Leoke family

Hans Leoke (the younger)

1888–1945 · Research ID L-013

In the family history: How the two families connect · The Leokes of Viljandi · Elmar Oswald, Hilda and their daughters · Further research

Vital facts

Born	5 Nov 1888 O.S. (17 Nov N.S.), 6:30 p.m., Alt-Woidoma school ("Schule")
Baptised	18 Dec 1888 O.S., Viljandi; sponsors miller Hans Trull, young man Tõnis Töllasepp, farmer's wife Kadi Randsepp (EAA.1290.1.330 img 22, births No. 300; SL-50)
Died	1945 (Sarapuu); 24 Jun 1945 on Geni only; place and cause unknown, probably USA
Occupation	Commercial clerk (English and Dutch trading houses, East Indies); army officer (reserve ensign); Estonian consular official, New York

Family

ParentsHans Leoke 1853–1919, Mari Leoke, née Tõllasepp 1867–1954

Brothers and sistersJaan Leoke 1886–1959, Peter (Peeter) Leoke 1892–1973, Elmar Oswald Leoke 1896–1972, Adolf Jakob Leoke 1901–1901

See Hans Leoke in the family tree →

Life events

Date	Event	Place	Source
before 1914	Schooled in Petrograd (Tsesarevich gymnasium; volunteer examination as external student); bookkeeping and teachers' courses; brief commercial courses in Riga and Petersburg	Petrograd, Riga	ERA.495.7.2663 img 5; ERA.1608.1.570 img 2 (SL-112, SL-111)
from Jun 1917	Military service; War School 2nd infantry course; as artillery volunteer sent to Vladivostok, fled to Japan when unrest broke out	Vladivostok, Japan	ERA.495.7.2663 img 5; ERA.1608.1.570 img 2
to spring 1919	In the service of English and Dutch trading houses in southern lands; returned from Java to Estonia on news of the Republic	Java	ERA.1608.1.570 img 2 (his own account)
1920–21	To America; in the service of the Estonian consulate in New York from its founding (1921); matriculated at New York University, autumn 1921	New York	ERA.1608.1.570 img 2–3
1 Sep 1920	Service sheet of Ensign (lipnik) Hans Hansu p. Leoke compiled; reserve ensign from 31 Aug 1920	Estonia	ERA.495.7.2663 img 4–5 (SL-112)
22 Jun 1922 – Jun 1924	Took over the consulate at 38 Park Row from Nikolai Köstner on 22 Jun 1922; signed as acting consul ("Konsuli k.t.") until at least 12 Jun 1924	New York	ERA.1608.1.51 img 5–14; ERA.1608.1.570 img 4–24
Jun–Jul 1922	Took over the New York consulate's business and property from Nikolai Köstner; named to carry out the consul's duties in summer 1922, when the USA recognised Estonia	New York	ERA.1608.1.51 (description; SL-114); ERA.1608.1.570 img 3
1923	Compiled the pamphlet "Republic of Esthonia: Facts about Esthonia" (second enlarged printing Aug 1923); consulate at 38 Park Row, New York	New York	ERA.1608.1.570 img 2
Jan 1924 – Jul 1925	Correspondence on his appointment as consul to New York City (Estonian Legation, Washington; not digitised)	Washington/New York	ERA.1578.1.150 (AIS description)
6 May 1924	Estonian passport No. 10, issued by the Legation in Washington; "vallaline" (unmarried)	Washington	ERA.1608.1.808 img 9
10 Jul 1924 – 6 Apr 1925	Registered at Viru 22-3, Tallinn; left "for Sweden"	Tallinn	TLA.1376.1.134, sheet 312802 (WEB-13)
20–23 Apr 1925	Arrived at Ellis Island on S/S Stockholm (from Sweden) on 20 Apr 1925; admitted as a returning resident on 23 Apr	New York	ERA.1608.1.808 img 12–17
7 May 1925	Tallinn police: "Hans Leoke asub praegusel ajal Ameerikas ja teenib seal Eesti konsulina" (is at present in America and serves there as Estonian consul)	Tallinn/New York	ERA.495.7.2663 img 35 (SL-112)
1926	No longer consul (Col. Victor Mutt was Consul General 1926–28). Living at Box 25, LaBelle, Florida in Feb–Apr 1926	LaBelle, Florida	ERA.495.7.2663 img 23; ERA.1608.1.808 img 12
Aug 1927	"Hans Leoke, New York, 106 West 120 St" (an address Peter also gave in 1928)	New York	ERA.495.7.2663 img 27
26 Oct 1929	Passport extended to 6 May 1930	New York	ERA.1608.1.808 img 9
3 Nov 1930	Signed statement in New York (his last dated trace)	New York	ERA.495.7.2663 img 16
6 Nov 1930	Estonian Consulate General, 1860 Broadway, New York, forwards his signature for his military-service certificate (received 2 Dec 1929)	New York	ERA.495.7.2663 img 37 (SL-112)

Dates before 1918 are Old Style (Julian) unless marked; see conventions.

Photographs and illustrations

The Leoke family on 26 August 1910. As identified by Viljandi Museum, front row, from left: Hans, Elmar and Mari; back row: Jaan, Hans and Peeter (Peter). The b — The Leoke family on 26 August 1910. As identified by Viljandi Museum, front row, from left: Hans, Elmar and Mari; back row: Jaan, Hans…

The Leoke family, about 1903. Front row, from left: Elmar Oswald (about 7, Pilvi’s father), Hans, Mari and Peeter. Back row: Hans the younger and Jaan. The only — The Leoke family, about 1903. Front row, from left: Elmar Oswald (about 7, Pilvi’s father), Hans, Mari and Peeter. Back row: Hans the…

Archive pages

Further pages in the National Archives of Estonia’s Saaga viewer. Saaga asks for a free sign-in.

1888 church book, image 22 (pp. 21–22) · EAA.1290.1.330
household book 1877–1899, image 625 (pp. 1332–1333) · EAA.1290.1.532
images 2–3 read (save all 24) · ERA.1608.1.570
images 2, 4, 5, 34–37 read (save all 37) · ERA.495.7.2663
all 27 images (only image 2 seen) · ERA.1608.1.808
all (17 leaves; not read) · ERA.1608.1.51
all (not read) · EAA.2100.1.7455

Open questions

LB-01Births and baptisms of Hans and Mari's sonsAnswered
LB-05Hans Leoke the younger, 1888–1945Largely answered (New York consul 1922–30)
LD-04Hans the younger's death, 1945Open

All open questions →

Research notes

Confidence: Life to 1930 good. Death 1945 from Sarapuu; the day only from Geni.
Acting consul in New York. Sarapuu, "Hans Leoke", Viljandi Muuseumi aastaraamat 2007, p. 210, says Elmar Osvald, Peeter and Hans (1888–1945) "left the homeland and lived their lives abroad", and that "the last of them" was acting consul of the Estonian Republic in the USA in the 1920s. This is now confirmed as being about Hans: his own c. 1923 biography (ERA.1608.1.570, written for the Estonian Literary Society; birth at the Vana-Võidu schoolhouse 5 Nov 1888 O.S., father Hans Jaagu p., mother "Mari Jaani t. Tõllasepp") says he was named to carry out the consul's duties in summer 1922; the handover file ERA.1608.1.51 dates June–July 1922; and a Tallinn police note of 7 May 1925 says he was then in America serving as Estonian consul. So "left for Sweden" in April 1925 was a stop on the way back to New York, as it was for Peeter in 1924. His exact rank (acting consul, consul, vice-consul) and when he left the post are not yet known.
He described himself as unmarried ("vallaline") about 1923 and as a "restless wanderer". He owed his travels to his father, who did not refuse his sons travel money.
Birth date: the officer's service sheet gives "5/18 November 1888"; the WWI database (from Geni) 19 Nov. 5 Nov O.S. is 17 Nov N.S., which we keep.
Death: the only precise date, 24 Jun 1945, is on Geni (cited by the ra.ee WWI database, record 74346), source unknown. Not in the WWII refugees database, the Stockholm Rotemannen register, Find a Grave or the US Death Master File. A New York death record for 1945 is the next thing to look for.
Research note: first came to the USA about 1920–21 by way of Cuba; on the consulate staff at 38 Park Row by Aug 1921; acting consul from 22 Jun 1922 to at least Jun 1924; home to Tallinn 1924–25; back in New York on 20 Apr 1925. From 1926 he was no longer consul. A photograph of him as an ensign (War School certificate, 31 Aug 1920) is in his Tartu University file, EAA.2100.1.7455 img 9. He wrote "vallaline" (unmarried) on every form, 1923–29.
His death is not in the free German Genealogy Group index of New York City deaths 1862–1948, so he may have died outside New York City or under another spelling.
Check whether the SDNY declaration of intention no. 214568 "Leoke, Hans" (1926; now filed under U-011) is his: a 1951 newspaper on "Capt. Henri Leoke" points to Heinz (U-011).
Not to be confused with Heinz (Hans) Leoke, b. 1891 Tallinn, a US merchant officer (U-011). The WWI database ra.ee/ilmasoda lists a Hans Leoke b. 19 Nov 1888 sourced only to Geni.
Tallinn address sheet: Hans Leoke, b. 1888, at Viru 22, flat 3, Tallinn, from 10 Jul 1924 to 6 Apr 1925, then left for Sweden (TLA.1376.1.134, sheet 312802; WEB-13). This supports Sarapuu's statement that he lived abroad. Look for him in Swedish records (folkbokföring, death index) and for a 1945 death in Sweden (superseded: see the New York note above).
No death annotation on his baptism entry or in the household book EAA.1290.1.532 (p. 1332); no Hans Leoke b. 1888 on the kalmistud.ee grave register.
Sarapuu 2007, p. 194: the younger sons "went to school in other towns, then were taken into the World War; afterwards they worked here and there elsewhere". The Russian-army lists of 1914–17 are therefore worth searching for him.
Other records not yet read: Tartu University student file EAA.2100.1.7455 "Leoke, Hans (matr. 261)", probably his (he was a free listener in law); passport and visa file for Hans, Peter and Elisabeth, ERA.1608.1.808 (1924–29).
Not found in ISIK, the Archives of Estonians Abroad search, or the 1945–57 Soviet gazette notices of missing and dead persons. Memoriaal.ee, the WWII refugees database, Volksbund and Arolsen could not be searched by the agent; the compiler can try them by hand.