Johann Gerhard Schervier

Johann Gerhard Schervier 1813

Johann Gerhard Schervier (born January 4, 1743 in Aachen ; † July 2, 1826 there ) was a German entrepreneur and politician . He was the father of Johann Heinrich Schervier and the grandfather of Franziska Schervier .

Life

Schervier was born in Aachen in 1743 as the youngest of 6 children. His father, Simon Schervier, who immigrated from Eilendorf , was a copper hammer and head of the copper hammer guild, which at that time consisted of 162 master copper hammer and 154 copper hammer. His mother Anna Theresia von Thenen came from one of the most respected bourgeois families in Aachen. In 1757 Schervier began with the apprenticeship of the copper hitter craft, which he completed in 1762 with acquisition of the master's certificate. In 1763 he married Maria Elisabeth Thielen, who was also the daughter of a master copper hammer. In the following years he had 10 children with her.

Together with his father-in-law Petrus Thielen, he purposefully expanded the copper hammer workshop into a production facility. In order to become independent of his suppliers, in 1780 he attempted to revive the brass industry , which had died out when the Protestant copper masters in Aachen moved away , and applied for the construction of melting furnaces on the "Templergraben negst dem Schweinemarkt". Close by, at the middle city wall, he ran his copper mill, in which u. a. Copper kettles for various functions, bowls, brass lanterns, door and gate fittings, etc. a. were made in simple as well as artistically decorated designs. However, since he was unable to compete against the Stolberg factories in the long term , he finally gave up the business in Aachen and moved it to the Buschmühle . In 1807 Schervier withdrew from the business and transferred his shares in the company to his two sons Johann Josef and Johann Heinrich Schervier . A few years later, the former copper yard was converted into a cloth factory, in which the Hergett cloth factory was quartered in one wing from 1830 and the entire complex was divided up with the Marx & Auerbach cloth factory from 1839 .

In addition to his job, Schervier volunteered in various functions for the city of Aachen. In 1782 he was elected Grand Councilor and in 1785 he was appointed civil lieutenant. When Aachen was occupied by the French in 1794 as a result of the French Revolution, the family, with property of 12,800 Reichsthalers, was one of the wealthier families in the city and had to surrender over half of their property to the French occupying power. In 1797 Schervier became city architect and "municipal administrator", who u. a. had to pay the city wages. After the French period he was a permanent member of the city parliament and took an active part in almost all meetings.

Johann Gerhard Schervier enjoyed the reputation of an outstanding citizen of the free imperial city of Aachen. For many years he was head of the copper club guild, member of the high council and citizen captain of the Pont and Berggrafschaft. He died in 1826 at the age of 83, 9 years after his wife, and was buried in the family vault at Aachen's Ostfriedhof . On his death note it said: “The deceased wandered through his long life as a true Christian, as an active, discerning citizen, as a loving, careful householder, as a particularly agreeable philanthropist, in glorious silence. Hence he was universally valued, loved and his memory will always be blessed by all who knew him. "

literature

• Joseph Gerhard Rey: The Schervier family and their clans (= publications of the episcopal diocesan archive Aachen 1, ZDB -ID 846757-2 ). Johannes Volk Verlag, Aachen 1936.
• Hermann Friedrich Macco : Aachen coat of arms and genealogies. A contribution to the heraldry and genealogy of Aachen, Limburg and Jülich families. Aachener Verlags- und Druck-Gesellschaft, Aachen 1907, p. 116 .