Johann Peter Heuser

Johann Peter Heuser, portrayed by Henriette Jügel in 1807

Johann Peter Heuser (* 1726 in Würden ; † December 26, 1809 in Gummersbach ) was the founder of a large trading house and the main initiator of what later became a grammar school in Gummersbach .

Coat of arms of the Heuser family

Parentage and family

An ancestor of Heuser's Swiss origin is said to have moved as a hunter with the freshly minted new sovereign Adam von Schwarzenberg from Vienna to the former imperial county of Gimborn , settled in dignity and founded the Oberberg branch of the Heuser “dynasty”. However, this version of the family history is only poorly documented and is mainly based on the family coat of arms, which represents a green mountain with three silver arrows on a red background. Another tradition sees the connection to Switzerland more loosely, in that it describes the coat of arms as “awarded to a Heuser in 1410 by Emperor Sigismund ” […] for excellent bravery in storming a mountain in Switzerland so-called schism battles ”[?]. Against the version "Immigration in the Schwarzenberg entourage" could also speak the fact that in Oberbergischen the name Heuser can be proven before 1600.

What is certain is that the immediate ancestors lived in dignity in the middle of the 17th century. Johann Peter was the second of eight children to the married couple Johann Adolf (1696–1765), farmer, and Maria Magdalena Karthaus from Gimborn (1706–1773).

Johann Peter Heuser married Anna Margaretha Vollmann (1728–1796) in 1754, who bore him eight children, five of whom reached adulthood. All four remaining sons later became the merchant's companions and continued the business. Among Heuser's direct descendants, four of his granddaughters, namely Alwine Schroedter , Adeline Jaeger and Louise Desert - all three received considerable recognition as painters - as well as the writer Julie Thiel should be emphasized. Heuser's great-granddaughter Clara Heuser (1844–1916), b. Jaeger, was able to make a name for herself as an artist. Malvine Schroedter, another great-granddaughter, married the history painter Anton von Werner . Johann Peter Heuser's great-grandson Robert married Bertha Maria Nicolovius in 1862, a great-great-grandniece of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . The painter and director of the Düsseldorf Art Academy Werner Heuser (1880–1964) was his great-great-grandson.

Live and act

Beginning

Heuser left his parents' farm in dignity and, after completing his apprenticeship, started a wine trade in Gummersbach with modest start-up capital; With the addition of spices and manufactured goods to the retail range, he expanded the range over time. And finally, the textile industry, which was also expanding in Oberbergisches Land, with its ever-increasing demand for dyes, prompted Heuser's company to turn to the dye trade as the third important trading post.

Heuser was not welcomed with open arms in Gummersbach, the enterprising and ambitious man of dignity was probably a bit suspicious to the long-time residents. "Almost all of Gummersbach had conspired against him when he first came here not to let him settle, so that he had bought a house several times, but was driven away each time." After all, Heuser could not have his first house in much before 1770 building on today's Alte Rathausstrasse in Gummersbach - and that in a quarter that was somewhat disreputable at the time, as the house of the “messenger and knacker” (v. Steinen) was in the immediate vicinity. The "House in the Oaks", which still exists today, even if it is practically unrecognizable due to a modern storefront, was counted as one of the most beautiful and elegant in the town around 1800. Heuser also set up an inn here, which was run by his wife.

Rectorate School

Heuser deserves credit for having acted as the main initiator of a secondary school despite the initial difficulties in establishing himself in Gummersbach. Under his aegis, wealthy Gummersbach citizens created the city's first higher education opportunity in 1764 with the “Rectoratschule”, a forerunner of today's Moltkestrasse high school. It was Heuser who contributed most of the maintenance of the rector and other teachers from his own resources and who in 1785 set up the curriculum himself: Seven foreign languages, business studies, history, mathematics, music and dance, drawing and painting as well as handicrafts could be learned at this school which served as a role model far beyond Gummersbach.

expansion

From today's perspective, it seems astonishing how such a widely branched and extensive trading company was able to develop in the then almost completely secluded village of Gummersbach as that of JP Heuser and his sons. Over the years, the trade expanded to such an extent that even distant shops covered the entire demand here - and that with extremely poor traffic routes: It was not until 1813 that a paved road to the north was built with the Wetterauer Chaussee.

In 1795 Johann Peter Heuser built a new, larger and very representative house for himself and two of his sons in the "Baumhof", the new business and residential center of the town that was created by relocating Gummersbacher Hauptstrasse, in the left part of which he also did his business. The two-storey quarry stone / half-timbered building with a gable roof shows the initials JHP grouped around an anchor under the gable with a round window and conveys the self-image of its builder, who has gained a high reputation, even today. Today it houses the psychological counseling center of the Oberbergischer Kreis, after the district office was temporarily housed here around 150 years ago. He left the house “In den Eichen” to his son Daniel and his wife. Heuser's warehouse was also located in the "Baumhof"; this was the transhipment point where goods from or to Hesse , Westphalia , the Mark or the Upper Rhine changed hands by means of two-wheeled carts or pack animals .

Succession

The four Heuser sons had long since entered their father’s business: Georg (* 1756; † 1829 in Ronsdorf ) initially acted as a buyer and went on independent trading trips at the age of fifteen; later, with the exception of visiting the Frankfurt trade fair , he left travel to the younger brothers and devoted himself to bookkeeping. At an advanced age, Georg Heuser held the office of mayor ( “maire” in Napoleonic times ). Franz (* 1758; † 1816 in Ronsdorf) took part in alternation with the youngest offspring Daniel (* 1767; † 1848 in Gummersbach) on both shopping and sales trips, while Caspar (* 1760; † 1840 in Gummersbach) took part Store sales led. Heuser's daughter Wilhelmine (* 1770; † 1830 in Kloster [today in Derschlag ]) contributed to the expansion of the trading empire in a different way: through her marriage to Johann Henrich König, the son of the most important Gummersbach merchant next to Heuser and his neighbor in the "Baumhof" , the two trading houses formed an alliance, and both firms flourished instead of competing. With Daniel Heuser's wife Louise geb. Jügel, a former partner at the Prussian royal court, finally found the culture of the "big world" in Gummersbach - the material exchange was now accompanied by intellectual and artistic interaction with the Jügel brothers Friedrich (art professor in Berlin ) and Carl (writer and bookseller in Frankfurt ) and her sister Henriette Jügel , landscape and portrait painter.

Rating

Although Heuser can certainly be considered Gummersbach's "first millionaire", despite his success he remained the simple and humble farmer's son all his life. It is said that even his noble relatives did not prevent him from baking the bread for the family himself, nor from speaking flatly to his children and neighbors. His granddaughter passed on the following characteristic anecdote:

"When he had withdrawn to dinner in the evening, the rest of the company had fun and sat at the gaming tables, it could happen that he appeared on the stairs in his nightgown and called out: 'Wat ess dat för en Lärmen do?' And when the housekeeper, Mrs. Torley, reassured me: 'My God, Mr Hüser, be quiet, et it the Maire [Georg H. was now mayor] and the pastor!' The old man replied: 'Ah wat! Maire! Et it Jürgen, un for the pastor it et ock Tiet [time], hem te gohen! '"

- Julie Thiel

Johann Peter Heuser died in 1809 as one of the richest men in the region. He left his five children a considerable estate and his hometown a decisive impetus for economic and cultural growth.

Almost two hundred years after the death of its great fellow citizen, the city of Gummersbach in the Berstig development area named Peter-Heuser-Strasse in his honor.

literature

• Jürgen Woelke: Alt Gummersbach in contemporary pictures and views , 2 volumes. Edited by Ernst-Herbert Ullenboom. E. Gronenberg Verlag, Gummersbach, 1975, 1980.
• Ingeborg Wittichen: Oberbergische painters of the 19th century from the family Jügel / Heuser. Published by the Museum of the Oberbergisches Land at Homburg Castle on behalf of the Oberbergisches Kreis. Schweiger & Pick Verlag, Celle 1980, DNB 810294796 .
• Gert Fischer: Oberbergische Geschichte, Volume 2: From the Peace of Westphalia to the end of the monarchy. Edited by Klaus Goebel. Verlag Gronenberg, Wiehl, 1998, ISBN 3-88265-208-X .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Quoted from Franz-Josef Heuser, Aachen-Haaren: Homepage. Franz-Josef Heuser, accessed on January 29, 2019 . 
2. ^ Johann Friedrich Franz von Steinen : Special history of the parish of Gummersbach , 1819.