Thomas Tottie

[pinefamily]

Hello Rootschatters,
I have found that one of my Swedish forebears was actually Scottish. Thomas Tottie was a tobacco dresser/merchant in Stockholm in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. According to online data, he was born in Jedburgh c. 1664, son of a customs officer.
I would like to verify this if possible. Also, a question I have is would it be likely for a customs officer to be in a town far from the sea? Is it because Jedburgh is close to the English border? Excuse my ignorance in this.
I did find a John Tottie marrying and baptising a son in Newburgh, around the same time. These were the only Tottie entries on familysearch for that time frame. Interestingly, Thomas' eldest son was John.
Apparently he married twice (I am descended from the second marriage). His first wife was a Tabitha Pearson, who he married in 1688, not sure in Scotland or Sweden.
Sorry for the lack of detail.

Thanks in advance.

[Forfarian]

a question I have is would it be likely for a customs officer to be in a town far from the sea? Is it because Jedburgh is close to the English border?

I think that is a very likely explanation. Bear in mind that 1664 is after the Unions of Crowns in 1603, when James VI of Scotland also became James I of England. However it was before the Union of Parliaments in 1707, so Scotland and England were still two completely separate states, even though they shared a monarch.

I did find a John Tottie marrying and baptising a son in Newburgh

Which Newburgh? I can think of at least three (one town, one village and one farm), and there are probably others.

[jamcat95]

Hi pinefamily

Here is Thomas on the Swedish Wikipedia. I hope your Swedish is up to it or perhaps Google can help out.
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tottie

I took a look on Scotlandspeople and there are a few Totties around that time in Births, Marriages and Deaths.

Ian

[jamcat95]

Here is his will/inventory:

Stockholms rådhusrätt 1:a avdelning F1A:93 (1724-1724) Bild 570

It is very long... around 30 pages.


Ian

[Forfarian]

The information is inconsistent.

If he was born in 1664, he can hardly have gone to Sweden independently and gone to work in a tobacco company in 1668!

So either he was born earlier than 1664, or he must have been taken to Stockholm by his parents or guardian, or he arrived in Sweden much later than 1668.

[jamcat95]

Yes, according to another site he came to Sweden in 1688.

Ian

[eilthireach]

Thomas is mentioned on pp. 30-31 of the book <a href="https://archive.org/details/scotsinswedenbei00fiscuoft">The Scots in Sweden</a> by Th. A. Fischer, which has been digitised and made available online. You can read it online or download a copy. Unfortunately it doesn't give much more information, other than the fact that his grandson Carl became Swedish Consul-General in London.
Fischer also wrote The Scots in Germany (Edinburgh, 1902) and The Scots in Eastern and Western Prussia (Edinburgh, 1903)

[pinefamily]

Thanks everyone for your input. I have most of the data mentioned, although his will and inventory is proving a challenge.
I want to find his birth or baptism in Scotland, rather than rely on sources telling me he was from Jedburgh.

[Forfarian]

Realistically, if you have not found his baptism on www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk, you aren't going to find it. Records are sparser the further back you get, and there is no other source for baptisms before 1700.