James Madison Porter, son of General Andrew Porter
was born near Norristown, Pennsylvania.

As a child he was home schooled, but later attended
Norristown Academy. In1809 he began to study law in an
office in Lancaster and later joined his brother, Judge
RobertPorter, to study in Reading.

He moved to Philadelphia to become a clerk in the prothonotary's office in 1812 and helped raise and manage a volunteer militia company to garrison at Fort Mifflin advancing to the rank of
colonel.

In 1813 he was admitted to the bar and began
the practice of law. He was appointed attorney general for
Northampton County, Pennsylvania and married his wife
Eliza Michler in 1821.

Porter was instrumental in the founding of Lafayette College
and was president of its board of trustees from 1826 to 1852
and professor of jurisprudence and political economy 1837 to
1852. On December 27, 1824, James Madison Porter called a meeting of all citizens "friendly to the establishment of a college
at Easton" to meet at the Easton Hotel to procure a charter of incorporation.

Although he never attended college himself, Porter was
intrigued with the idea of establishing an institution of learning
in the flourishing Borough of Easton. The idea first presented
itself to him earlier that fall during a trip to the Military Academy
at Norwich, Vermont (now Norwich University). There he
saw, in his own words, "a literary and scientific institute,
established by an individual, filled with upwards of 160
students, pursuing their studies advantageously and giving
support and employment to nearly, if not all, the inhabitants
of the place.

In 1839 he was appointed to the vacancy as
 president judge of the twelfth judicial district. In 1843
President John Tyler appointed him the 18th Secretary
of War serving for about eleven months.

The years that followed after his time as Secretary of War,
Porter was elected to the state legislature in 1849, served
as chairman of the judiciary committee and served as
president judge of the twenty-second judicial district from 1
853 to 1855.

Porter was president of two railroad companies for some
time, the Delaware, Lehigh, Schuylkill and Susquehanna
Railroad Company from 1847 to 1856 as well as the
Belvidere Delaware Railroad.

He died in Easton, Pennsylvania on November 11, 1862.
He is buried with his wife, Eliza, who died on March 2, 1866,
Easton Cemetery in Easton, Pennsylvania.

James Madison Porter, to whom more than to any one
person, Lafayette College owes its origin, his reputation as
a man of great learning and eminent legal ability drew
many young men whose names appear in the catalogues
of that period as students of law.