Jacob Sigismund Waitz von Eschen
Jacob Sigismund Waitz von Eschen (born May 16, 1698 in Gotha , † November 7, 1776 in Berlin ) was a Hessian and Prussian minister from the Waitz von Eschen family .
Life
Jacob Sigismund Waitz was born as the son of the Gotha mayor and tax collector Heinrich Sigismund Waitz . He attended high school in Gotha and then studied theology in Jena , later law , mathematics and physics . He discovered his interest in mining and trained in this regard in Clausthal , while at the same time he ran a law firm in Hannoversch Münden .
In Clausthal he met Landgrave Karl von Hessen-Kassel , who took him into his service as Mathematicus in 1723. In 1726 he was appointed mountain secretary and later mountain ridge. After the landgrave's death, he was appointed chamber councilor and Obersalzgrebe zu Sooden-Allendorf . It was thanks to his work that the salt pans there and in Nauheim were significantly improved and the blue color plants in Karlshafen and Schwarzenfels were successfully expanded. In 1750 he leased the Sülze saltworks in Mecklenburg and the Mehlbach mine in Nassau-Weilburg near Weilmünster .
Landgrave Wilhelm VIII highly valued his work and appointed him director of the Rentkammer in 1754 and Minister of State and member of the Privy Council in 1757. After the French occupation of Hesse during the Seven Years' War in 1757 and the landgrave's flight, he led the government on behalf of the fled Landgrave Friedrich II.
When Landgrave Friedrich II took office , the influence of Jacob Sigismund Waitz reached its peak. In 1760 he became president of the newly created war and domain chamber and thus the most influential politician at court. In 1763 he also became President of the Commerz College , the predecessor of the Kassel-Marburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In addition, he was now president of the Bergkollegium, member of the board of directors of the blue color works, Obersalzgrebe, d. H. Director of all salt works in the county, director of the coin commission and director of various educational institutions.
On April 7, 1764, he was raised to the status of hereditary imperial baron by Emperor Franz I and then called himself Jacob Sigismund Waitz Freiherr von Eschen.
From 1770 to 1773 he had the Palais Waitz von Eschen built by the architect Simon Louis du Ry on the Opernplatz in Kassel , which was one of the most elegant palaces in the city until it was destroyed in 1943.
In 1773, however, there was a rift between Waitz and the landgrave. The landgrave reorganized the administration and curtailed the powers of Waitz, who then submitted his resignation. The landgrave assured him his gratitude for the services rendered and accepted his resignation on September 21, 1773. A high pension expressed the landgrave's appreciation.
Jacob Sigismund Waitz von Eschen, however, was bitter about the decision of the Landgrave and in 1774 accepted the offer of Frederick the Great to act as State Minister and Head of the Mining and Mining Department. To enter the metallurgy in Prussian service.
Since he lost his own eight sons at an early age, he adopted the husband of his daughter Karoline Dorothea Magdalena, the senior chamber councilor Johann Friedrich Hilchen zu Nauheim. His eldest son Friedrich Sigismund Waitz von Eschen called v. Like his grandfather, Hilchen reached the highest offices at the Kassel court.
literature
- Harm-Hinrich Brandt : The Kassel Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its predecessors, 1763-1963 , Kassel, 1963, pp. 58–61
- Jacob Sigismund Waitz von Eschen . In: Hanauisches Magazin from 1779 . P. 1 f.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Waitz von Eschen, Jacob Sigismund |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Waitz Freiherr von Eschen, Jacob Sigismund |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Hessian and Prussian ministers |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 16, 1698 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Gotha |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 7, 1776 |
| Place of death | Berlin |