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- Nehemiah Porter was a small man, very alert in all his movements, and of a somewhat impatient disposition. It is told of him, that on one occasion he made a visit to a son, intending to return by the railroad, then recently built. He arrived at the station about half an hour before the train was due, and being in something of a hurry, and having no faith that the train could be on time, walked the whole distance home, about 8 miles. He had a very peculiar cap made for himself, consisting of three triangular pieces of firm woolen cloth, one red, one green, and one tan color, all meeting in a sharp point at the top and surmounted by a tassel; a drop cape was sewed to the bottom of two of the sides protecting his neck and shoulders. this cap he wore on all important occasions, and when he appeared in it at the town meeting, he was greeted with cheers.
About 1803 he moved to Raymond, Me., where he owned a farm on the shores of Sebago Lake. He lived there for ten or twelve years, when he returned to Chester, N. H., his parents urging him to do so, as they were old and all their children were married and away. Later he moved to Manchester, N. H., where several of his children lived, and where both he and his wife died and were buried.
His grandchildren still quote his sayings, of which the following are examples. "Let him do as he wants to, and he won't go to the devil grumbling." To a member of the family who was hunting for a lost article he said, "Look where you think it isn't just at much as where you think it is."
He had a considerable talent for acting, preferring the rather more stately parts; and was often called upon to take part in amateur performances.
Books were neither plentiful no cheap in his time, but the few he had he mastered; and among them, he loved none better than the works of Josephus, of which he had a very accurate knowledge.
The latter part of his life was spent with his daughter, Mrs. Mary Stark, at whose home he died.
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