Biographical Information:

Elizabeth was the daughter of Margaret and James Porter. She was baptized in Salem, New Jersey, on July 17th, 1785.
Source: New Jersey, Church Records, 1675-1970

According to "American Ancestry: GIVING THE NAME AND DESCENT, IN THE MALE LINE, OF AMERICANS WHOSE ANCESTORS SETTLED IN THE UNITED STATES PREVIOUS TO THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, A.D. 1776. VOL. IV." from 1889 Elizabeth Porter married Charles P. Harrison on March 25th 1804. Her place of birth was recorded on daughter Cleopha's death certificate as being New Jersey.

It was reported in the above mentioned American Ancestry that her father was born in Ireland and came to America as a boy. He had been a soldier under Washington throughout the Revolutionary War. In addition, when Lafayette visited America in 1824, Porter rode in a procession as one of the oldest surviving soldiers - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafayette_Welcoming_Parade_of_1824_(Philadelphia). Whether or not Elizabeth was related to a founder (James Madison Porter Memorial# 8142039) of Lafayette College, which received a portrait of Lafayette by her husband, Charles P., as an anonymous gift in 1942, has yet to be determined.

Her obituary appeared in the New York Herald of December 29th 1846. Invited to attend the funeral were friends of the family of her sons Gabriel and LAFAYETTE. Also requested to attend were friends and family of her sons-in-law: G. Ackermann, J.S. Poole, A.J. Morales (Memorial# 178775533), P. Jardines, D.P. Smith and J.A. Stevenson. The funeral began at her last address, 157 Crosby Street, on December 29th at 3 P.M.

In addition to Gabriel and Lafayette (1824-1892), she was the mother of: Mary Ann (1805-1896), Eleanor Catherine Ackermann (1806-?), William (1808-1826), Margaret C. Hernandez (1810-1887), Elizabeth A. Poole (1810-1889), Frances (1812-1879), Lucretia Nathan Morales (1817-1887), Ann Jardines (1817-1891), Emily Stevenson (1821-?), and Cleopha Smith (1829-1911).

A photograph of Elizabeth entitled "The Artist's Mother" by Gabriel Harrison is in the archives of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It is one of America's early daguerreotypes, taken within the first decade of daguerreotypy in the United States. An interesting comparison may be made with photographs of Mary Todd Lincoln, also a Porter descendant.