Johann Caspar Zellweger
Johann Caspar Zellweger (born February 24, 1768 in Trogen ; † January 31, 1855 in the same place ; authorized to reside there) was a businessman , scholar and philanthropist from the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden .
Live and act
Johann Caspar Zellweger was a son of Johannes Zellweger and Anna Hirzel. After private lessons in Zurich and Trogen , Zellweger received a commercial training from 1782 to 1786 in the Lyon branch of his father's trading company . In 1786 he moved to the Genoese branch . He directed this in the 1790s. In 1799 he returned to Trogen. After the death of their father in 1802, Zellweger and his brother Jacob Zellweger owned the trading company Zellweger & Compagnie, which he managed as managing director. From 1802 to 1809 he had the so-called pentagonal palace built in Trogen as a residential and commercial building. In 1808 he left the company for health reasons . But he kept the management of the [[Spinning (yarn) # industrial spinning | Spinning]] factory . He initiated its establishment in Trogen in 1804 and was one of the first to equip it with powerful waterwheel- powered machines. When the factory burned down in 1814, Zellweger decided not to rebuild it and ended his entrepreneurial career .
Zellweger worked politically during the Helvetic Republic from 1800 to 1802 as Vice President of Trogen Municipality and as an educational councilor in the canton of Säntis . With the lifting of the import ban for raw materials, he achieved an easing of the trade barriers for him . In 1822 he was appointed to the federal customs auditor as a politically unaffected person of respect . However, his efforts for a Swiss customs concordat failed and made him resign in 1833.
After 1814, Zellweger carried out source studies and historical research in addition to charitable work . He wrote extensive works on the history of Appenzell and on Switzerland's diplomatic relations with France . He understood this research primarily as a contribution to popular education, one of his central concerns. Johann Caspar Zellweger is considered the historian of the Appenzell people. He was friends with historical researchers like Joseph von Laßberg at Eppishausen Castle . He was the founder and first president of the Swiss History Research Society (today the Swiss Society for History ), as well as a sponsor and president of the Swiss Charitable Society .
He wanted to reduce poverty through education and thus promote trade and commerce . His spinning factory with the numerous children who worked there had already served him as an educational experimental field. Hard work coupled with school and church instruction on Sundays seemed to him the best educational method. Inspired by Philipp Emanuel von Fellenberg , Zellweger founded the canton school in Trogen in 1820 . In 1824 he founded a school for the poor (Schurtanne orphanage) . He gave both of them the necessary buildings and facilities, and had the head of the school for the poor, Johann Konrad Zellweger, trained in Hofwil at his own expense . In 1835 he initiated the establishment of the Bächtelen educational institution in Wabern .
Zellweger became a federal figure of integration through his work on the board of the Swiss Charitable Society. Thanks to his impulses in 1823, 1835 and 1850, it was saved from being dissolved. After 1823 he led society away from theory to practical philanthropy . His numerous lectures and essays gave him a special position within society. Zellweger was also a co-initiator of the Trogen Sparkasse, founded in 1821. In 1822 he was a co-founder of the St. Gallic Appenzell non-profit society, which he later presided over. In 1841 he acted as the founder of the Swiss History Research Society , which he chaired until 1843. He is one of the most outstanding Swiss representatives of philanthropism . 1844 awarded him the University of Bern the honorary doctorate .
In 1790 Johann Caspar Zellweger married Dorothea Gessner, the daughter of Salomon Gessner , who is considered to be the founder of the NZZ . He was the brother-in-law of Heinrich Gessner and Konrad Gessner .
Works
- Johann Caspar Zellweger: History of the Appenzell People. 4 volumes. Meyer and Zuberbühler, Trogen 1830–1840.
- Johann Caspar Zellweger: Documents on Johann Caspar Zellweger's history of the Appenzell people. 7 volumes. 1831-1838.
- Johann Caspar Zellweger: History of the diplomatic relations between Switzerland and France from 1698 to 1784. 2 volumes. Huber and Compagnie, St. Gallen 1848-1848.
Sources and literature
- Autobiography, letters and writing in the Cantonal Library of Appenzell Ausserrhoden .
- Commercial archive Zellweger in the State Archive Appenzell Ausserrhoden .
- Otto Hunziker : Zellweger, Johann Kaspar . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 45, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1900, pp. 38-45.
- Richard Feller and Edgar Bonjour : Historiography of Switzerland. Volume 2. From the late Middle Ages to the modern age. Helbing & Lichtenhahn, Basel 1979, pp. 616–620.
- Peter Holderegger: Entrepreneurs in Appenzellerland: History of industrial entrepreneurship in Appenzell Ausserrhoden from the beginning to the present. Schläpfer, Herisau 1992, pp. 97-99 and p. 529.
- Peter Witschi: Appenzeller all over the world. Herisau: Schläpfer 1994. ISBN 3-85882-091-1 , pp. 212-214.
- Thomas Klöti: The Customs Map of Switzerland (1825) by Johann Kaspar Zellweger and Heinrich Keller: The creation of a basis for the revision of transit and inland customs duties. In: Cartographica Helvetica , No. 14, 1996, pp. 25-34.
- Beatrice Schumacher: Voluntarily committed: non-profit thinking and acting in Switzerland since 1800. With contributions by Bernard Degen et al. Verlag Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Zurich 2010.
- Heidi Eisenhut. The Appenzell flag book: an anthology with watercolored drawings on the "history of the Appenzell people". In: Librarium 56, Issue 2–3, 2013, pp. 83–98.
Web links
- Thomas Fuchs: Zellweger, Johann Caspar. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Zellweger, Johann Caspar |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Zellweger, Johann Kaspar |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss businessman, scholar and philanthropist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 24, 1768 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Trogen |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 31, 1855 |