Jacob Ovens

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Jacob Oven's memoirs 1724, probably a forgery

Jacob Ovens (* around 1685 near Dithmarschen or Friedrichstadt ) was a dike builder and impostor during the storm surges in 1717 , 1718 and 1721. As a senior dike inspector in the Electorate of Hanover, he caused immense expenses.

Life (after Oven's supposed autobiography, 1724)

Origin and youth

Jacob Ovens was a son of the Mennonite family Ovens and probably a descendant of the grandson generation of the painter Jürgen Ovens . His father was probably a farmer, houseman and overseer of a district of the dikes there, and trained his son as a handyman at an early age. After unsuccessful attempts as a mill builder, brandy distiller and quack , Jacob Ovens temporarily moved to a cousin after the death of his father without any significant inheritance. He persuaded Jacob Ovens, then around 24, to marry into a Lutheran farming family near Poppenbüll . Instead of agriculture, Ovens devoted himself to the invention of various machines.

Lifestyle as a soldier of fortune and self-taught engineer

Without leaving any children and practically bankrupt, Ovens is said to have fled to Garding a little later , found admission to a boatman named Petersen and constructed a horse-powered grain mill. After an affair with Petersen's wife, Ovens fled to Copenhagen. There he is said to have promised a war commissioner von Platen that he would build a water-powered saber and rifle factory. He is said to have soon entered the Navy under the command of Christian Thomesen Sehested and participated in battles with the Swedes near Rügen . Back in Copenhagen he married the daughter of a typesetter. Through his sister-in-law, the wife of a food uncoverer at the royal court, Ovens was able to steal fine dishes and sell them with homemade brandy as an innkeeper. Despite this kind of livelihood, he was commissioned by the court with a canal project, but soon had to flee and was called to a public manhunt by drumming . In the chaos of war Ovens is said to have received a position as privateer captain on a Danish warship. But he was recognized as a wanted fraudster, hid himself as a farmer in Holstein , escaped from the Danish troops chasing him to Hamburg , where he ran affairs and impostures and was soon bankrupt again. He tried his hand at inventing machines again and succeeded in collecting advances for sewer projects and mud dredgers from the Hamburg magistrate, after which he brought himself into disrepute. Next, he is said to have sold an English agent (named von Engel ) blueprints by other designers and various utopian proposals for the Harburg Citadel . He created the appearance of a successful planner, whereby he was able to get hold of an order to deepen the Weser in the Duchy of Bremen-Verden and was finally invited to London. Here Ovens was first unmasked by Engel, but was able to ingratiate himself with his son, his later construction treasurer and assistant, and with Privy Councilor von Bernstorff . Ovens now pretended to have won orders for mill and sewer projects in Mecklenburg for Bernstorff.

Appointment as Kurhannoverscher Oberdeichinspektor

Ovens allegedly left a dike breach near London unresolved, but instead moved to Amsterdam, where he is said to have started a trip to apply for the dike repair at Wischhafen around 1717 . Ovens reached Stade via Hamburg , probably by hunting . With bold proposals he is in May 1719 at the Stade government for current dyke construction work of the previous dikemaster , Eybe Siade Johanns , have been tendered. Then Ovens really seems to have realized projects for the privy councilor von Bernstorff on his Gartow estate . By virtue of a letter of recommendation from the von Bernstorff council, Ovens was now employed by the court in Hanover as a dike inspector , without ever having completed any real training . Back in Stade on November 22, 1719, he then exerted pressure , criticism and defamation against Johanns until he was appointed as his successor.

Embezzlement during the dike repairs in Wischhafen

In November 1719, the dikes maintained by Johanns were badly damaged by storm surges like the one on February 26, 1718. Ovens is said to have bullied Johanns to the death at first, then collected funds for the work through his construction cashier, the young angel who belongs to him, and lodged himself with Deichgraf Jacobi. As a result, Ovens seems to have stolen further sums of money without any problems and has got used to an increasingly rude appearance as a royal servant . He is said to have threatened cashiers and inspectors with violence and boasted in front of a merchant Haxmeister: Anyone who had such a job as I / at that time under their hands / and did not take care of them for a few years / would have to be much worse than the greatest fool ... my King has money and I have courage . Ovens only awarded contracts to subcontractors in return for a share of the profit; he had raw materials written to without paying. Also, workers will have little counted him and allegedly he said: fell a worker in the Kley / Let him lie / He is as good as a sack of sand ... .

Escape and alleged autobiography

Ultimately, Ovens is said to have escaped from custody in Stade to Kiel in the Danish Holstein , where he supposedly published his immoral memoirs in the form of a booklet in 1724, supposedly printed in Leipzig and Frankfurt (according to some sources, this may be one of Ovens opponents as libel act authored contemporary forgery, which was based on well-known details Ovens Vita). In it, the author, supposedly Ovens, does not even attempt a justification or excuse, but the unscrupulous egoism and opportunistic knighthood of the talented peasant son Jacob Ovens are glorified in a bizarre way against the background of feudal self-importance . The most credible source with a detailed description of Oven's real deeds and misdeeds can be found in Jobelmann's essay from 1880 (see literature).

Jacob Oven's later fate (after Jobelmann, 1880)

Map of the Lower Elbe by Nicolaes Visscher, after 1681

Investigative commissions

Due to the immense amount of money used to build dykes near Stade and Wischhafen in the state of Kehdingen , a first commission under Lieutenant Colonel Pauli and Major Walmoden examined the work of Oven in 1720 , whereby Walmoden is said to have sided with Oven, but the commission made further disclosure of the accounting system demanded. Despite further complaints, Ovens reported the supposed progress of the works to the government in Stade on June 24, 1720, which was reported to the king on September 27 . There were rammed 100,000 Poles, 20,000 bundles fascinated countless sandbags and Erdkästen, and sunk 100 ships have been, but by the New Year's flood in 1721 were the flimsy wooden dikes that had been built under Ovens, largely destroyed. On December 31, 1720, Ovens suggested a lottery in the Duchy of Bremen to raise new funds for his dyke construction projects. On December 30, 1721, Ovens even made the bold suggestion to build the Elbe dyke at his own expense, if the entire parish of Hamelwörden was assigned to him for free private property. After more and more complaints about Oven's activities and tactics of the government councilor Albrecht Andreas von Ramdohr for the protection of the same became loud (especially on the part of the dichgrave and district administrator Engelbert Johann von Bardenfleth ), a second commission was set up by order of the king on February 20, 1722 to investigate the incidents , consisting of Privy Councilor von Alvensleben , Landdrost von Spörcken zu Harburg and Chancellery von Lautensack zu Celle, who could fall back on military support from the Stader Garrison, the regiment of Lieutenant General Detlev von Rantzau . This second commission investigated the incidents from August 25, 1722 and on September 21, sent a report to the king on the manner in which Oven's accounts were kept, whereas on September 30, 1722, Ovens lodged a complaint with the king himself and with the Court of Appeal in Celle, which then requested more detailed information from the Commission.

Imprisonment in Stade, escape and re-imprisonment

At the end of September 1722 Ovens was under house arrest for a few days and then to the Engelsburg prison , where Oven's wife at the time rented a room with the porter (Müller, former schoolmaster from Cologne). In November 1722 Ovens complained about alleged mistreatment on the part of Lautensacks. In February 1723 there were further preliminary investigations with long interrogations, during which Ovens defiantly refused to testify and was therefore sometimes put in iron shackles. Ovens tried to buy time by incessant direct submissions to the king, with exaggerated complaints about the circumstances of the detention and interrogation. On July 9, 1723, further serious technical failures were found on the dikes. There were numerous negotiations, interrogations and interrogations of witnesses from both parties to the dispute, at which the government councilor Ramdohr was always present. Ultimately, Ovens was declared redundant by royal resolution of August 27, 1723. In March 1724 Ovens tried to organize a defense from prison. He also wrote some letters to Ramdohr and received financial support from him. Instead of waiting for his defense lawyer Detenhof to succeed, Ovens decided to break out of prison on July 17, 1724 (his wife had made the porter and his wife drunk and on his morning visit deceived Lieutenant Ruperthan on watch so that he stuffed one of them Dressing gown and cap for the prisoner) and fled, disguised as a farmer, via Schulau and Pinneberg to Bramstedt . Ovens was persecuted by the chamber clerk Halde and his crew and was finally arrested by local forces in Neumünster . First he was brought to Kiel , Denmark , and then extradited to Stade on August 13, 1724 and imprisoned again. On June 18, 1725, he was convicted of fraud by the commission of inquiry, torqued (tortured) on August 14, 1725 and held in the Frohnerei (city prison) until March 16, 1726 . On March 5, 1726, the life-long prison sentence had already been ordered, which Ovens actually took after being transferred by means of a four-horse country drive, under the cover of a non-commissioned officer, four common men and the male servant, according to the receipt of March 19, 1726 in Celle.

Involvement of the government councilor Albrecht Andreas von Ramdohr

Ovens not only plunged his predecessor Eybe Siade Johanns into ruin, members of the Stade government also had to say goodbye because of him. Government councilor Albrecht Andreas von Ramdohr was more deliberately than negligently involved in the Ovens affair, who showed himself to be grateful as early as 1720 with gifts of money from state funds. The first chairman of the consistory and superior Ramdohr, Johann Friedrich von Staffhorst , as the oldest civil servant in the government, let the parties in favor of Ovens happen in silence and avoided personal contact with him. Ramdohr thus had almost sole control of Wischafen affairs. He protected Ovens and treated him confidentially. His son, Christian Ludwig von Ramdohr (* 1691 Celle; † August 4, 1731), as refendar of the government in Stade, was inaugurated. Ramdohr's second son, Georg Wilhelm (born June 30, 1693 Celle; † June 14, 1755 Hanover), as electoral court secretary to Hanover, had an insight into negotiations there about the release of the immense state funds. Ovens himself mentioned Ramdohr's willingness to help against "appreciations" on January 8, 1720 in a letter to the dikemaster Jacobi.

Because of the close connection Ramdohrs and his son, the trainee Christian Ludwig, to Ovens, the investigative commission raised concerns in 1723 about the presence of Ramdohrs in the negotiations about Ovens with the king , after which Ramdohr was excluded from the trials. Ovens was also known to Ramdohr's third son, Gottlieb Christian von Ramdohr , an ensign in the von Rantzow regiment, and his comrade, Corporal Cammann. On the day before Oven's eruption in July 1724, Cammann was in charge of the watch, allegedly got drunk with Ovens and a fellow inmate who was not very closely guarded, who often received brandy and clothes, and probably neglected to return the gate key to the main guard. Cammann was a friend of the family with the Ramdohr family. In the trials after Oven's unsuccessful escape, Albrecht Andreas von Ramdohr was therefore suspected of helping people escape as well as promoting them. He asked for his dismissal and resigned on November 9, 1724 from his offices. The allegations against him were, however, not seriously pursued further due to the king's leniency, in view of Ramdohr's long service and through the mediation of the extensive circle of friends. His son Christian Ludwig von Ramdohr lost his post as trainee lawyer in Stade by a royal resolution of November 7, 1724, but was not prosecuted any further. Georg Wilhelm von Ramdohr remained electoral court secretary and was only withdrawn from the service in the Bremen chamber affairs .

In a historical detective novel, Ramdohr's entanglement is portrayed entirely in the style of the presumably handwritten curriculum vitae . Ovens and his assistant Engel succeed in impressing the initially arrogant government councilor in order to receive more money for the construction of the dike. Ovens is born by Ramdohr, much to the displeasure of his wife Sarah. Bacmeister, invited to his house in Stade (which corresponds to the facts), where the plot to divert state funds is increasingly taking shape. Finally, only Ramdohr was to be granted access to the construction sites, while the inspection by other inspectors was prevented. In this way Ramdohr Oven was able to sponsor activities and the diversion of construction funds could continue.

In an official letter from Staffhorst dated June 29, 1724 (considerations on the successor to Albrecht Andreas von Ramdohr) it states that: ... Secretarius von Ramdohr at the time when he started the Brem- and Vehrdische expedition there, we have no other advice know still believe, but merely from special Faveur and Gratification, a portion of the local Secretarium-Fiscus ... in addition he had nothing conferieret with ... hath obtained had. As Ramdohr's successor, the judge Johann Georg Pauli zu Oberndorf, recommended by Drost Detlef Reinhold von der Pahlen (1685–1723) and Staffhorst, was appointed secretary .

Letter from Johann Friedrich von Staffhorst dated June 29, 1724

Original in the Lower Saxony State Archives in Stade (designated as public domain )

  • page 1

  • Pages 2 and 3

  • page 4

Approximate copy according to NLA ST Rep. 40 No. 1123, recordings 0016 to 0018

(Page 1) To the Secret Councilors of Hanover- Stade, June 29, 1724

It has all come in here what your Excellences on account of that of his royal. Your Majesty ... the most gracious gentlemen himself with the change popularized by Ramdohr's Secretario there, and the most gracious resolution that his Bremen and Vehrdian expedition, which was otherwise held, should be commissioned to open up to us, and to what you are doing because of that comfortable subject of ours Commemoration to require wanting to want. When your Excellency made a reflection on the local Secretraium Frielinghausen on this account, we consider it skilful enough for the Bremen and Vehrdian expedition there; but after grinding the same here, in

(Page 2) good raising of his fee, also sitting on the complete bottom of his portion of the Fisci Secretariorium; on the other hand, however, the Secretarius von Ramdohr at that time when he started the local Brem- and Vehrdische expedition, we (avis) neither know nor believe otherwise, just from special faveur and gratification, a portion of the local Secretarium-Fiscus (also obtained) However, he does not confer anything, with attainment, but such (the one, but) ... the Successori ... in the expedition not immediately if (in the Prejudicium of the local ad Fiscu working Secretariat) we think we are entitled to, we very much doubt it that he would be of service to him with such change, or that he would demand the same. The next, Justice Secretarius Diecmann , would both from the aforementioned consideration and other rationibus oeconomicis, as well as having been working in the justice chancellery for a few years, but little with any change

(Page 3) improve or find his hope. The youngest Justice Secretarius Ovelacker, on the other hand, has ... as the now reülich in his present function , the bottom of the Fisci, not yet; however, because of the archives, one is standing in front of him, and ... in searching the files he still has to do services more often, here ... necessary. The Consistorial-Secretarius Bötticher, however, will probably not demand that his good and lucrative mail be touched. Your Excellences will therefore not be displeasing if we propose another good subject who is capable of the aforementioned expedition and who is decisive. This is the judge Pauli zu Oberndorf in Amten Neuhaus, from where in Swedish time, here

(Page 4) Court courts proto-notary, and which good, solid study (denouncing the state of the local country) is also loyal, honest and secretive, therefore has his pen, we (therefore) from the latter the protocol that was subsequently sent to Hanover of the by (the) because. Drosten von der Pahlen and Vogt Homfeld's investigation of the contribution advance in the Land of Kehdingen, Bützfleth's part, for the sake of witnesses ... (enclose) ... and with the intention of such good qualities, we dare to cover up, Your Excellences to recommend him dutifully; how he would then, if he did not participate in the local Fisco Secretarium right away, still find his various improvements, if he wanted to be benefited with this advance. We have hereby deemed us guilty of hearing your Excellences our requested thoughts, the true nature of the matter, and subject them to the most illustrious consideration that we, the same g. remain, Stade, d. June 29, 1724 Chr.-Gr.Brit.Government --- JFSTAFF.

Literature and web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Schmidt (Kiel 1922): Jürgen Ovens; his life and works . A contribution to the history of Dutch painting in the 17th century p. 56 ff.
  2. ^ Jacob Ovens: Lebens-Lauff . Frankfurt and Leipzig (1724). Digitized version, accessed April 5, 2020
  3. ↑ Michael Ehrhardt (2003): A guldten Bandt des Landes: on the history of the dikes in the old country , Volume 2, p. 140
  4. ↑ It is about Count LB Jacobi, probably a real Count who exists by name in documents dating from around 1717; see. NLA ST Rep. 40 No. 295; therein recordings 0005 to 0010; Correspondence about strandings and beach rights between Albrecht Andreas von Ramdohr and Count LB Jacobi from November 10th to 23rd, 1717
  5. ↑ Jacob Ovens: Lebens-Lauff Mein, who was arrested for some time at Stade, but finally happily echoed Ober-Teich-Inspectoris Jacob Ovens . Leipzig 1724, p. 5 f . ( books.google.de ).
  6. ↑ NLA ST Rep. 40 No. 1423
  7. ↑ see Jobelmann (1880) p. 106
  8. ^ Johann Hinrich Pratje, Mixed historical collections, Volume 2 , reprint, Stade 1842, pp. 458 ff.
  9. ↑ see letter from Johann Friedrich von Staffhorst of June 29, 1724, page 1
  10. ↑ See Jobelmann (1880), p. 109
  11. ↑ cf. T. Morgenstern 2009 and 2017
  12. ↑ Volker Friedrich Drecktrah, Dietmar Willoweit (2015): Jurisprudence and Justizhoheit: Festschrift for Götz Landwehr on the 80th birthday of colleagues and doctoral students , Böhlau Verlag Köln Weimar, p. 209 (restricted preview at books.google.de , accessed April 5 2020)
personal data
SURNAME Ovens, Jacob
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Owens, Jacob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German impostor
DATE OF BIRTH around 1685
PLACE OF BIRTH at Dithmarschen or at Friedrichstadt
DATE OF DEATH 18th century