22 HEREDITY AND DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL OFFICERS. 



TABLE 6. Fighting naval officers and the allied vocations of their close relations Continued. 



50. PERRY, OLIVER. Pertinacious fighter. Matthew, pertinacious diplomat and naval adminis- 

 trator. 



Maternal side: Mother's brother, served in army under Cornwallis and also commanded a 

 merchantman; another brother served under Cornwallis. The mother's mother's 

 father was a Wallace of the famous Scotch family of fighters. 



Paternal Side: Father, a sea captain who served with distinction during the Revolutionary 

 war upon armed vessels and in 1798 became a captain in the United States navy. 

 The father's father was chief justice of the court of common pleas and president of 

 the town council of Kingston, Rhode Island. 



Comment: There are fighters and sea captains on both sides. 



53. PORTER, DAVID DIXON. Nomadic and adventurous; four of his brothers died while serving 

 in the navy as officers or midshipman; two of his sons were naval officers. 



Maternal side: The mother's brother is said to have been "something of a fire-eater"; the 

 mother's father at the age of 15 joined the Continental army and served five years; 

 he held various political offices and in 1809 was elected to Congress, retaining his 

 seat until 1815; he was a county judge and a collector of customs. 



Paternal side: The father, David Porter, jr., commander of the Essex, was nomadic and hyper- 

 kinetic. His brother John was a commander in the navy. Their father, David 

 senior, also was a lover of the sea and so was his father, in turn a merchant captain. 

 One of David senior's daughter's sons was a lieutenant in the Mexican navy, killed in 

 action. Of John's sons, one was a general and one as a midshipman was lost at sea. 



Comment: The Porter family is one of our most remarkable naval families. Through 5 

 generations without a break extends naval efficiency of a high order, through 3 

 generations of the highest order. The marriages, so far as known, usually tended 

 to maintain or exaggerate the traits. 



56. RODGERS, JOHN. Fearless, orderly, able to organize, fond of the sea, willing to accept responsi- 

 bility. His brother George received a medal from Congress for gallantry in the 

 navy during the War of 1812. 



Maternal side: The mother was a woman of "great strength of character," the daughter of 

 a Presbyterian minister. 



Paternal side: The father, born in Scotland, was captain in command of a regiment of militia 

 during the American Revolution. 



Comment: The origin of the fine fraternity of the Rodgers brothers remains unexplained for 



lack of details of earlier generations. 

 63. STOCKTON. Dashing, hyperkinetic, diplomat. 



Maternal side: Mother's father, ambassador to Austria and Russia, secretary of state for 

 New Jersey in 1794. One mother's brother's son became a lieutenant in the navy, 

 but later retired to a plantation in Mississippi; another became United States 

 senator. 



Paternal side: Father, leader of the New Jersey bar at the age of 25 years, a presidential 

 elector at 28, and a United States senator at 32. His only brother was United States 

 district attorney for New Jersey. His sister, whose husband was chaplain in the 

 navy, had a son who became a major general (David Hunter, 1802-1886) in the 

 United States army and another who, after serving as naval surgeon through 

 the Mexican and Civil wars, was retired with the rank of commodore. 



Comment: Though the nearest relatives are legal, administrative, and parliamentarian, yet 

 on each side are naval and fighting first cousins. Doubtless a hyperkinetic tendency 

 came through the precocious father and the father's father, signer of the Declara- 

 tion of Independence. The origin of Stockton's diplomatic capacity is not difficult 

 to discover on the maternal side. 

 67. WINSLOW. Nomadic, fearless, energetic. 



Maternal side: The mother's mother's mother's mother's father was William Rhett, the 

 only near relative regarded as having the ambition and qualities necessary for 

 becoming a naval warrior. One of his granddaughters married a British admiral 

 and six of their grandchildren were naval officers, including four British admirals. 



Paternal side: The father was "engaged in commercial pursuits"; nothing more is known of 

 his family. 



Comment: This is a striking case of nomadism carried through 4 generations of females. 



