Marie Smidt

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Johann and Marie Smidt in Bremen, before leaving for Calcutta (1870)

Marie Smidt (birth name Achelis, born May 8, 1845 in Brooklyn , New York , † February 9, 1925 in Bremen ) was the wife of the German businessman and entrepreneur Johann Smidt . The letters she wrote to her parents, later only to her mother, in New York, describe aspects of bourgeois life in Bremen from the point of view of a bourgeois woman who grew up in a different cultural area.

Life

Marie Achelis was the daughter of the Bremen-born overseas merchant Thomas Achelis in New York (1807–1872) and his wife Julie Sophie Rosine, née. Hütterott (1821-1905). Thomas Achelis emigrated from Bremen to America in 1833 and founded the company Fred k Vietor & Achelis in New York . The family lived in the then posh suburb of Brooklyn . At the age of 15 Marie was sent to Germany to be educated at the Katharinenstift in Stuttgart for two years. Then she returned to her parents in Brooklyn. There she met Johann Smidt in the fall of 1868 and married him on January 5, 1869. In Bremen they waited for their first child to be born before they left for Calcutta . There Johann Smidt was the owner of the company Schroeder, Smidt & Co., which he founded with a friend.

In 1873 Marie Smidt returned with her family to Bremen and devoted herself to raising her six children (one of whom was born in KalKutta) and supporting her husband in his social and charitable tasks.

Letters

Marie Smidt, a young wife, daughter-in-law of the well-known Bremen judge Johann Hermann Smidt, writes letters to her parents Thomas Achelis and Julie Sophie Rosine Achelis geb. Hütterott. 64 of these letters, written between 1869 and 1882, are in the original in the Bremen State Archives

What is special about these letters: An educated citizen who did not grow up in Bremen but in the United States of America gives her parents her opinion about the bourgeois culture in Bremen and compares it with the culture of a comparable social class in Brooklyn / New York. The excitement about the victory against France, the desperation about the Bremen weather, differences in cleaning, dissatisfaction with the food in Bremen, which is why she ordered delicacies such as tomatoes, bananas, apples, ducks and turkeys from her mother in New York

Fashion

Marie Smidt writes about the clothes worn by middle-class women in Bremen at societies. In Bremen, probably in Europe in general, cut-out dresses are always worn at parties, especially dance companies, except for table parties or smaller soirées.

Christmas

Not only the extensive preparations for Christmas, but also the thank-you letters that were sent after the festival and described the process, give a clear picture of the sentimentality that occurs especially among Germans when they are based in distant countries and meet each other remember the Christmas celebrations of their childhood.

Socializing in Bremen

Marie Smidt mourns the “cozy” socializing in Brooklyn. In Bremen, the gentlemen move away from the table immediately after dinner is over to play L'Hombre in another room , whereas in Brooklyn they stay with the ladies until the end of the evening. As a result, the Bremen women become “gossip sisters” who sit knitting together. At evening parties in Bremen, the main thing is always to eat, while in Brooklyn people get together more for socializing . In the salons of the Bremen Society , the card game L'Hombre was often played after dinner. Johann Smidt reveals in a letter to his in-laws that he would rather play L'Hombre than go to the theater; a great sorrow for Marie. Marie Smidt writes that playing L'Hombre is now preferred to whist by the gentlemen .

The Bremen Freimarkt is often mentioned in Marie's letters and seems to have been an important social event.

The letter from February 27 to March 1, 1880 reports on a meeting of the Jacobs Society in the Smidt house. Unfortunately, a packet of ducks and bananas from Brooklyn arrived too late to refresh the guests. The gardener had never seen such a "bunch" of bananas and regretted that he could not show it as a rarity at the horticultural meeting the day before.

The company consisted of 12 gentlemen: Otto Gildemeister , Senator Pauli , Dr. Strube, Dr. Heineken, Mr. Beekhel (?), Mr. Richard Fritz, Mr. August Fritze, Mr. Senator Barkhausen , Johannes C. Achelis , Arnold Duckwitz , Edu Wätjen and Johann Smidt - the latter had invited: Uncle Lühmann, Prof. Motz (?), Eduard Büsing , Louis Meyer, George Vietor, Louis Vietor, Fritz Achelis and Julius Smidt. While the gentlemen were eating upstairs, 10 women had gathered down in the dining room to try and feast, and they were there

“ Very amused; As soon as the food came down, it was brought to the dining room, and now our turn came - it was really too ridiculous and very cozy, we still had as much fun as the gentlemen. When it was over, the well-known gentlemen came down and said good evening to us and found it extremely comfortable with us, where I had made it a little cozy, of course. - It looked terrible in the kitchen, the cook with his wife, 3 girls and 5 wage servants who were constantly running around, you can get an idea of ​​it. - At three o'clock the brothers came to the bill filing, at 4 1/4 people ate, and then the gentlemen played until the last ones went home at 11 o'clock! ... "

Calcutta

Marie Smidt's letters from Calcutta have not survived, but there are letters from Marie's husband Johann Smidt about his time in Calcutta.

literature

  • Wiebke Hoffmann: Emigrate and return. Merchant families between Bremen and Übersee. Waxmann Verlag GmbH, Münster 2009. International university publications, Volume 523. ISBN 978-3-8309-2102-8 . ISSN  0932-4763 .
  • Estate of Johann Smidt (1773–1857) Mayor of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (State Archives 7.20), edited by Monika M. Schulte and Nicola Wurthmann. Self-published by the Bremen State Archives, 2004. ISBN 3-9-25729-35-6 .
  • Nicola Wurthmann: Senators, friends and family. Rule structures and self-image of the Bremen elite between tradition and modernity 1813–1848. Self-published by the Bremen State Archives, 2009. ISSN  0170-7884 , ISBN 978-3-925729-55-3 .
  • Biography of Bremen in the nineteenth century . Published by the historical society of the artists' association. Bremen: Verlag von Gustav Winter, 1912.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bremische Biographie of the nineteenth century, published by the historical society of the artists' association. Bremen: Verlag von Gustav Winter, 1912, pages 474–475
  2. ↑ * April 7, 1804, † February 7, 1879
  3. ↑ * October 22, 1807, † March 24, 1872
  4. ↑ * January 14, 1821, † April 28, 1905
  5. ^ Bremen State Archives, holdings 7.20, inventory number 1616
  6. ^ Letter of September 4, 1870
  7. ^ Letter of November 15, 1869
  8. ^ Letters of April 16, 1881 and May 31, 1881
  9. ↑ October 29, 1869, December 27, 1869 a. a.
  10. ^ Letter of July 2, 1869
  11. ^ Letter of December 12, 1869
  12. ^ Letter of December 27, 1869
  13. ^ Letter of November 15, 1869
  14. ^ Letter of December 12, 1869
  15. ↑ March 15, 1870
  16. ^ Letter of May 1, 1870
  17. ^ Letters of October 29, 1869
  18. ↑ Marie Smidt's husband, Johann Smidt, was the accounting officer for the Bremer Gartenbauverein
  19. ^ Wiebke Hoffmann: Emigration and Return. Merchant families between Bremen and Übersee. Waxmann Verlag GmbH, Münster 2009. Internationale Hochschulschriften, Volume 523. ISBN 978-3-8309-2102-8 , ISSN  0932-4763 , pp. 46 and 437.
  20. ↑ Dr. med. Georg Ernst Strube, doctor in Bremen, born June 14, 1833 in Altona, † May 3, 1890 in Bremen
  21. ↑ Dr. Johannes Heineken (1822–1899), father of Philipp Heineken
  22. ↑ probably a son of Wilhelm August Fritze
  23. ↑ Eduard Wätjen, grandson of Diedrich Heinrich Wätjen , son of Diedrich Hermann Wätjen, from whom he took over his father's import and export company in 1868, but converted it into a financing company. Source: Günter Garbrecht, Die Familie Wätjen, archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed November 10, 2009) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www-user.uni-bremen.de
  24. ↑ Bremen State Archives, inventory 7.20, 1862–1876, inventory number 1618 (approx. 130 items)
personal data
SURNAME Smidt, Marie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German citizen woman
DATE OF BIRTH May 8, 1845
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York
DATE OF DEATH February 9, 1925
Place of death Bremen