The Leoke and Koik FamiliesFrom Estonia to America
Appendix D

Unresolved family connections

Leokes and Koiks in the records whose connection is not yet proven.

In this chapter
  1. Other Leokes
  2. Other Koik households

The Viljandi household books also list a Jaak Lõuke or Leoke (1839–1909), born at Nuia. He was Hans’s first cousin, the son of Hans’s uncle Jürri: the banns for his marriage to Mari Niggol of Uue-Tänassilma in June 1861 call him Jürri’s son, of Pedi Nuja farm, and the same birth date, 19 September 1839, runs through his baptism and three household books. (The baptism gives his birthplace as Saare Annuse.) He died at Kivistik on 8 May 1909, aged 69. His children were Ann (1870–1896), Jaan (1875–1878) and Jüri (1878–1934, died in Tallinn).1

An early Viljandi household book lists another Hans Leoke, born at Võhma (Wohma) on 11 June 1796, with a daughter Marri born in 1831. He was once considered a possible father for Jaak, but Jaak’s father is now known to have been Jaak, Peet’s son (Appendix C). Whether this Hans was related to the family is unknown.

Leoke familyOther Leokes

Two Leokes found in the records appear to belong to other families:

  • Hugo Leoke (1929–1984), born in Tallinn, who came to New York alone in 1949. His Tallinn family-register entry names his parents as Johannes, born 1900, and Wilhelmine. A Johannes Leoke born on 18 March 1900 at Peningi, Harju County, son of Hinrik, is probably his father; if so, Hugo was not a grandson of Hans.2
  • Heinz (Hans) Leoke, born in Tallinn on 22 May 1891, licensed as a merchant-marine officer in Los Angeles in 1925 and a naturalized US citizen by 1929. His birth date and birthplace do not match those of Hans the younger, born at Arumetsa in 1888.3

Koik familyOther Koik households

Other Koiks born at Vana-Kariste in the 1840s–1870s appear across the neighboring parishes and may be related, though the links are not yet proven:

  • Jaan Koik, born 1 September 1842 at Vana-Kariste, perhaps a cousin of Peeter: Märt’s brother Peter had a son Jaan living with him in 1850. He settled at Patti in Saarde parish, and in 1895 his family emigrated to Mogilev province in Russia. Some of his children and grandchildren returned to Estonia in the 1920s. His son Juhan (b. 15 August 1887) was a different person from Juhan Koik (b. 1881), Elmar’s father.
  • The children of Hendrik and An Koik of Vana-Kariste: Hans (b. 1865) and Elise Marie (b. 1877), whose family later took the surname Pärnaste.
  • The household of Märt and Ello Koik at Uue-Kariste, whose son Hans took the surname Ants in 1935. The Paistu records show that they were not Juhan’s parents, though they may have been relatives.

Several early Koik households, including one that moved to Helme in 1844, came from a farm recorded as Koiga on Holstre manor in Paistu parish. No farm or village of that name appears in the Estonian place-name registers; the nearest is Koigu, a former village in Paistu parish whose name probably comes from the old personal name Koik, as the surname may. Elmar Koik’s own line already had the surname at Vana-Kariste in January 1825, and another Koik family lived at Uue-Kariste in 1826. Whether these families were related is not known.

Notes

  1. Jaak, son of Jurri Look and Madde, born 19 September 1839 at Saare Annusse: EELK Viljandi congregation, births 1839, EAA.1290.1.53, image 21, No. 338. Jürri as farm holder of Nuija Jahn from 1835, with his son Jaak aged 18 in 1857–58: Alt-Woidoma revisions EAA.1865.3.288/4, image 12, and EAA.1865.3.293/3, image 10. Banns, 1861, No. 79: EAA.1290.1.503, image 163. Household books 1864–77, EAA.1290.1.529, image 214 (p. 206, with Jürri’s death on 7 August 1867 and his second wife Reet née Muhul); 1877–99, EAA.1290.1.532, image 625 (pp. 1332–33); 1900–36, EAA.1290.1.559, image 106 (p. 236). Death: EELK Viljandi congregation, deaths 1909, EAA.1290.1.555, image 284 (p. 563). ↩

  2. Hugo: Arolsen Archives, DP registration card (born Tallinn, 1929; father Johannes) and USCC emigration list for unaccompanied children; Tallinn family register vol. 22, p. 561 (parents Johannes, born 1900, and Wilhelmine, born 1905), as indexed in the WWII refugees database; Social Security Death Master File (died 31 July 1984). Johannes Leoke, born 18 March 1900 at Peningi, son of Hinrik: memoriaal.ee and Tallinn family register vol. 68, p. 51. The link between Hugo’s father and this Johannes rests on the same name and birth year and is not confirmed. ↩

  3. NARA, Merchant Marine Applications for Licenses of Officers, RG 26 (NAID 230106752): licensed second mate, Los Angeles, 5 March 1925; application of 5 December 1929 giving birth at Reval (Tallinn), 22 May 1891, and US citizenship. A declaration of intention indexed as “Leoke, Hans”, no. 214568, US District Court, Southern District of New York (NAID 61751317), 1926, may be his or that of Hans the younger, who was then in New York; the index does not say which. ↩

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