The family's first immigrants to the U.S. were Mary and John Porter (c. 1600–1676) who emigrated from Dorset, England, to Salem, Massachusetts in the early 17th century.
When John died in 1676 he was the largest landowner around, owning property that included the modern cities of Salem, Danvers, Wenham, Beverly, Topsfield and Boxford, Massachusetts.
His descendants include ministers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, an army colonel, a ship's captain, a professor of mathematics and several legislative members.
[citation needed] From simple silhouettes to scenes of entire towns or harbors, Porter spread his art throughout New England.
His obituary described his "long career of usefulness as an inventor of turbine water wheels, windmills, flying ships, rotary engines, and sundry contrivances for abolishing as far as possible agricultural labor.
The first issue of this magazine was published on January 2, 1841, and was subtitled "the advocate of industry and enterprise, and journal of mechanical, and other scientific improvements".
In this journal he published his plans for the rotary plow, hot air ventilation system, and advertised his general patent agency run in connection with the paper.
[3][4] In 1845 he started a new weekly, Scientific American, but 10 months later sold it to Orson Desaix Munn and Alfred Ely Beach.
In 1849 Porter planned to build an 800-foot steam-powered airship with accommodations for 50 to 100 passengers, aiming to convey miners to the California Gold Rush.
Later that year, he began a 700-foot version with new backers, but during a showing of the almost-complete dirigible on Thanksgiving Day, rowdy visitors tore the hydrogen bag and destroyed it.
It is also noteworthy that Rufus was a firm believing Christian, as he clearly proclaims manyfold in the article he published in the first issue, such as in below excerpt from his article: First, then, let us, as rational creatures, be ever ready to acknowledge God as our Creator and daily Preserver; and that we are each of us individually dependant on his special care and good will towards us, in supporting the wonderful action of nature which constitutes our existence; and in preserving us from the casualties, to which our complicated and delicate structure is liable.
[1] The magazine pronounced "he has gone to the grave leaving a name 'writ in water,' we still think that in the world of invention his name will be fully blazoned as a material benefactor to his fellow men... We may add in conclusion that although he has not in any sense attained the fame and eminence of Morse, a Howe, or Edison, Rufus Porter will live as one of the best and brightest examples of the versatility of American invention.
