August from Orth

August Moritz Benjamin von Orth (born February 5, 1748 - † November 9, 1807 ) was a German merchant in Heilbronn . He was one of the driving forces in advance of the industrialization of the city, benefited in the War of the First Coalition , during which he also became politically and diplomatically, the cloth trade and was in 1804 by Emperor Francis II. In the imperial nobility raised.

Life

Orth was the fourth son of Heilbronn mayor Georg Heinrich Orth (1698–1769) and Dorothea Catharina Maria Andler. The Orth patrician family was very wealthy, they provided several mayors of the city of Heilbronn and since the 15th century they repeatedly produced important merchants.

August had been in business with a businessman Speidel since 1770 at the latest. In 1777 he founded with Johann Nikolaus Scheuermann from Heilbronn the company Orth & Scheuermann , who later August Orth & Co. said. Together with the businessman Friedrich August Kinkel, who probably became a partner in Orth & Co. and brought the parental forwarding business into the company, the company leased the Neckar island Spitalgrün from Heilbronn's Katharinenspital in 1785 , where it operated a cloth bleaching shop. In addition, a cotton spinning mill with English machines, a tobacco factory and probably from 1809 also an oil mill were operated.

The company benefited in particular from the First Coalition War , during which materials were supplied to the military, as a result of which the joint assets of Orth and partner Scheuermann rose from 21,000 guilders in 1790 to 155,000 guilders in 1799. In 1796 Orth & Co. also took over the salt haulage business from Günzburg to Mannheim. In the same year, secret business was also carried out with the Württemberg war pre-station deputation. In autumn 1796 the company was able to advance 22,000 guilders to the city of Heilbronn.

In 1795, Orth applied unsuccessfully for a senatorial position in Heilbronn as the successor to his late brother, the mayor Heinrich Karl Philibert Orth (1733–1795), but as a merchant he was not accepted into the council, which at that time only consisted of academics.

When it became apparent in the run-up to the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss that the imperial cities would lose their independence and could be added to the territorial territories, August Orth was one of the delegation from Heilbronn, who attended the Rastatt Congress in 1798, along with the businessman August Schreiber (who married a niece of Orth in 1830) French campaigned for the preservation of imperial freedom.

During the Second Coalition War , August Orth was abducted twice with relatives from Heilbronn by the French in 1799 in order to extort contributions from the city. To compensate for this, the city imposed a penalty tax on the citizens of around 90,000 guilders, of which the Orthsche and two other Heilbronn trading houses accounted for around a fifth of the sum.

After the transition of the imperial city of Heilbronn to Württemberg, August Orth led the mounted citizen corps in 1803, which Elector Friedrich von Württemberg received for a tribute ceremony. In the following years Orth was twice a member of diplomatic missions negotiating between the city and the Württemberg ruler.

On April 13, 1804 Orth was raised to the imperial nobility by Emperor Franz II . In the same year, the geography and statistics of Württemberg designated him as one of the most active and enlightened merchants in Heilbronn .

Orth died on November 9, 1807. Two of his descendants had married close relatives within their own family. His company was continued by his sons Heinrich (1786–1851) and Ludwig von Orth (1792–1850) and their brother-in-law Alexander Orth (1774–1844). The company collapsed in 1830 as a result of excessive speculation. The remaining assets were taken over by the Heilbronn merchant Bläß, who was married to an Orth daughter. In doing so he founded an important white lead and bleach factory in the Bläß'schen Palais . The Spitalgrün and the former locations of the other Orth'schen factories developed into the centers of industrialization in Heilbronn.

family

Orth married Christiane Ferdinande von Linkersdorf in 1779 and had three sons and three daughters with her:

• Ferdinand von Orth (* 1783), died while emigrating to North America
• Heinrich von Orth (1786–1851), merchant oo Ernestine Orth
• Ludwig von Orth (1792–1850) oo Friederike Schreiber
• Luise von Orth oo Alexander Orth (1774–1844)
• Sofie von Orth oo Philipp Röder, tobacco manufacturer
• Charlotte von Orth oo Paul Roth, senior councilor in Ulm

literature

• Moriz von Rauch: The Heilbronn merchant and councilor family Orth . In: Historischer Verein Heilbronn, Heilbronn 1925, here pp. 88–91