Johann Gottfried Clemen
Johann Gottfried Clemen (born March 31, 1728 in Döbeln ; † January 28, 1785 in Paramaribo , Suriname ) was a German plantation owner .
youth
Johann Gottfried Clemen was the third son of the cloth maker Johann Gottlieb Clemen and his wife Susanna Maria, born Burkhardt. The modest life of the family was fundamentally shaken by the great town fire of Döbeln on June 21, 1730, because the family's small house in Kirchgasse also fell victim to the flames.
The mother was able to bring the two-year-old Johann Gottfried and probably his siblings to safety in the kennel between the city walls. After this accident, a new home was built in what would later become Zwingerstraße 15, although it was initially burdened with debts. Clemen was not really fond of his father's job, because in later memories he remarked: “I had to turn the winding wheel early on, more than I would like [and] after school, the loom became my world, not for my pleasure, just for need obeying. After three years of apprenticeship I did my journeyman's piece before Easter 1745, it was not a notable exception. ”In 1745 he went on a journey as a 17-year-old journeyman draper . Initially, the path led to nearby Freiberg , where he found work and accommodation at Glöckner's drapery “Auf der Rinne”. The further hike went via Chemnitz , Zwickau , Gera to Arnstadt , where his brother Gottlieb was working at the time. In addition, an unspecified illness forced Clemen to stay in this city for a longer period of time. Finally he came to Hildesheim alone via Erfurt and Goslar . This change of direction to the north is probably also due to his long-term destination Denmark .
Military time
In Hildesheim, however, Clemen came into contact with Dutch soldiers recruiting. According to some sources, the young man is said to have "befriended" one of the advertisers. It is common knowledge that these recruits often looked very different.
With the payment of 30 guilders signing bonus and a promised Corporal point he was finally soldier of the Republic of the United Netherlands . In connection with the War of the Austrian Succession , Clemen took part in the battle of Lauffeldt on July 2, 1747 and in the siege of Maastricht between April and May 1748 . Things in the Dutch army developed as expected for Clemen at first, and he had even taken up the promised corporal position. However, he was obviously looking for a viable way out of the rivalries that flared up with comrades. So in 1750 the announcement that volunteers were being sought to fight rebellious slaves in Suriname must have come at just the right time. He signed up for this service, certainly not without a thirst for adventure. In the spring of 1750, Clemen left Europe for South America as a sergeant in the Dutch army . After a healthy two-month crossing, his unit was used as planned. The warm, humid climate and the constant guerrilla warfare with the runaway slaves resulted in a high death rate in the ranks of the expeditionary force . After about half a year, Clemen was posted to the north.
In Suriname
He was now lying with his comrades on the plantation of the German Johannes Meijs. There he made friends with the widowed and childless plantation owner, who originally came from Luckenwalde . He wanted to take him into his service. However, discharge from the military was only possible after Meijs paid a trigger sum of 55 guilders in 1752. On the plantation, Clemen learned the necessary tools for the planting business and was already working as plantation director at Meijs in 1756. During this time the first support payments to the family in Döbeln begin. This resulted in an annual payment, which he increased to 320 guilders by 1763. After Johann Gottfried Clemen had also worked as director of the sugar plantation "Hooyland" on Commewijne , he must obviously have exercised this function for the widowed plantation owner Anna Juliën before 1763 . It was also at this time that he inherited a plantation, probably that of the late Meijs. It cannot be proven whether Johannes Meijs himself initiated contact with Anna Juliën at the “Buyswyk” plantation, which was relatively close to Meijs' property. At the beginning of 1763 the lady asked Johann Gottfried Clemen to come to her with clear intentions to marry. On February 4, 1763, the 58-year-old finally married Johann Gottfried Clemen for the third time. This marriage was associated with a good social rise for him, since the Anna Juliën family belonged to the Surinamese upper class. Elisabeth, a daughter of Anna Juliën from a previous marriage, married Jan Nepveu, born in Amsterdam , on August 20, 1767 . This husband of Johann Gottfried's now stepdaughter became governor of Suriname in 1770 . By acquiring land, Clemen himself created two new plantations with the names "Saxen" and "Clemensburg". Another plantation with the name “Döbeln” was probably in the planning stage, but it cannot be proven that the project was implemented. In 1766 he was appointed captain of the local militia . Since the Clemen family was a member of the Lutheran Church in Paramaribo, he also held various positions there. The contact to his family in Döbeln remained intact over the years. In addition to the financial support already mentioned, there was obviously a lively exchange about trading opportunities. Above all, Johann Gottfried Clemen promoted two of his nephews in Döbeln from afar, and they later took the same path in Suriname.
Visit to Döbeln
After misunderstandings between Clemen and a partner in Amsterdam, the decision was probably made to travel to Europe. His Atlantic crossing from Paramaribo to Amsterdam can be documented using the ship lists. He was a passenger on the ship Helena Anna when he started his voyage from Paramaribo to his homeland on May 3, 1771 with his colored servants Pieter and February, as well as a cargo of sugar, coffee and cotton. After a long stay in Amsterdam, Clemen finally left for Döbeln and arrived there on September 4, 1771, causing a great stir. Since he visited most of his relatives and friends during his stay in Döbeln and was not stingy with monetary gifts, the sometimes very exuberant and idealizing tradition of the following two centuries ensured that Johann Gottfried Clemen as a so-called " Croesus von Döbeln" came to the local homeland literature has been received. On January 20, 1772, Johann Gottfried Clemen left his hometown for Leipzig forever. On the return journey from Amsterdam with the Adrichem , however, only Clemen and his servant February are registered, on August 10, 1772 the ship arrived safely in Paramaribo. His servant Pieter had already returned to Paramaribo on November 6, 1771 as a passenger Pieter van Clemen with the Onverwagt .
End of life
On January 28, 1785, Johann Gottfried Clemen died in Paramaribo at the age of just 57 years without leaving any descendants of his own. He found his resting place, which still exists today (2019), in the local Lutheran Church. In Suriname around 1800 the plantation "Saxen" on Taporipa, owned by the Clemen heirs, was administered by JC Opitz, Mr. MS Schuster, Wolff and Brederode. But also the plantations "Clemensburg" and "Buys en Vlijt" can still be made out on maps in 1801. As early as 1820, the Clemen heirs were no longer found as owners in the Almanacs of Suriname. When slavery was abolished on July 1, 1863, the plantations had long been abandoned and nature had reclaimed the area.
Later developments
The surname Clemen, on the other hand, is still found in the reverse form Nemelc in Suriname. Genealogically, however, this has nothing to do with the Clemen family in Döbelner, but is a bizarre relic of the colonial era. It was common practice for released slaves to adopt fantasy names or the names of their old "owners" in the original or in a modified form. On June 22, 1781 nephew August Friedrich Clemen bought a house in Döbeln at today's Obermarkt 9 and in 1784 became a member of the Kramerinnung . With the accompanying establishment of a business and the corresponding sources of raw materials overseas, the chocolate production of the later company Clemen & Sohn began in Döbeln. In 1908 the company moved to today's Straße des Friedens 1–3 (Clemenhaus), in 1911 a new factory was built on the Burgstadel (today Reichensteinstraße 9) and in 1921 a monumental factory building designed by the famous architect Werner Retzlaff was added. Shortly before the 150th anniversary, the chocolate factory went bankrupt in 1934. The foreclosure auction took place on June 14, 1935. The portrait of Johann Gottfried Clemen adorned the Clemen packaging until the end.
Honors
On the western gable of the building at Obermarkt 9 (Clemenhaus), a bronze memorial plaque for Johann Gottfried Clemen was attached by today's descendants and building owners of the family .
Prominent descendants of the Clemen family, Döbeln
Literature (selection)
- Ralph Gundram, in: New Archives for Saxon History , Vol. 87 (2016), Saxon Colonial Rulers in Overseas? A search for traces using the example of Johann Gottfried Clemen from Döbeln, from p. 235
- Johann Gottfried Clemen . In: From four centuries , 2nd volume. Leipzig 1858. p. 273 f.
swell
- All information is based on the latest publication on this topic: Ralph Gundram, in: Neues Archiv für Sächsische Geschichte, Vol. 87 (2016) (See selection of literature!)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Clemen, Johann Gottfried |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Clemen, Johan Gottfried |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German plantation owner |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 31, 1728 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chub |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 28, 1785 |
| Place of death | Paramaribo |