James Portues (d. 1737)

James Portues was one of the first settlers of Philadelphia. While he arrived in the province indentured to another man, Portues found success in the new world and was a man of significant means by the end of his life. He departed from Kent aboard the ship Welcome as the servant of William Wade and travelled along with William Penn. Wade did not survive the journey and Portues’ service was transferred to the carpenter John Songhurst, another passenger aboard the Welcome. By 1693 Portues had achieved the status of a freeman and had picked up his former master’s trade as a carpenter.

Portues' professional success increased during the end of the 17th century and Scharf and Westcott credit him with constructing Samuel Carpenter’s Slate Roof House, in 1698, one of the most famous buildings of early Philadelphia. While there is a lack of contemporary documentation to prove this attribution, credible sources prove Portues’ work on two other important early structures, improving Christ Church from 1711 to 1714 and building Isaac Norris’s Fairhill in 1717. Besides his contribution to these structures, Portues also found success as a speculative builder and invested in valuable lots situated in what is now Old City. In addition to prospering from the early growth of Philadelphia, he also served a city commissioner from 1723 to 1726 alongside fellow carpenter, William Coleman.

Portues was one of the 10 carpenters who founded the Carpenters' Company in 1724. While no Company records exist prior to the 1760s, it can be surmised that James Portues was a significant link in the web of early Philadelphia carpenters. Two of the most prominent 18th century Carpenters' Company members, Joseph Fox and Edward Warner, were named his heirs in 1736. Both likely served as Portues’ apprentices earlier in life. They received the majority of Portues’ estate, which, besides his messuages and lots of lands, included two African slaves and two Native American slaves. Following his arrival in Penn’s colony as a servant, James Portues transformed his status to a well-to-do citizen through his professional career as a Carpenter and a founder of the Carpenters’ Company of Philadelphia. 

Partially written by Roger W. Moss, Philadelphia Architects and Builders website.

Scharf, John Thomas & Thompson Westcott. History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884. Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co., 1884., v. 1, 159.