Hinrich Hackfeld

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Hinrich Hackfeld (born August 24, 1816 in Almsloh ( Ganderkesee ), † October 20, 1887 in Bremen ) was a German captain and businessman.

biography

Hackfeld was the son of a farmer and the uncle of consul Johann Hackfeld . He was only able to attend the village school irregularly. He went to sea since 1831, later attended the helmsman school in Bremen and eventually became helmsman and captain . In 1839 he was the first mate of the Bremen brig Express to sail to North and South America and became the ship's captain and partner. The brig later ran aground north of the Philippines. In 1848 he bought the brigantine Wilhelmine , with which he had been to Hawaii since 1849 .

In 1848 he married Marie Gesine Hackfeld (1829–1917), the daughter of the shipowner Carl Friedrich Pflüger. Hackfeld, his wife, brother-in-law Johann Carl Diederich Pflüger and his nephew BF Ehlers moved to Hawaii at the end of 1848. In 1849 he founded a timber export company and store on Honolulu's Queens Street . He sold groceries, then also European goods and marine equipment and, since 1852, clothing. The California gold rush gave business an unexpected boost. In 1852 Hackfeld founded a textile business that was to become the nucleus of the most exclusive department store chain in Hawaii, the Liberty House .

In 1853 his brother-in-law Pflüger (1833-1883) became his partner and the company was now called Hackfeld & Co , General Commission Agents and Ship Chandlers . In Hawaii he operated, among other things, a shipping company that owned 1871 ships under the Hawaiian flag, he had sugar cane plantations and he exported sugar and tropical fruits. His office flag showed a red Hanseatic cross on a white background in Bremen. The whaling business in the North Pacific should also lead to a rapid rise of the company. The confidence of the Europeans and the Polynesians promoted his business development. The Kingdom of Hawaii was still independent at that time. The kings and the old chiefs sought and valued his advice. On important questions the king sought advice from Hackfeld and Pflüger, whom he called Hakapila and Cale . So they prevented the signing of a protection treaty with the USA, they supplied the soldiers' uniforms and placed German officers as trainers. In Hawaii there were even banknotes bearing the likeness of Hackfeld.
In 1861 Pflüger received half of the business share. Trading stations have now been established in Sitta ( Alaska ) and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the Bering Strait . His nephew Johann Hackfeld worked for him as a commercial employee and since 1881 as a partner in Hawaii.

In 1871 Hackfeld returned to Bremen and founded a company at Langenstrasse No. 131. The office was then relocated to the house of his brother-in-law, Pflüger, at Schlachte No. 31B. The plantation owner Paul Isenberg (1837-1903) made connections with Hackfeld in Hawaii at the end of the 1860s and in 1881 became a partner in the Hackfeld sugar factory. When Hackfeld handed over management to Isenberg in 1886, the H. Hackfeld and Co. company was one of the largest in Hawaii.

The Hackfeld company was taken over under the management of Johann Hackfeld in 1903 after Isenberg's death.

Hackfeld donated the Hackfeld School Fund to the community of Ganderkesee . The widows of Hinrich Hackfeld and Paul Isenberg - Marie Gesine Hackfeld and Wobetha Magaretha Isenberg - donated a large part of their fortune in the Hanseatic city of Bremen. His grave is in the Protestant cemetery in Delmenhorst , Wildeshauser Straße.

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personal data
SURNAME Hackfeld, Hinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German captain and businessman
DATE OF BIRTH August 24, 1816
PLACE OF BIRTH Almsloh ( Ganderkesee )
DATE OF DEATH October 20, 1887
Place of death Bremen