Johann Nikolaus Otte

Johann Nikolaus Otte (born May 6, 1714 in Eckernförde , † April 17, 1780 in Kiel ) was a German landowner, faience manufacturer and administrative officer.

Live and act

Johann Nikolaus Otte was a son of Christian Otte and his wife Elsabe, née Claussen. He had 15 siblings, including Friedrich Wilhelm Otte .

Otte managed his father's estate Krieseby in Schwansen and lived there until 1771. He worked as a farmer for most of the time and had a gatehouse built in 1749. Together with his brother Georg Christian, he acquired the Bienebek estate in 1748/49 for 53,000 Reichstaler. There they set up a tree nursery in the following years. Due to financial problems, Georg Christian had to sell his shares to his brother in 1757, who sold it to his brother Friedrich Wilhelm the following year.

After the death of their father, the Otto brothers inherited important ship divisions. Johann Nikolaus Otto still owned these shares when his brother Friedrich Wilhelm turned the inheritance into one of Denmark's largest shipping companies. From 1755, the two Otte brothers commissioned shipbuilders Gosch Friedrich Haack in Bienbek for a number of ships. In addition to the shipping company, Otte's brother ran a trading company in which Johann Nikolaus Otte also had shares.

When industrial experiments increased in the Duchy of Schleswig in the mid-1750s, Otto took part directly as an entrepreneur. From 1754 wealthy nobles and state officials tried to have luxury goods, textiles and faience produced in Schleswig. The Otte brothers invested here almost from the start, with Johann Nikolaus risking less money than his brothers. The brother Christian Georg made a particular effort in the Schleswig faience factory from 1754, Friedrich Wilhelm and Johann Nikolaus looked after the Schleswig textile producers.

In 1759 Otte founded a "flour factory" on Krieseby, where it produced very fine wheat flour and wig powder. In addition, he set up a factory in which he made amida (starch). In 1758/59 the three Otte brothers sold their shares in the Schleswig factory to the customs inspector Johann Rambusch. Johann Nikolaus Otte then founded his own faience manufacture on Krieseby, for which he was granted the privilege in 1761. Sometimes he recruited the specialist staff from the manufacture in Schleswig, including the painter Johann Leihammer . Due to the successful production of faience and stoves, Otte invested in an expansion of his factory in 1765.

In 1765/66 Otte moved the manufactory to Eckernförde. This reduced the transport costs for raw materials and products and offered the opportunity for production and sales promotion. Together with his brother Friedrich Wilhelm, who owned shares, he expanded the factory. At the time of Friedrich Wilhelm's death in autumn 1766, Johann Nikolaus owned a quarter of the factory positions and numerous ship divisions. Together with the other heirs, he considered how the ventures should be continued. He immediately tried unsuccessfully to advertise the state as a buyer for the wool manufacture. On the other hand, he intensified his involvement in the faience manufacture.

Ottes manufactory was under the direction of Johann Buchwald and employed Johann Leihamer as well as Abraham Leihammer , Johann Cornelius Ewald, Johann August Jahn and other painters. Otte had the building enlarged and hired more workers. In 1766 he employed around 44 people, in 1767 around 80. This is how Schleswig-Holstein's leading faience factory was established in the production of decorative ceramics. Otte offered utility ceramics and mass-produced tableware, but also flower boxes, writing implements, potpourri vases, small sculptures and figures. In the first and last years, products decorated with hot fire color were mostly created, but also manganese violet and blue pieces, while multi-colored hot fire decoration was extremely rarely used. In particular, in the field of flower and insect painting, masterpieces are decorated with muffle colors.

Otte did not achieve sufficient income and he and the financial difficulties of all of his brother's heirs increased. In March 1767 he tried unsuccessfully to convert his manufacture into a stock corporation and thus to save it. In the same year he received a visit from Christian VII and Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff , which, however, did not help him to get state subsidies. At the end of 1767 he tried in vain to sell the entire company. His best specialists, such as Buchwald and the painter Leihamer, switched to other manufacturers, and operations were largely dormant. In 1771/72 Otte had to take over all the factory buildings. He sold the Krieseby estate and moved his residence to Eckernförde. Here he ran the wool and faience manufacture and the amidam factory on a very low level until the end of his life.

The efforts to keep the faience manufacture upright led Otte close to bankruptcy. In May 1768 he was appointed chancellery and senior regional inspector of the Schleswig-Holstein Land Commission. This could also have been a thank you for his success in the field of industrial experiments. Otto held his offices until 1780. As an expert he took over all practical agricultural matters, especially in connection with couplings, and was the superior of several surveyors.

From 1768 to 1771 Otte parceled out the Satrupholm estate , which was viewed as a model for the leasing of state estates . It was the first task the Land Commission took on. Otto prepared an expert opinion for this, the measures of which were later generally carried out by the Land Commission. He proposed to measure the entire estate, to make the Fester (feudal farmers) into bonds (free farmers), to set the subjects anew, to set up closed timbering and to distribute the land to Kätner and Insten.

family

Otte married Elisabeth Friderica von Gössel (born February 2, 1730 in Schleswig ; † September 10, 1782). Her father Johann Martin von Gössel worked as a counselor in Stubbe.

The Otte couple had two sons and four daughters.

• The daughter Anna Maria Wilhelmina (* December 4, 1761 in Sieseby ; † March 7, 1791) married the Schleswig mayor Johann Conrad Dumreicher (1764-1845) in 1789.
• The son Friedrich Wilhelm worked as a civil servant and writer.
• The daughter Hedwig Margaretha Friederica married Christian Gottfried Völcker in 1782. Her husband worked as a factory inspector in the wholesale merchant Niels Ryberg's textile factory in Køng .

literature

• Lars N. Henningsen: Otte, Johann Nikolaus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , pages 269-271.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Lars N. Henningsen: Otte, Johann Nikolaus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 269.
2. ^ Lars N. Henningsen: Otte, Johann Nikolaus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 269.
3. ^ Lars N. Henningsen: Otte, Johann Nikolaus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 269.
4. ^ Lars N. Henningsen: Otte, Johann Nikolaus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 269.
5. ^ Lars N. Henningsen: Otte, Johann Nikolaus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 269.
6. ^ Lars N. Henningsen: Otte, Johann Nikolaus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 270.
7. ^ Lars N. Henningsen: Otte, Johann Nikolaus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 270.
8. ^ Lars N. Henningsen: Otte, Johann Nikolaus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 270.
9. ^ Lars N. Henningsen: Otte, Johann Nikolaus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 270.
10. ^ Lars N. Henningsen: Otte, Johann Nikolaus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , pages 270-271.
11. ^ Lars N. Henningsen: Otte, Johann Nikolaus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 269.
12. ^ Lars N. Henningsen: Otte, Johann Nikolaus . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 269.