Born in Marietta, Georgia, Henry W. Porter was trained as a brick mason at Talladega College in Atlanta. He helped build the Union Congregational Church, Des Moines, Iowa. The church opened in November 1907.

Porter served the church and congregational churches across Iowa as a speaker. He went to the western Iowa towns of Dunlap and Council Bluffs in May 1908. Porter spoke in Fort Dodge for an emancipation program in September 1908. In Des Moines he participated in an Emancipation Day event at Corinthian Baptist Church on January 1, 1910. He also preached at the funeral of Oliver Rivers at St. Paul AME Church in March. It was noted Porter was leaving Des Moines for Pittsburg in July 1910.

Rev. Porter served Plymouth Congregational Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for about a year then joined the Philadelphia YMCA. He worked for its southwest branch and then as a field secretary from 1911 to 1930. He joined Grace Presbyterian Church in Chicago, Illinois in late 1930 and served there until 1936. He then went to St. John Presbyterian in Detroit, Michigan in July 1936. He served that congregation until his death in 1941.