Louise Ernestine Cramer

Louise Ernestine Cramer (born March 15, 1757 - † October 4, 1831 in Glogau ) was a foster child of the founder of the Hofrat Simon Heinrich Sack's family foundation , Simon Heinrich Sack , and wife of the royal court councilor Carl Christoph Cramer in Glogau, mother of Salonière Amalie von Béguelin and possibly illegitimate child of the Prince of Prussia August Wilhelm (1722–1758). The Cramer couple owned the Hermsdorf Castle near Glogau and from around 1803 to 1812 owned the town and estate of Köben on the Oder .

ancestry

The ancestry of Louise Ernestine Cramer has not yet been clarified. A baptism entry was not found, especially since the place of birth is not known. There is also no known marriage entry. Apparently there is only one entry in church registers in which it is mentioned. It is a baptismal certificate from the Protestant Reformed rectory in Glogau from July 28, 1934, which testifies that Caroline Wilhelmine Auguste, daughter of the tax collector Christian (sic) Cramer and his wife Ernestine Louise nee. Kirstein, was baptized in his father's home on August 15, 1784. After that, the child's mother, Ernestine Louise, was given the maiden name "Kirstein". This name is also mentioned by Ruth Harder-Haeckel.

Descent from Simon Heinrich Sack

Simon Heinrich Sack (1723–1791) had studied law and came to Silesia in 1742 after the transition of Silesia from Austria to Brandenburg-Prussia. There the judicial system was reorganized and the previous jurisdictions were replaced by higher office governments in Glogau and Breslau. Initially, Sack worked as a trainee lawyer at the regional government in Glogau. At the age of 25 he was already a lawyer and in 1750 at the age of 27 he was appointed court and judicial commissioner to the regional government in Glogau. His activity was not limited to the legal representation at the regional government. He also took on fiduciary duties, so u. a. the financial administration of Baron Gustav von Schlabrendorf, who was abroad . When Austrian state and private goods were transferred into Prussian possession, Sack not only carried out the notarial acts, but also bought neglected goods himself, repaired them and sold them at a profit. On the basis of his wills, the Hofrat Simon Heinrich Sack'sche Family Foundation was founded with a very high fortune.

Carl Christoph Cramer (1750–1827) came to Glogau at a young age. He had previously studied law. After completing his studies, he was appointed as a tutor in the house of Baron Ernst Wilhelm von Schlabrendorf  , who died in 1767  . There he met the court councilor Simon Heinrich Sack, who supported the young son of the late baron, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Heinrich von Schlabrendorf (1743–1803) in the administration of his estates. This resulted in a business cooperation in which Cramer was engaged by the Councilor Sack for his various business deals. Cramer became a state tax collector and was also given the title of "Hofrat".

Louise Ernestine first appeared when she married Carl Christoph Cramer on June 13, 1776 on the Count Schlabrendorf's estate in Seppau in the Glogau district. The wife of Simon Heinrich Sack received 6,000.00 thalers as a dowry. Later, she and her husband received even larger sums of money. Sack also gave her and her children generous consideration in his will. In the foundation, the descendants of Louise Ernestine belong to the "Cramerian line". In the Sack family, it is assumed that Louise Ernestine was the illegitimate daughter of Simon Heinrich Sack, whom he adopted shortly before the wedding. The birth mother of the child was the housekeeper von Sack, Anne Marie Biester (n) (1736–1788). However, proof of adoption has never been provided.

Sack himself calls her “foster daughter” several times, for example in his will of November 18, 1789. In the codicil of January 20, 1791, on the other hand, he speaks of his “daughter of the married councilor Cramern”. There is never any talk of adoption. It would also be questionable whether it was possible under the law then applicable to adopt one's own illegitimate child. Sack was a lawyer and was certainly used to using legal technical terms correctly. At the time of the birth and also when the wills were drawn up, the General Land Law for the Prussian States from June 1, 1794 (PrALR) had not yet come into force. Sack had studied with the Prussian Grand Chancellor Johann Heinrich von Carmer , who was commissioned by the king to formulate the law in 1780, was friends with him and had helped formulate the provisions of the land law. There, in the 2nd part in the 2nd title in sections 10 and 12, separate provisions on the adoption of children and foster children are mentioned. The provisions on foster children stipulate: "Section 753. Whoever takes a child abandoned by his parents into his care, acquires all the personal rights of biological parents through the same." A confirmation by a state authority as in the case of adoption was not provided. The PrALR replaced subsidiary different existing legal sources such as the Roman law and the Saxony law . It was also only applicable on a subsidiary basis, i.e. In other words, it was only used if the local legal sources did not regulate it. Which law was applied in Silesia, which was Austrian before 1740, until the entry into force of the PrALR can hardly be clearly established.

Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

Descent from a Prince of Prussia

On the other hand, Gertha v. Diekmann born Sack (1859–1939), who as a member of the Sack family dealt with family history, determined based on the Glogau church records “that Louise Ernestine was the child of a Prussian prince who was garrisoned there at the beginning of the Seven Years' War and a master baker's daughter ". With Prince Moritz von Dessau, other military personnel and the Prince of Prussia, the Prussian King Frederick the Great went to Silesia to inspect the troops in September 1754 and visited there a. a. Glogau, where he owned a fortress. Only the Crown Prince was named as the “Prince of Prussia” at that time. This was August Wilhelm von Prussia (1722–1758) , whom the childless Frederick II had designated as the presumptive heir to the throne as Prince of Prussia . After August Wilhelm's early death, the claim and title passed to his son Friedrich Wilhelm . In 1741 August Wilhelm was promoted to major general and took part in the First and Second Silesian Wars in this position . In 1756 August Wilhelm became General of the Infantry in the Seven Years' War . After the lost battle of Kolín there was a heated argument between the brothers. The Crown Prince had to retire from the army and died a little later "broken in body and soul" in his castle in Oranienburg.

The Crown Prince's secretary was Pierre Jérémie Hainchelin , who later worked as a secret war council member of the excise and customs administration and in 1776 as a finance advisor to the “Regie” (financial administration). Even after the death of the crown prince, he took care of the crown prince's buildings as his building officer.

Frederick the Great praised Hainchelin in a conversation with his reader Henri de Catt : “If my brother in Oranienburg had only his adjutant Hagen, his secretary Hainchelin and a couple of honest people like them around him, his life would be calmer and his disposition not been so hostile to me. I know very well that I am right, because he was the kindness of the heart, the honesty and the charity in person. ”Without foreign interference, the rift would soon have been balanced again.

Even after the death of the Crown Prince, Hainchelin continued to have the trust of his king, who in 1763 appointed the Finance and Commerce Councilor Giovanni Antonio Calzabigi as General Director when the state lottery was set up. was appointed through this administration.

As far as can be seen, Gertha v. Diekmann has not provided any evidence to support their claim. The parish registers in Glogau have obviously been lost due to the effects of the war. The following description of the life story of Louise Ernestine can perhaps show which opinion is more likely about the parentage, although a clear result can no longer be determined today unless written sources emerge. It is noteworthy what fortune Sack and the Cramer couple acquired. The marriages between the descendants of Louise Ernestine and members of the von Béguelin and Hainchelin families are also remarkable. The assumption is that Hainchelin, as advisor to the prince, who died immediately after the birth of the child, helped to ensure that Louise Ernestine was taken in and raised by Hofrat Sack as a foster child. Due to his official position in the financial administration, which had the trust of the king, he may have ensured that she was adequately provided for by marrying Hofrat Cramer and that by conferring the state coffee monopoly on Sack and Cramer, sufficient funds for Louise Ernestine were available. When their two daughters married, Hainchelin had died in 1787. His nephew Heinrich von Béguelin , who also worked in financial administration, may have been informed by his uncle and then married the daughter Amalie Henriette Caroline Louise Cramer in 1798 . District Justice Councilor Carl Leopold Gottfried Sattig , who had worked professionally with Hofrat Cramer, will also have known the facts when they married their daughter Caroline Wilhelmine Auguste Cramer.

Live and act

family

The following children emerged from the marriage of the couple Cramer:

• Amalie Henriette Caroline Louise Cramer (1778–1848), advisor and friend of military and political figures in Berlin and Salonière . She had been married to Geh since 1798. Government councilor and chief president of the Chamber of Accounts in Berlin, Heinrich Huldreich Peter von Béguelin (1765–1818). Von Béguelin had worked under his uncle Pierre Jérémie Hainchelin as a war councilor in the Prussian financial administration. His father Nikolaus von Béguelin (1714–1789) was the tutor of the son of August Wilhelm , who later became King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia , and was married to Marie-Catharine Pelloutier (1733–1794), the daughter of the businessman Jean-Barthélémy Pelloutier . Her stepsister Hedwig Charlotte Kühn was married to Pierre Jérémie Hainchelin since 1761. Nikolaus von Béguelin and Pierre Jérémie Hainchelin were related by marriage. After the death of Frederick the Great in 1786, King Friedrich Wilhelm II took over the government and appointed a commission to investigate the previous Accise administration . Most of the French finance councils were ousted. Heinrich von Béguelin described this process in 1797, a year before the wedding with Amalie, and stated that the German secret finance councilors Jacob Engelbrecht (1713–1794), Carl Emanuel von Hoffstedt (1736–1813) and Hainchelin to the great satisfaction of the Commission remained in office.
• Caroline Wilhelmine Auguste Cramer (1784–1872), had been married since 1803 to the District Justice Councilor Carl Leopold Gottfried Sattig (1774–1844) from Glogau. He worked together with Cramer in looking after the mutual clients. His grandson, the royal counselor Carl Ernst Eduard Moritz Sattig (1804–1884) married Louise Hainchelin (1806–1875) in 1831, the daughter of the war council Carl Heinrich Hainchelin and Nanni Leidemit. Carl Heinrich Hainchelin was the son of Pierre Jérémie Hainchelin, the former secretary of the Crown Prince.
• Carl Heinrich Eduard Cramer, who was born in 1790 and died shortly afterwards.

Life

Hermsdorf Castle near Glogau, in 2014

Köben Castle ruins in 2007

During the marriage, the couple Cramer, who had received a donation of 50,000 thalers from Hofrat Sack, probably bought Hermsdorf Castle near Glogau from Schlabrendorf's property , which was sold again before 1803. For this they acquired the city and the rule of Köben on the Oder from the widowed Baroness von Kottwitz in 1803 and 1804 respectively . The property was sold to the chief bailiff Liborius in 1812. In 1781 Frederick the Great established a state monopoly on coffee for Prussia , based on the French model , which was only abolished in 1787 after his death. In addition to importing and trading, the state also regulated coffee roasting on its own. Private roasting was strictly forbidden, and roasting was only done in the state roasting plant in Berlin. Only the royal bonded warehouses and a few licensed grocers were allowed to sell the roasted coffee. Initially, in the period 1780/1781 the General-Coffee-Depot for Silesia was subordinate to Hofrat Sack. After a year he passed this task on to his son-in-law Cramer, who thus created another source of wealth. The excise administration in Berlin was responsible for granting the monopoly. At that time Hainchelin was a member of the excise and customs administration.

When Glogau and the surrounding area were occupied by the French during the coalition wars in 1806 and remained occupied until 1814 due to the Peace of Tilsit , the situation changed very quickly. As a result of the unaffordable war contributions that the wealthy citizens of Glogau had to bear due to the French occupation, Cramer saw himself forced to sell the Koben rule, with the loss of almost all of his fortune. His wife's significant fortune was also lost. Cramer fell into an incurable "madness" about it.

literature

• Adolf Ernst: Memories of Heinrich and Amalie von Beguelin from the years 1807-1813. Along with letters from Gneisenau and Hardenberg. Berlin 1892, pp. 8, 25, 30, 61 and 90. (archive.org) (link.springer.com)
• Hans Joachim Jörs: Family research Cramer. In: Die Taube: Family sheet for the members of the Hofrat Sack'schen Foundation. No. 139, 1968, pp. 1500-1501. (a CD from the magazine Die Taube can be obtained from the foundation, online: sackstiftung.de )
• Hans Sack: Old and new about the founder Simon Heinrich Sack. In: Die Taube: Family sheet for the members of the Hofrat Sack'schen Foundation. No. 131, 1964, pp. 1425-1427.
• Werner Pickart: Appearance or Reality in the Life of Louise Ernestine Cramer. In: Die Taube: Family sheet for the members of the Hofrat Sack'schen Foundation. No. 238, 2019, pp. 2582-2600.
• Hugo Sattig: Memories from my life: recorded for my children, grandchildren and friends. Friese, Magdeburg 1884. (Leipzig University Library, call number: Vit.578-cf, Als Ms. gedr. Digital (slub-dresden): (digital.slub-dresden.de) )
• Hugo Sattig: From the family: Addendum to my memoirs; only intended for the closest family. Verlag = Friese, Magdeburg 1884. (Leipzig University Library, call number: Vit.578-cf, Als Ms. gedr.)

References and comments

1. ↑ Ruth Harder-Haeckel: Simon Heinrich Sack, Letters and Documents (1752-1791). Tauben-Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-00-001022-X , p. 127.
2. ↑ see picture gallery Tomasz Mietlicki, Lower Silesia, - The legacy of the past united in monuments, Seppau district Glogau, accessed on January 11, 2017, (glogow.pl , picture gallery)
3. ↑ Ruth Harder-Haeckel: Simon Heinrich Sack. Letters and Documents (1752–1791). Tauben-Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-00-001022-X , pp. 8 and 124
4. ↑ Ruth Harder-Haeckel: Simon Heinrich Sack. Letters and Documents (1752–1791). Tauben-Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-00-001022-X , p. 60.
5. ↑ Ruth Harder-Haeckel: Simon Heinrich Sack. Letters and Documents (1752–1791). Tauben-Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-00-001022-X , p. 79.
6. ^ General land law for the Prussian states. (01.06.1794), Zweyter Theil, (opinioiuris.de)
7. ^ Klausdieter Schott: Child acceptance - adoption - elective childship: legal history and legal histories. 2009, especially p. 196 ff. (Books.google.de)
8. ↑ Hans Sack: Old and new about the founder Simon Heinrich Sack. In: Die Taube: Family sheet for the members of the Hofrat Sack'schen Foundation. No. 131, 1964, p. 1426.
9. ↑ Diary or history calendar from Frederick the Great's Regent Life, 1750–1759. Volume 2, p. 271. (books.google.de)
10. ^ Friedrich Christoph Jonathan Fischer: History of Frederick the Second King of Prussia. Volume 1, Halle 1787, p. 364 f. (books.google.de)
11. ^ Eva Ziebura: August Wilhelm, Prince of Prussia. 2008, p. 232. (books.google.de)
12. ^ Henri de Catt : Conversations of Frederick the Great. Reprint of the original from 1885. BoD - Books on Demand, 2012, ISBN 978-3-8460-1714-2 , p. 61. (books.google.de)
13. ^ Johann Christian Schuster: Contributions to the modern state and war history. Danzig 1764, p. 80. (books.google.de)
14. ^ Heinrich von Béguelin : Historically critical presentation of the Accise and customs constitution in the Prussian states. Berlin 1797, p. 168. (books.google.de)
15. ↑ A picture gallery of the castle can be seen on the homepage of Tomasz Mietlicki, Lower Silesia, - The legacy of the past united in monuments, Hermsdorf Kreis Glogau, accessed on January 11, 2017, (glogow.pl , picture gallery)
16. ^ Hugo Saurma (ed.): Book of arms of the Silesian cities and towns. Berlin 1870, p. 139. (books.google.de)
17. ↑ Monika Köpcke: Beer instead of coffee, 225 years ago a state coffee monopoly was introduced in Prussia. Deutschlandfunk, calendar sheet / archive / contribution from January 21, 2006, accessed online on October 23, 2014. (deutschlandfunk.de)
18. ↑ Hans Sack: Old and new about the founder Simon Heinrich Sack. In: Die Taube: Family sheet for the members of the Hofrat Sack'schen Foundation. No. 131, 1964, p. 1426.