Roman Anton Graeff

Roman Anton Graeff (born May 9, 1841 in Zell (Mosel) ; † September 3, 1930 in Bad Bertrich ) was a German tobacco product manufacturer.

Photo of the old cigar factory JB Graeff Söhne in Zell on the Moselle

Life

Roman Anton was a son of the Zeller tobacco goods manufacturer Johann Baptist Graeff and his wife Maria Gertrude geb. Koll (1818–1903) from Adenau . Graeff initially began his school education in elementary school in Zell, before he moved to Trier to the higher middle school. After finishing school, he joined his father's cigar factory in 1860. As a volunteer he later volunteered for military service and during this time he took part in the wars of 1866 and 1870/71 as a field official.

In 1885 he finally took over together with his older brother Otto Anton (* March 3, 1839, † April 21, 1917) the parents' tobacco manufacture in Zell. Further branches were quickly established in Briedel , Kaimt and Merl and the tobacco products of their house quickly acquired such a good reputation that people soon spoke of the kings of the Moselle in their context . After Otto's death in 1917, Roman became the sole owner of the tobacco factory. He continued to run the company until 1928, before he decided to finally stop production. The factory building in Zell was retained, however, was rebuilt from 1928 to 1930 and then used as the St. Josef Hospital with initially 55 and later 67 beds.

Offices and memberships

Graeff, who had built up a great deal of trust in the population over the years, held many other offices in various institutions in the city, in the district and in the administrative district; u. a. he was:

• City councilor for 32 years
• 33 years 1st alderman of the city of Zell
• 25 years 1st district deputy from 1883 to 1917
• Member of the Koblenz Chamber of Commerce for 23 years
• Deputy member of the district committee of the Chamber of Commerce for 25 years
• Honorary captain of the volunteer fire brigade of the city of Zell, which he founded on May 20, 1900

Awards

• Royal Crown Order (Prussia) III. class
• Order of the Red Eagle III. and IV. class with bow

family

Graeff had been with Maria Josephine, born in Krefeld , since October 7, 1891 . Thomas (1863–1899), the daughter of Heinrich Maximilian and Josephine Caroline Leopoldine, nee. Schrick was married. Their son was the entrepreneur, lawyer and diplomat Max Graeff . Roman Anton had 6 siblings, Otto Anton (1839–1917), Bertha (1844–1867), Gertrude (1847–1906), Franz Xaver (1849–1906), Carl Heinrich (1855–1895) and Pauline (1857–1908 ).

literature

• Heinz-Günther Böse and Alfons Friderichs (Eds.) Graeff, Roman Anton In: Personalities of the Cochem-Zell District, Kliomedia, Trier 2004, ISBN 3-89890-084-3 , p. 133.

Web links

• Entry on Roman Anton Graeff in the Rhineland-Palatinate personal database