Mathias Andreas Fersleff
Mathias Andreas Fersleff (also Matthias Andersen Fersleff ; * around 1700 in Bergen ; † March 18, 1763 in Helsingør ) was a Norwegian - Danish merchant , Greenland pioneer and politician .
Life
Mathias Fersleff was probably born between 1697 and 1701 as the son of the merchant Anders Jensen Fiersløv (1658–1706) and his wife Anna Marie Michelsdatter Audensen. He was probably trained in the northern trade, where his father was also active. From 1720 to 1723 he was a clerk in the Danish-Norwegian instructions office of the Pension Chamber in Copenhagen .
After the colonization of Greenland began in 1721, Mathias Fersleff was sent to Håbets Ø as a commercial assistant in 1723 . He learned Greenlandic and had close contact with the local population. In 1727 he made a trip to Disko Bay and recommended the establishment of another colony. Since Det Bergen Grønlandske Compagnie , under which he was employed, went bankrupt and was dissolved in 1727, Mathias Fersleff returned home. Just one year later he was sent back to Greenland under a new company and made another trip to Disko Bay. He then returned to Bergen and reported again, stepping up his recommendation to found a colony in Disko Bay in order to prevent the supremacy of Dutch and English whalers in the area. This also harassed the population, who, according to Fersleff, now wanted missionary work. In 1729 he was appointed merchant of the Godthaab ( Nuuk ) colony . On September 30, 1730 he married Anna Larsdatter Hiller in Bergen.
In 1731 he returned home again. There he campaigned for the continuation of the mission and trade and Jacob Severin , who also showed great interest, let Fersleff take a ship to Greenland. This drove again to Disko Bay, where he successfully traded and then south of the Godthaab colony. Afterwards he again made it clear to Severin the importance of founding a colony in Disko Bay and so Fersleff became a merchant of the newly founded Christianshaab ( Qasigiannguit ) colony in 1734 . In the first few years, there was great competition between Danes and Dutch in Disko Bay, which finally resulted in Fersleff having four Dutch merchant ships bombed in 1739. In the same year he returned home, but wanted to continue working as a freelance merchant in Greenland, which Jacob Severin forbade him to do.
On May 3, 1741, after the death of his first wife in Copenhagen, he married Anna Kirstine Dalager (1718–1790), a sister of Lars Dalager (1722–1772) and Carl Dalager (1726–1799). In 1741 he was appointed mayor of Helsingør, which he remained until his death in 1763. He also served as an advisor on Greenlandic affairs.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Biography in Dansk Biografisk Leksikon
- ↑ Biography in Biografisk Leksikon for Grønland
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fersleff, Mathias Andreas |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fersleff, Matthias Andersen (alternative) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Norwegian-Danish merchant, Greenland pioneer and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | around 1700 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Mountains |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 18, 1763 |
| Place of death | Elsinore |