Gustav Konstantin von Alvensleben

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Gustav Konstantin (Gustin) von Alvensleben, also called Alvo von Alvensleben

Gustav Konstantin (Gustin) von Alvensleben , called Alvo von Alvensleben (born July 25, 1879 in Neugattersleben , † October 22, 1965 in Seattle , USA) was an entrepreneur of German origin in Vancouver / Canada and Seattle / USA.

family

He came from the Low German noble family von Alvensleben and was the third son of Werner von Alvensleben, later Werner Graf von Alvensleben-Neugattersleben (1840-1928) and Anna von Veltheim (1853-1897) and had two sisters and four brothers, including the Merchant and politician Werner von Alvensleben (1875–1947) and later president of the gentlemen 's club, Count Bodo von Alvensleben -Neugattersleben (1882–1961). The widow of his brother Joachim (* 1872), who died in 1914, was the abbess of the Stift zum Heiligengrabe monastery and chief executive of the Evangelical station mission Armgard von Alvensleben . On April 2, 1908, he married the teacher Edith Westcott (1878–1964) in Vancouver. This marriage resulted in three children: Margret (1909–2005), Gero (* 1910) and Bodo (1913–1988).

Life

After attending the cadet institute, he initially embarked on a military career. He joined Infantry Regiment No. 153 on September 24, 1898 as a flag boy . On April 18, 1899 he was promoted to ensign and on March 23, 1900 to lieutenant . From July 20, 1901 to February 18, 1904 he served in the Brandenburg Jäger Battalion No. 3 in Lübben . Then he took his leave as a lieutenant and emigrated to America - because, as it is said, his father no longer wanted to pay him the betting debts. After a short stay in El Salvador , where he worked on his older brother Joachim's coffee farm, he finally came to Vancouver, British Columbia in the summer of 1904 - with cash worth four dollars. At first he made his way through life as a farm worker, night watchman, fisherman, hunter and seller of poultry, then was able to buy a boat and save $ 1,500 after a successful salmon fishing season on the Fraser River . He used this money to set up a real estate and finance company, the Alvensleben Finance and General Investment Company , in 1907 . He placed large two-page advertisements on credit in the Vancouver Sun newspaper that quickly got his attention . He was also active on the Vancouver Stock Exchange , founded in 1907 , where he is said to have made over half of the daily turnover on some days.

Vancouver was experiencing a real estate boom and a strong economic boom at the time. In the years that followed, Alvensleben managed to mobilize a great deal of German and European capital for investments in British Columbia and thus made a significant contribution to this upswing. Here he worked temporarily with his brother Werner, who had also emigrated to Vancouver. Around 1912 his company had 50 direct employees and he had holdings in numerous companies, including Standard Fish and Fertilizer , Standard Fisheries and Whaling , Vancouver Timber and Trading , Queen Charlotte Island Fisheries , Indian River Park (Wigwam Inn) , German-Canadian Trust Company , Vancouver-Nanaimo Coal Mining, and Issaquah & Superior Mining Company .

The Issaquah & Superior Mining Company was located in King County in the US state of Washington , USA. Alvensleben appeared there as a renovator after the mine had gone bankrupt due to years of labor disputes. The mining facilities were modernized and over 500 workers were hired. The contemporary chroniclers report that Alvensleben restored industrial peace with "almost socialistic ideas" by ensuring fair wages, humane working conditions and good housing and by working sensibly with the unions. The renovation of the mine triggered a construction boom: In 1913, more residential and commercial buildings are said to have been built in Issaquah than in the two decades before.

During this time, Alvensleben embodied the American Dream : Through drive, entrepreneurial vision and willingness to take risks, he had worked his way up from a simple day laborer to a multiple millionaire within a few years. Even in his lifetime he was considered a legend and is now regarded as one of the great figures from the pioneering days of British Columbia.

However, the outbreak of World War I led to an abrupt end to his economic empire. His property was confiscated as enemy property. To avoid arrest, he had to leave Canada and settled in Seattle / USA. When the USA entered the war in 1917, he was taken to the Fort Douglas internment camp in Utah as an alleged "spy", from which he was not released until 1920. He then worked in the real estate business and as a stockbroker, but was unable to build on his earlier economic successes. In 1939 he became a US citizen .

literature

  • F. Penberthy: Alvo von Alvensleben. A personal sketch . In: British Columbia Magazine . 1911, pp. 1303-1312
  • Clarence B. Bagley: History of King County, Washington . Chicago-Seattle 1929, Chapter 42 on Issaquah.
  • TD Regehr (ed): The Possibilities of Canada are Truly Great. Memoirs 1906–1924 by Martin Nordegg . Toronto 1971.
  • DG Paterson: European Financial Capital and British Columbia: An Essay on the Role of the Regional Entrepreneur . In: BC Studies . Volume 21, 1974, pp. 33-47.
  • Ingrid E. Laue: Gustav Konstantin Alvo von Alvensleben (1879-1965): The Pioneering Prussian in British Columbia . German-Canadian Yearbook, 5, 1979, ed. German-Canadian Historical Association, Historical Society of Mecklenburg, Upper Canada ISSN  0316-8603 pp. 154-173
  • David Cruise and Allison Griffiths: Fleecing the Lamb: The Inside Story of the Vancouver Stock Exchange . Douglas & Mcintrye Ltd 1987, Chapter 2: Alvo von Alvensleben, the First Promoter, pp. 17-30.
  • Joerg A. Nagler: Enemy Aliens and Internment in World War I: Alvo von Alvensleben, Fort Douglas, Utah, A Case Study . In: Utah Historical Quarterly . Volume 58, Fall 1990, pp. 388-405.
  • Private archive of the family v. Alvensleben eV

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ [Leopold] Freiherr von Münchhausen: Officer master list of the Brandenbg. Jäger Battalion No. 3 and the Masch.-Gewehr-Abteilg. No. 7. Richter & Munkelt, Lübben 1909, p. 91
personal data
SURNAME Alvensleben, Gustav Konstantin von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alvensleben, Gustin von; Alvensleben, Alvo von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Canadian-American entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH July 25, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Neugattersleben
DATE OF DEATH October 22, 1965
Place of death Seattle , USA