Anders Joachim Kurtén (15 January 1836–28 June 1899) was born in

Kronoby Kronoby ( fi, Kruunupyy) is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population dens ...

into the family of sea captain Henrik Kurtén. In 1841 the family moved to

Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),

where he finished his upper-secondary final examination at the age of 17. He went on to study at a business college in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

after which he went to work as a clerk for businessman A.A. Levón back in Vaasa. In 1861 he became Levóns business partner. Joachim Kurtén became a prominent figure in Vaasa, where he founded several companies and had a distinguished career in banking. He chaired the city council for almost twenty years and was the speaker of the Burghers in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

’s then legislature, the four-estates Diet. The fact that the railroad extends to Vaasa is supposed to be the work of Joachim Kurtén.

References

* * 1836 births 1899 deaths Businesspeople from the Russian Empire People from Kronoby Swedish-speaking Finns Members of the Diet of Finland 19th-century Finnish businesspeople Finnish bankers {{Finland-bio-stub