Extract from the book Nemesis Divina (Carl von Linné)

From page 138:

Leijel, mayor of Stockholm, was wealthy an had no heirs; he had three sisters, however, and one of them he disinherited.

Möhlman, the son of the second sister, inherits the greater part of the property; increases it until it is worth two million dollars in gold. He wants to marry his disinherited aunt's daughter, but since the family is opposed to the match, remains a bachelor.

In his old age he becomes ill. He sends for Gerdessköld. his cousin's son president of the court of appeal, and asks him to draw up at will by the next day, conferring all the Möhlman property on himself. Within an hour of doing so, Möhlman dies.

It was in this way that nearly all the Möhlman money passed to the disinherited sister's offspring. Slavius and Dr. Schulzenheim, marrying into the family, come into the wealth.

Leijel's sister appealed to God when she was disinherited, and He heard her.

 

From Page 287-288, Professor Petry's notes of page 138:

The Leyel family originated from Arbroath in Scotland, a Henry Leyel serving in the Swedish army during the closing decades of the sixteenth century, and being granted property in Östergötland and Småland. Jacob Leijel (1612-1678) became burger of Stockholm in 1638, and laid the foundation of the family's immense fortune by taking as his second wife Barbara Martha Dress (1633-1694) , daughter of the owner of ironworks in the Örebro area. But making astute deals with the wife's co-heirs he assimilated most of the familys's assets, and towards the end of his life acquired the lease of further foundries, hammering-plants and mines from the crown.

Adam Leijel (1658-1729), the member of the family mentioned by Linnaeus, was the son of Jacob and Barbara. Together with two of his sisters, he increased the family fortune still further, was ennobled in 1717, endowed a poorhouse at Hammarby near Nora, granted funds to the university of Uppsala, but dies childless.

Adam's elder sister Maria (1657-1740) married Sven Möhlman (1636--1687), and had a son Jacob (1685-1761), who as Linnaeus notes, inherited the Leijel fortune when his uncle died.

Adam's half-sister Margaretha, daughter of Jacob Leijel's first wife Margareta Eden (1627-1653), married the Stockholm banker Johan Gerdes d. 1687). It was her grandson Johan Gerdessköld (1698-1768) who was president of the court of appeal, and who inherited the Leijel fortune in accordance with Möhlman's will.

Lars Salvius (1706-1773), the Stockholm printer, member of the Academy of Science, publisher of most of Linnaeus' Swedish works, married Charlotta Svedenstjerna, the granddaughter of Adam Leijel's second sister Eva Maria. David Schultz von Schulzenheim (1732-1823), the Stockholm physician and pupil of Linnaeus, in 1762, married Catarina Eleonora Svedenstjerna (1728-1797), Charlotta's sister: Anrep II: 619, 677, 942; III 677; SBL 22: 448-451.

The case-history has been placed here as an example of the providential rectification of failed family relationships.

 


Source:
Nemesis Divina, Carl von Linné
Edited and translated with explanatory notes by M-J. Petry. Springer 2001

Extract from pages 138, 287 and 288.


Notes (Peter Leyel):
It was Sven Möhlman’s son Jacob Möhlman who inherited a large share of the Leijel fortune.
He became the new Patron of Hammarby. Enobled on 1 Oct 1719 and introduced in 1720 as nr:1663. He is buried in the Leijel family grave in the Storkyrkan, Stockholm.

The Leijel in von Linné’s story is actually Adam Jacobsson Leijel. He died without marrying and having children. However, he was NOT mayor of Stockholm.
His sister was Maria who married Sven Möhlman in 1683 and had a son Jacob. It was Maria Jacobsdotter Leijel’s sister Eva Maria who married Robert Petre and had a daughter Margareta Petre who in turn married Carl Svedenstjerna in 1727. They had a daughter Charlotta who married Lars Salvius in 1757 in Stockholm.
From the story written by Linné it seems that Adam Jacobsson Leijel disinherited his sister Eva-Maria.