Identified as a son of Jaques Portaz in his marriage record of 1691, and thus presumably born befor 1673. The notes on this family in de Faria's account of the descendants of Dom Antonio I, King of Portugal (Archives Héraldiques Suisses 21:39-67, 1907), show an additional son Pierre Abraham Jaques (?).
His notarial registers from 1669-1720 have survived, and include the marriage contract of his niece Judith Dutoit and David Bergier, 1701. By 1704, he is described in the records of other notaries as "Lieutenant de la Cour et Juridiction du Jadis Chapitre de Lausanne", and it is apparent that he acted as an officer of that court, which had taken over judicial functions for an area formerly controlled by the Bishop of Lausanne before the Bernese occupation.
The surname is most often spelled Portaz in the 17th and 18th Century, but sometimes Porta. In more recent times it has settled on Porta.
After his baptism at Cully, Henri's next mention in the records at Cully seems to be 09 feb 1668, when he was one of the sponsors at the baptism of Jean Henri, son of Jaques Joran and Jaqueline Portaz (Henri's sister).
He was admitted to the bourgoisie of Lausanne on 26 apr 1688, as the following extract from the records of the city of Lausanne shows:
Bourgeoisie.
Jeudi 26 Apvril 1688.
Egrege et prudent Henry Portaz fils de feu Sr. Jean Portaz de Culli pretendant estre Bourgeois de ceste Ville pour se croire desscendre de Saturnin Portaz receue a Bourgeoisie l'an 1574, Mais n'ayant en cest (?) bien esclairci et Justifié sa desscendance, Nous n'avons pas cependant Jugé a propose d'entrer avec luy [un] proceds qui pourroit Causer de grands frais au public, mais avons mieux aimé pour l'Eviter la Recepvoir comme nous faisons presentement et admettrons a Nouveau Bourgeois pour Luy et ses successeurs legittimes et ce tant de Grace Speciale et pour plusieurs preignantes et legittimes Considerations que pour et moyennant la Somme de deux Cents et cinquante florins pp. applicables à l'achet de brochets de Cuir pour servir contre les dangers de feu, Oultre un grant d'isseu (?) des droits pour chacun des Assistans, Soubs les conditions portées et contenues aux Reglemens de cette Chambre fait le 20 8bre 1657 concernant les charges, Item qu'il apportera acte des Srs. ses freres comme ils renonceroient a toutes pretentions a cette Bourgeoisie, et qu'ils ne la recercherent Jamais n'y les leurs avenir pour n'est avoir a present aucun legittime fondement puis que la present concession faitte a leur frere n'est que gratuite et particulliere a luy seul et aux siens, sans qu'elle puisse estre tirée de Consequence pour qui que ce soit.
Ce qu'il a promis d'effectué en dhue forme le 1 May et en meme temps presté le serment requis et payé tout le prix deditte passation livré a Monsr. le Maisonneur comme aussi les Droits de la Chambre a Monsr. le Boursier.
[Marginal notation: Il a masles Daniel, David.]
From this, we see that Henri believed, or at least claimed, to descend from Saturnin Portaz, who appears in the earliest church records at Lausanne. The document also establishes that Henri's father was Jean Portaz of Cully.
An old genealogy of this family is found in a discussion of the Swiss descendants of Dom Antonio I, Prieur de Crato, King of Portugal (A. de Faria, "Descendance de D. Antonio I, Prieur de Crato, XVIIIe roi de Portugal," Archives Héraldiques Suisses 21:39-67, 1907). Antonio's claim to the throne of Portugal was not widely recognized, and he spent much of his life in Paris, where he died in 1595, leaving six sons and four daughters. Of these, Don Emmanuel de Portugal (1568-1638), a colorful character in his own right, married Emilie de Nassau, princess of Orange. They separated, and princess Emilie settled in Geneva. She later acquired the barony of Prangins, near Nyon. Her daughter Maria Belgia or Maria Belgica was thus raised near Nyon and became the bride of Johann Theodore de Croll (or Groll or Kroll), a soldier from Heidelberg. It is the descendants of this marriage who are the subject of the account by de Faria. Among them was Adrienne de Martines, who married David Benjamin Porta. Unfortunately, de Faria used a system of Roman numerals and typefaces to indicate the generations of the descendants, making it extremely difficult to follow the information. He does not give a source, but much of the information can be matched with what we have been able to tease out of the primary sources.
Her marriage contract (Antoine Cornut, notary at Villette) mentions Jean Delavaulx, her guardian, and Samuel Blondet, her stepfather, both justices for the parish of Villette.
[14546]
Date of contract (Antoine Cornut, notary at Villette).
There seem to have been at least three men called Jean Portaz about 1630 in the vicinity of Villette and Cully. Jean Portaz l'aîné married at Villette 8 oct 1629 to Magdelaine relaissée d'Antoine DuPort. This Jean Portaz died before 02 feb 1632 leaving widow Magdelaine DuBois who then married David Lyonnas. Meanwhile, another Jean Portaz son of the late Clément married 04 nov 1630 to Ursule Thurin de Romont, widow of the late André Destraz of Lutry. Jean son of René or Regnier was most probably still young for marriage in 1632.
[1866]
Since his first known appearance as a sponsor at a baptism was in 1632, it follows that he should have passed the age of first communion by that time, usually about age 16-17, and so he should have been born no later than 1615.
[1867]
Died at Villmergen, in the first war of that name.
