PORTEOUS, JOHAN [SSNE 4925]

Surname

PORTEOUS

First name

JOHAN, JOHN

Nationality

SCOT

Text source

Johan Porteous was the son of James Porteous [SSNE 791] and Elisabet Baltazarsdotter Vernle. He went to study in Abo University in 1670 and thereafter studied further in Uppsala in 1675. On completing his studies, Johan was appointed as a notary at the board of trade and was sent as the Swedish [trade] commissioner to The Hague to accompany Count Gyllenstolpe who was the envoy there. Upon Gyllenstolpe's departure Porteous remained until 1689 and a document recording his instructions for 1688 survives. He travelled to England and Scotland in 1689-1690. During this time James Forbes in Edinburgh who wrote to Christopher Leyoncrona in London about 'Secretarie Porteous' in March 1690. Forbes noted that he had done something to help Porteous receive his birthbrieve and sent enclosures via Leijoncrona to speed the process, but added that it would not be his fault if the process was delayed as he had informed Porteous that he would not be in Edinburgh much longer, and that he had informed 'Herr Secretarie' [Porteous] of that fact. The Forbes letter to Leyoncrona was followed by one from George Porteous in Edinburgh dated 29 April 1690, enclosing more correspondence for Johan Porteous. This letter has yet to be found but the contact between two members of the Porteous family is worthy of note and probably represents some corroboration of Johan's pedigree. Johan Porteous thereafter left Britain and accompanied Count Gabriel Oxenstierna to the Spanish Netherlands in 1690, not returning back to Sweden until 1693, during which time he was engaged in seeking compensation for confiscated Swedish ships. In 1693 he was honourably dismissed from the Board of Trade and subsequently served as a notary in the Kammarkollegium in 1695 and mayor in Norrkoping in 1697 to replace Petter Danckwardt. His appointment to Kommissarie in Kammarkollegium came on 29 April 1712. He married Marrea Anna Zieppel and they had one son. Johan died 6 January 1732 within a year of his wife

Swedish Riksarkiv, Kommerskollegii Underdåniga Skrivelser 1651-1840 - Johan Porteous, 07/04/1700, 27/01/1703, 28/06/1710, 25/10/1720, 19/06/1724; Swedish Riksarkiv, Kanslikollegiets Skrivelser till Kungl. Maj:t 1656-1718 - Johan Porteous, 'ett ars traktamente for Komm. Sec. i Holland, 22/10/1688; Swedish Riksarkiv, Biographica Microcard, E01711 7/8; Swedish Riksarkiv, Sjoholmsarkivet, Gyldenstolpeska Samlingen, 3432:25 (number noted on box), J. Porteous to Kanslipresident Nils Gyldenstolpe from 25/9/1687 to 23/12/1689; Swedish Riksarkiv, Oxenstiernasamlingen E1126, Oxenstierna of Cronenborg to Greve Gabriel Turesson Oxenstierna, bundle 51 including letters from Porteous 1684-1692 in German; J. Kleberg 'Svenska Ambetsverk, del VI:I, Kammarkollegium 1634-1718' (Norrkoping, 1957), p.70; Swedish Riksarkiv, Ch. Leijoncrona brev fran utlanningar, Anglica 190, E-F, 1689-1709. James Forbes, Edinburgh, 25 March 1690 (in German and French). See also Anglica 191, P, 1690-1691. George Porteous, Edinburgh, 29 April 1690; Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), pp.216, 224-225, 227.

Service record

SWEDEN, ABO, FINLAND

Arrived 1670-01-01

Departed 1674-12-31

Capacity STUDENT, purpose ACADEMIC

SWEDEN, UPPSALA

Arrived 1675-01-01

Departed 1679-12-31

Capacity STUDENT, purpose ACADEMIC

SWEDEN, THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, THE HAGUE

Arrived 1680-01-01

Departed 1689-12-31

Capacity COMMERCIAL SECRETARY, MERCHANT, purpose ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY

SWEDEN, ENGLAND, SCOTLAND

Arrived 1689-01-01

Departed 1690-04-30

Capacity MERCHANT, COMMERCIAL SECRETARY, purpose MERCANTILE, COMMERCIAL, TRADE

SWEDEN, SPANISH NETHERLANDS

Arrived 1690-08-01

Departed 1693-12-31

Capacity COMMERCIAL SECRETARY, purpose COMMERCE, MERCANTILE, TRADE

SWEDEN, NORRKOPING

Arrived 1697-01-01

Departed 1732-01-06

Capacity NOTARIE, BORGMASTARE, MAJOR, BURGESS, purpose CIVIC