Thomas Porteous (December 8, 1765 – February 2, 1830) was a merchant, seigneur and politician in Lower Canada. He represented Effingham in the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada from 1804 to 1808. Probably born in Quebec of

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

descent, although one source states that he was born in

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

,Campey, LH (2006
Les Écossais: The Pioneer Scots of Lower Canada, 1763-1855
Porteous owned Île Bourdon where he operated a trading post and a ferry service between

Lachenaie Terrebonne () is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located in the North Shore region of the Montreal area, north of Laval across the Rivière des Mille-Îles. This city is divided in three sectors, namely L ...

and the

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. In 1786, he married Olivia Everest. Around 1790, he established a business on Île Jésus and then, four years later, at Terrebonne. In 1800, he purchased the seigneury of Terrebonne and, five years later, opened a store at

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, where he also produced potash. Porteous also supplied material to the military during the War of 1812. Around the same time, he established a general store in Montreal. Porteous was an agent for the Saint-Maurice ironworks and helped establish the Lachine Canal, serving as one of the government commissioners. He also petitioned for the incorporation of the

Bank of Montreal The Bank of Montreal (BMO; french: Banque de Montréal, link=no) is a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company. The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank; while its head office remains in ...

and served as one its directors. In 1819, he became vice-president of the Montreal Savings Bank. In the same year, with others in his family, he took over the operation of the Montreal Water Works and became its president; the wooden pipes were replaced by iron ones and a steam-powered pumping plant was added. Porteous served as lieutenant-colonel in the militia and was a prominent member of the local

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

. He died in Montreal at the age of 64.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Porteous, Thomas 1765 births 1830 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada