Ignatz Hülswitt

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Ignatz Hülswitt (* 16th May 1793 in Lüdinghausen ; † 20th January 1832 in Münster ) was a German travel writer whose trip to America but a plagiarism of the travelogues of the Englishman John R. Jewitt represents the actual prisoner in chief Maquinna on the west coast of Canada was .

Life

Ignatz Hülswitt was born as one of four children to the potash manufacturer Bernhard Hülswitt on May 16, 1793 in Lüdinghausen, a small town south of Münster . The family was well known in the city for a long time, and in the course of time they had provided several mayors there. At the time of Ignatz's birth, the family lived at Mühlenstrasse 16.

Together with his older brothers Friedrich and Mauritz, he joined the Prussian Army and fought as a lieutenant in the artillery against the French . In 1819 he and his wife emigrated from Luxembourg to the USA. It took him mostly by ship over the Moselle and the Rhine to Rotterdam and from there to Kennebunk (Maine) .

In the USA he spent eight years with stints in New York and as a farmer in Louisiana and Tennessee , as well as an alleged trip to the northwest coast of America. When his wife died, Hülswitt returned to Münster in 1827 and published his travel experiences there a year later. In the last years of his life, Hülswitt held a position as private secretary. On January 20, 1832, he presumably died of a stroke in the Clemenshospital in Münster. There he was buried in the St. Ludgeri cemetery.

Literary appreciation

In his travel description, Hülswitt states on pages 40 to 167 that he sailed from New York to the “other” side of America, Nootka Sound on the northwest coast. There the ship was attacked by Indians and only Hülswitt and one other sailor survived this attack. After living with the locals for several years (1822-1824), they managed to escape and return home happily.

Exactly this story was described years earlier by John R. Jewitt in his book A journal, kept at Nootka Sound (Boston 1807). From 1803 to 1805 he had undoubtedly had the experiences described. Hülswitt translated this from the original English version into German and integrated it into his travelogue as his own personal experience.

It is possible that Hülswitt met Jewitt in person, as he was in New York at around the same time as Hülswitt. In any case, the story of Jewitt in the northeast of the USA was well known at the time of Hülswitt's stay, as Jewitt had sold his book from "Door to Door" for years and, after some success, even took part in theater performances of his experiences. Hülswitt's book is held by many libraries around the world, probably also because of its antiquarian value. At least his "experiences" on the northwest coast of America are an undoubted case of plagiarism .

plant

  • Diary of a trip to the United States and the Northwest Coast of America , Münster 1828.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Diocese archives Münster, church book No. 4 (Lüdinghausen, baptisms: 1736–1803). The year of birth 1790 given in the sparse literature on Hülswitt is therefore an error.
personal data
SURNAME Hülswitt, Ignatz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German travel writer
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1793
PLACE OF BIRTH Ludinghausen
DATE OF DEATH January 20, 1832
Place of death Muenster