LESLIE, PETER [SSNE 8334]
Text source
Presumably born in the 1570s, Peter Leslie grew up in Aberdeen. When he reached adulthood, he emigrated to Estonia and settled in Narva, being a merchant. His decision to leave Scotland may well have been promoted by a friend who had emigrated to Narva a few years before him. This friend could have been the Scottish merchant Johann Watson [SSNE 8335] who as early as 1588 had been residing in Narva. With his wife Elisabeth Agnes [SSNE 8336] († 1640) Johann Watson lived in a stately house, which in 1590 he had bought from the alderman and mayor Dirich Wernecke († 1645), a former citizen of the Hanseatic city of Salzwedel, who married Elisabeth's sister Catherina Watson [SSNE 8339] († 1652).
Johann Watson had another daughter Elisabeth [SSNE 8337], born around the year 1590. She married Peter Leslie [SSNE 8334] in Narva a few months before he was accepted as a citizen in there on 11 May 1614. The marriage didn‘t last very long as Peter Leslie died in Dorpat on 5 December 1617. A house he had bought in Narva‘s old town was now passed on to his son who was still in his minority and whose name remains unknown.
Around 1620, Peter Leslie's widow Elisabeth Watson entered into a second marriage in Dorpat with the Scottish merchant Wilhelm Thomson [SSNE 8338] († 1654), a Scot who was born in Dumfries. Keeping book of all her gifts, the bride‘s mother, the widow Elisabeth Agnes, neatly noted in a bridal registry her wedding present for daughter and son-in-law, consisting of ten barrels of beer. Six years after their marriage, the Thomson couple moved their residence to Narva, where the husband acquired citizenship in 1626.
The Thomson couple remaining childless, their marriage ended after two years when Elizabeth née Watson died and was buried in Narva on 27 November 1628. The widower Wilhelm Thomson enjoyed a much longer life in Narva, where he – according to church records – was an active member of the German community, regularly attending communion, the last time on 4 February 1654.
Sources:
Rahvusarhiiv Tartus, Sünni-, abielu-, surmameetrika ja muud andmed koguduse kohta Record EAA.4380.1.1 1644-1724; Erpenbeck, Dirk-Gerd, und Enn Küng. 2000. Narvaer Bürger- und Einwohnerbuch 1581 - 1704. Vol. 64. Veröffentlichungen der Forschungsstelle Ostmitteleuropa an der Universität Dortmund. Dortmund, p. 190; Bunz, Rainer. 2018. Von Leslie – Schottischer Adel in Deutschland und Österreich. Norderstedt: BoD – Book on Demand, pp. 141 f..
Service record
- SWEDEN,, NARVA
- Arrived 1590-01-01
- Departed 1617-12-05
- Capacity BURGESS, MERCHANT, purpose CIVIC, COMMERCE, TRADE