Seth (Porteus) Porteus

Seth Porteus, of Plainfield, passed away on March 5th, 2024, at Coshocton Regional Medical Center.

Seth was born June 12,1949, on the family farm south of Plainfield, to the late Lucian and Margaret (Turner) Porteus.  Seth was the youngest son of nine children.

Aside from his family, Seth’s greatest joy in life was farming. There are not many people left today that can say they spent their life farming, but Seth was one. He grew up on a dairy farm. In 1969, he and his brother Homer started a partnership, Porteus Brothers, and they specialized in corn production. To date, they’ve raised fifty-four crops together.

Seth married his wife Debbie in September 1974, and moved to their home and farm where they’ve lived all these years. Seth had an amazing memory for names, dates and birthdates. He could talk for hours about farming and believed that the only real tractors made were John Deere green.

Seth was an advocate for conservation and began the use of cover crops in 2012. He switched fully to no-till planting into cover crops in 2014. For that effort, the Coshocton Soil & Water Conservation District gave Porteus Brothers the Conservation Farmer Award for 2014. To further highlight their ongoing efforts, the Holmes County Soil & Water Conservation used Porteus Brothers’ work as a teaching opportunity for others and showcased the farm at a multi-county meeting held in Millersburg in 2018.

Seth was preceded in death by his parents, Lucian and Margaret and two brothers-in-law Huey Cornelius and Joe Anderson. He is survived by his wife Debbie; a daughter, Mindy Porteus; a son, Jason Porteus; siblings, Marjorie Lou Cornelius, Homer Porteus, Ellen Anderson, Hilda (Don) Lacy, Kay Porteus, Jim (Debby) Porteus, Janice (David) Howard, Marthamay (Brian) Bode; nieces and nephews, Clark, Seth, Beth, Brance, Joellen, Tim, Jennifer, Christina, Melody, Tiffany, Andrea, Ivy, Taylor, Landon.

Friends may call at the Miller Funeral Home, 639 Main Street, Coshocton, OH 43812 on Friday, March 8, 2024 from 5:00pm – 7:00pm and one hour prior to funeral services.  Funeral services will be held on Saturday at 11:00am with Pastor John Armstrong officiating. Burial will follow at Plainfield Cemetery. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions can be directed towards the Coshocton County EMS; envelopes will be available at the funeral home.