Melchior Dittmar von Wittgenstein

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Melchior Dittmar von Wittgenstein - Portrait (after 1777)

Melchior Dittmar von Wittgenstein (* 1720 in Cologne ; † October 17, 1784 ibid) came from the patrician family von Wittgenstein and was three times mayor of Cologne .

Life

Jörgen van Wytkensteyn († 1551), a servant of Count Wilhelm and Georg von Limburg-Styrum, is considered the progenitor of the Cologne patrician dynasty .

  • Wittgenstein family coat of arms

  • Melchior Dittmar von Wittgenstein - Death Note (1784)

  • Wittgenstein family - grave on Melaten

Melchior Dittmar von Wittgenstein was the son of Gerhard Adolf von Wittgenstein (1680–1743) and his wife Anna Gertrudis von Stammen (1686–1758). His older sister was Petronella Josefa, who was born in 1716. He attended the Laurentianer-Gymnasium An der Rechtschule , studied law and was a councilor in the city council of Cologne between 1746 and 1776 . Melchior married Maria Theresa Elisabeth, born on January 2, 1753 . von Heck , a daughter of the von Heck family of councilors from Cologne. The couple owned the "Wittgensteinsche Hof" located at Trankgasse 9 in Cologne . Their first child, Johann Jakob Hermann Josef von Wittgenstein (1754–1823), was born here on February 24, 1754 . It was followed by Johann Heinrich Joseph (born January 10, 1756) and Johann Laurenz Joseph Balthasar (born October 22, 1757). After Melchior's wife died early in 1758, on November 15, 1762, he married Maria Elisabeth Haes , the widow of childless Hubert Bensberg and the universal heir of the Hubert Bensberg company. She raised Melchior his orphaned children from his first marriage.

mayor

Melchior Dittmar von Wittgenstein was the first mayor of his famous family. He was elected as one of two mayors on December 18, 1777. On the occasion of his inauguration, the Cologne Stock Exchange was lit up on January 5, 1778 . His second term of office followed on June 24th, 1780, it ended a year later on June 24th, 1781. Two years later he took over this office again for the period between June 1783 and June 1784, which he was still able to exercise in full because he died due to illness in October 1784. Melchior is buried in the family grave in the Melaten cemetery in Cologne. His son succeeded him as mayor and even held this office four times, beginning in June 1786. The family provided mayors until the 19th century.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Robert Steimel, Versippt mit Köln , Volume I, 1955, plate 208.
  2. ↑ Hans Vogts / Fritz Witt, Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Köln , in: Paul Clemen, Die profanen Denkmäler , Volume II, IV, 1930, p. 342
  3. ^ Hasso von Wedel, Heinrich von Wittgenstein, 1797 to 1869: Entrepreneurs and Politicians in Cologne , 1981, p. 14.
  4. ↑ WordStatesmen, German States to 1918, AE.
personal data
SURNAME Wittgenstein, Melchior Dittmar von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Mayor
DATE OF BIRTH 1720
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH October 17, 1784
Place of death Cologne