Charles Peterson was the first historically important Latvian to emigrate to Ireland, and his last name to this day serving as a title for the world’s oldest continuously operating briar pipe company, Kapp & Peterson of Dublin, founded in 1865. He arrived in the Emerald Isle in the last quarter of the 19th century in either 1875 or’76.

Despite the world renown of K&P among pipe smokers, little to nothing was known about Peterson or his family. Based on some documents, all that could be gleaned was that Charles Peterson was Latvian and that his ancestors came from somewhere in Jelgava a region south of the capital city Riga.

As smokers know, Peterson rose to world fame through the invention of his Peterson Patent Pipe, an innovation that has stood the test of time by its performance and its countless imitations over the years. Unfortunately, at some point in the 20th century Kapp & Peterson seems to have had a hand in distorting its early history and through a process of error cascade a myth has grown up over the far more interesting facts.

To this day, many merchants still repeat the myth:. .