PORTEOUS, JAMES [SSNE 791]
- Surname
- PORTEOUS, PORTUS, PORTEUS
- First name
- JAMES, JACOBUS
- Title/rank
- COMPANY DIRECTOR
- Nationality
- SCOT
- Social status
- BURGESS
- Religion
- LUTHERAN
Text source
James Porteous was a Scottish merchant who worked in Stockholm and became a burgess of the town on 6 March 1637.
In 1646 James Porteous' name appears on a list of residents of Gamla Stan required to mend holes in the wall. His address was given as Baggensgatan (without a number).
In August 1652 James Porteous buried Baltzar Werler in Maria Kyrka in Stockholm.
In May 1665 the same church, Maria Kyrka, James Porteous also buried a non-resident Dutchman.
Letters dated in Stockholm from the 1650s survive relating to Jacob Porteous and Hans Primrose [SSNE 814] are signed by Peter Chambers [SSNE 4929] and Robert Erskine and appear to relate to some problem with councillor Michael Abrahamson. Perhaps this indicates Scots sticking up for fellow Scots.
A further letter from 30 April 1656 describes James Porteous as a burgess and merchant in Stockholm. He appears to have been in Gothenburg in 1658. However he was also engaged in a legal case with James Mesterton [SSNE 6696]over a sum of money which Porteous claimed he had already paid Mesterton. From the biography of his son, Johan Porteous [SSNE 4925] in Kleberg's 'Kammarkollegium' we are informed that James married Elisabet Baltazarsdotter Vernle. However, resolutions exist that show his widow as Catharina Silferstierna.
James Porteous possibly had two other sons, Thomas and Jakob. It was probably this man who served as a director for the Tar Company in Stockholm in 1669.
James Porteous was buried on 11 November 1672 in Maria Kyrka in Stockholm. James Porteous was placed in a grave bought from the Macleans in 1659. His widow was buried beside him on 4 March 1676.
Sources: For his widow as Catherina see Riksarkivets ämnessamlingar. Personhistoria https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0070064_00327#?c=&m=&s=&cv=326&xywh=-161%2C1850%2C6549%2C3777
Stockholm Stadsarkiv: Borgare i Stockholm, Register 1601-1650, p.65; Stockholms Stadsarkivet, Maria Församling, Register över döda, 1654-1655, pp.149 & 214; Stockholms Stadsarkivet, Maria Församling, Register över döda, 1656-1680, p.440; Swedish Riksarkiv, Biographica Microcard, E01711 7/8, letters 30/04/1656, 20/05/1656, 23/12/165?, 14/05/1658; Swedish Riksarkiv, Oxenstiernasamlingen 28:3, undated letter; Swedish Riksarkiv, Stegborgsamlingen: Skrivelser till Johan Casimir och hans gamaal, May 1639; Swedish Riksarkiv, Förteckning över Momma-Reenstierna Samlingen, part C: brev till Bröderna Momma-Reenstierna ingångna skrivelser, section 2, brev till Jacob Momma-Reenstierna - E2518, 50, P, 1650; J. Kileberg 'Svenska Ambetsverk, del VI:I Kammarkollegium 1634-1718 (Norrkoping, 1957), p.70; T. Fischer, The Scots in Sweden (Edinburgh, 1907), p.216; Svenska Riksrådets Protokoll, vol.XVIII, pp.104-6; H. Roseveare, (ed.), Markets and Merchants of the Late Seventeenth Century: The Marscoe-David Letters, 1668-1680 (Oxford, 1987), p.304; F.U. Wrangel, Stockholmiana I-IV, (Stockholm, 1912), p.377; C.F. Corin, Självstyre och kunglig maktpolitik inom Stockholms stadsförvaltning, 1668-1697 (Stockholm, 1958), pp.172-179; Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), pp.161, 212, 223; Curt Haij, 'Skottar i Stockholm under 1600-talet', unpublished list of names, Hintze biblioteket, Genealogiska Föreningen, Sundbyberg, Stockholm. Thanks to Ardis Dreisbach for this information.
HouseinStockholm
Service record
- SWEDEN, STOCKHOLM
- Arrived 1637-01-01
- Departed 1672-11-26
- Capacity BURGESS, MERCHANT,DIRECTOR OF THE TAR COMPANY, purpose CIVIC, MERCANTILE, TRADE