ORCHARTOUN, JOHN [SSNE 3229]

Surname
ORCHARTOUN, ORCHARDTOUN, ORCHARDTON, ORCHARTON, ORCHESON
First name
JOHN, JOHAN
Title/rank
LT. COLONEL
Nationality
SCOT
Region
ABERDEENSHIRE
Social status
NOBILITY

Text source

John Orchartoun was the son of Sir Andrew Orchardtoun of Aberdeenshire, and Dame Elizabeth Robertson, his lawful wife. He was recruited at the beginning of the Swedish-Polish war in 1655 with a company of 132, or in some sources 128, Scottish troops who served under Colonel William Cranstoun [SSNE 2101] as a captain from 1655-8 and then in the Livregiment. The troops were mustered in Bremen and then employed in the siege of Thorn, and then lay for 3 years without active service and therefore without pay. In 1658 Orchartoun had become a major, though his company was reduced after the treaty of Olivia. He sought a position with Major General Forbes and used his existing familial connection through his mother to Dr. James Robertson [SSNE 1637], his father in law, to obtain it, eventually becoming a military and governmental councillor. Orchartoun was ennobled in 1664 and introduced into the Riddarhus under nr. 681. He produced a letter from King Charles II, dated Edinburgh 1663, which proved his noble Scottish origins. A copy of his birthbrieve can also be found in the Register of the Privy Council of Scotland from the same year, and another in the Great Seal of Scotland. During the Scanian wars, Orchartoun was back in the army where he served as a lieutenant colonel in the Östgöta infantry regiment in 1674 (one source says 1678). He died in 1684. He eventually married his relative Elisabeth Robertson von Struan [SSNE 6262] in her second marriage (the first was to the military councillor Adolf Fredrik Schletzer, ennobled under nr. 565) who was the daughter of the royal physician James Robertson, also ennobled, under nr. 231. He had two sons, Karl [SSNE 3230] and James [SSNE 6397] as well as two daughters, Isabella [SSNE 6396] and Anna [SSNE 6398]. Orchartoun sought King Karl XI's support in his fight to regain his wife's property in Livonia (which had originally been granted to her father Doctor Robertson) as a certain Appelboom had managed to illegally obtain the land for himself. According to the British envoy, Earl Carlisle's letter to Karl XI of 2 October 1664, Orchartoun had served the Swedish crown since 1658 largely without pay.

 

Sources: Correspondence by and about Orchartoun is found among the papers of his father-in-law, James Robertson. See Riksarkivets ämnessamlingar. Personhistoria https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0070091_00165#?c=&m=&s=&cv=164&xywh=1930%2C1664%2C5325%2C2919

https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0070091_00181#?c=&m=&s=&cv=180&xywh=573%2C928%2C7667%2C4204 (and scroll forward for more) 

Swedish Riksarkiv, P. Sondén, Militärachefer i svenska arméen och deras skrivelser; Swedish Krigsarkiv, Muster Roll, 1669/10B, F.145; 1674/4,9; 1675/7; 1676/9; 1677/10; 1678/4; 1679/4; 1683/8,13; 1684/11; Swedish Riksarkiv, Anglica 522: Carlisle to Swedish King, 2 October 1664; Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 3rd series, I, 1661-1664, p.401; Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, vol. XI, 1660-1668, pp.248-249, no.495, 6 August 1663; Svenska Adelns Ättartavlor, vol. 5, p.559; H. Marryat, One Year in Sweden, including a visit to the isle of Gotland (London, 1862), p.494; P. Wieselgren, ed. De La Gardiska Archivet (Lund 1838) part 10, p.20; T. Fischer, The Scots in Eastern and Western Prussia (Edinburgh, 1903).

Service record

SWEDEN, WILLIAM CRANSTON
Arrived 1655-01-01, as CAPTAIN
Departed 1658-12-31, as CAPTAIN
Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
SWEDEN, LIFEREGIMENT
Arrived 1659-01-01, as CAPTAIN
Departed 1673-12-31, as MAJOR
Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
SWEDEN, OSTGOTA
Arrived 1674-01-01, as LT. COLONEL
Departed 1684-12-31, as LT. COLONEL
Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY