BALFOUR, WILLIAM [SSNE 910]

Surname

BALFOUR

First name

WILLIAM, WILHELM

Title/rank

BURGESS

Nationality

SCOT

Region

ST ANDREWS, FIFE

Social status

BURGESS

Text source

William Balfour, the son of Duncan Balfour of St Andrews, started off in business in the service of his uncle James Balfour [SSNE 6719] in Danzig. James left him 400 thaler in his will in 1622, and it is from this document that we know that William was in Danzig at that time. By 1634 he became a burgess of the city. He married twice, first to Anna Pilgrim in 1631 and then to Maria von Hoffen in 1636. This is probably the same as the Balfour and William Henderson noted as skippers in May 1629 who obtained passes from Chancellor Oxenstierna for transporting 100 lasts of salt and 40 oxheads of wine from Kongisberg to Danzig and back

T. Fischer, The Scots in Eastern and Western Prussia (Edinburgh, 1903), pp.66, 98, 195; Rikskansleren Axel Oxenstiernas skrifter och brefvexling, first series, IV, p.758.

Service record

POLAND-LITHUANIA, PRUSSIA, DANZIG

Arrived 1622-01-01, as SKIPPER

Departed 1636-12-31

Capacity BURGESS, SKIPPER, purpose CIVIC, MERCHANT, COMMERCE, TRADE