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Bio-Sawyers
SURNAMES: STARLING, LEEHOME,


A scholarly representative of the Episcopal clergy in California, the Rev. Dr. A. V. Noel Porter, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, San Jose enjoys a status and exerts an influence socially, intellectually, and religiously such as anyone might envy who was desirous of leading the world onward and upward to better things. He was born at Bellary, India, on December 18, 1885, the son of John and Martha (Starling) Porter. John Porter was born in Devonshire, England, educated in the public schools, and graduated from a military academy, after which he received a college degree. He was then sent to India. where he was promoted to be Regimental Inspector and was put in charge of military schools. He married in Barbados, of the West Indies, Miss Martha Starling, who was born there, and had been educated in a French academy at Paris; but as her parents were extensive landowners in the West Indies and the Isle of Barbados, she made her home there. They resided for a time in England then in Ireland and then once in India, where the father died in 1888. survived by his wife and children, our subject and his sister. Mrs. Albert Leehome of Santa Barbara. The mother died in England in 1900.

Mr. Porter attended the Grosvenor House School in England, which was located at Walthamstow, and from there he was able to effect his entrance, by examination, to the University of Southern California. Coming out to Los Angeles in 1902, in 1904 entered the university. He acted as secretary and treasurer of the S. D. Sturgis & Bro. Company, while studying, and enjoyed a varied business experience which gave him a keen insight into practical business methods. He had already been fortunate in the matter of inheritance; for his paternal ancestors. from whom sprang men prominent in India and Australia, were widely experienced in military and naval affairs, and his forebears on his mother's side were prominent as churchmen and plantation owners. One branch of the Porter family were early settlers of Virginia. members of which took part in the Colonial and Revolutionary struggles. In 1908 Mr. Porter received the Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California, and six years later he was given the Bachelor of Divinity from the General Theological Seminary in New York City. In. 1911 he had been ordained a deacon and priest by Bishop Johnson and became rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Los Angeles, and in 1915 he received his Master's degree from his Alma Mater. In 1916 the degree of Doctor of Philosophy was conferred upon him by the College of the State of Iowa.

In 1918 Doctor Porter was called to San Jose to fill a vacancy in the rectorship of Trinity parish. caused by the resignation, in November, 1917, of the Rev. Halsey Werlein, and since then he has had supervision of Christ Mission, San Jose, the Church of Our Savior at Santa Clara, and St. Thomas' Mission at Sunnyvale. He has become vice-president of the Civic Welfare League, is a member of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce and has acted as vice-president of the .Public Forum Committee. He is the clerical member of the Rotary Club and is also a member of the San Jose Country Club. He votes with the historic Democratic party and finds delight in seeking to elevate civic standards.

He belongs to the Phi Alpha fraternity. He was made a Mason in San Jose Lodge No. 10, F. & A. M., is chaplain of San Jose Lodge No. 522, B. P. 0. E., and is intensely interested in the Boy Scouts movement. With over 800 communicants. Trinity parish may well be said to be in a prosperous condition.

Since taking hold here in 1918, Doctor Porter has continued untiringly as an educator, and he has carried on the great work of Trinity Church uninterruptedly. He gives especial attention to the all-important matter of organization, both within and without the church, and thereby better succeeds in maintaining vital connections between his parish and the rest of the social and religious world. He is also a successful author, having written, among other things, with facility and force, "The Bible in the Prayer Book," published in 1913, an index used by many teachers; "Love One Another," "Carry Your Corner," and "The Inside Inn," together with some of his .best sermons. His publishers now have his  latest work on the last words from the Cross, under the title, "Magnet of the World." which will soon be off the press.

At Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, on June 12, 1912, the Rt. Rev. William Ford Nichols, Bishop of California, joined Dr. Porter in matrimony with Miss Dorothy Hallowell, the daughter of John Hallowell of San Francisco, and a native of Mendocino County, born near Fort Bragg. The union has been singularly happy, and Doctor and Mrs. Porter's home life has been rendered even brighter by their three children, **Noel Edmund, Cedric Starling, and Richard Grenville Porter.

From Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California,  published by Historic Record Co. , 1922. page 664

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 **Transcribers Note- Noel Edmund Porter became the mayor  of Palo Alto -1955-1960

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