Theodore of Negri

Theodor Wilhelm Raimund Freiherr von Negri (born on November 9, 1771 at Brunssum Castle near Brunssum , Duchy of Limburg ; died on July 8, 1852 in Aachen ; Prussian recognition of the baron class from August 1, 1829) was the district's Prussian district administrator from 1816 to 1840 Malmedy .

Life

Origin and education

The Freiherr Theodor von Negri was the son of Drost zu Valkenburg , Franz Wilhelm Joseph Freiherr von Negri and his wife Johanna Freiin von Negri, born Freiin von Eys called Beusdal. According to Oidtman, the family, represented by Johann Jakob de Negri, was raised to the imperial nobility on March 6, 1628. Theodor's great-grandfather Carl and his brothers Johann Baptist and Peter Thomas de Negri had Carl Nicolaus de Berckel, head of the heraldic office in Brabant, issue a confirmation of their nobility on March 24, 1724. Theodor's maternal grandfather, Friedrich Freiherr von Eys called Beustael, took possession of the Broicher Hof in 1743 by way of comparison , which came to his uncle Joseph Anselm Anton von Negri in 1786 through his marriage to Maria Johanna Josepha von Eys called Beusdal.

After Karl Leopold Kaufmann , Theodor von Negri received his upbringing in his parents' house and in the presence of a steward until he was eight. From there he was first transferred to the school in Sittard and two years later to an educational institution in Visé , where he expanded his knowledge of the French language in particular during his three-year stay. This was followed by five years of further training at the college in Jülich before he began studying philosophy at the University of Cologne in 1790 . After two years, he switched to law at the University of Leuven while continuing his studies . His stay there was interrupted by the events of the First Coalition War, which led to the annexation of the Austrian Netherlands to France. For a year he therefore continued his studies at the University of Heidelberg in the subject of camera sciences , but then returned to Löwen to finish his law studies. The capture of Brabant by French revolutionary troops and their advance to the Rhine, however, forced them to leave the university. Theodor von Negri then moved with his father, Franz Wilhelm Joseph to Düsseldorf, the capital of the Duchy of Jülich-Berg .

Officer and nobleman

In Düsseldorf von Negri sought the mediation of the Jülich Privy Councilor, Hofrat President Friedrich Wilhelm von Ritz, and made himself available to his Austrian sovereign by joining his army. On October 28, 1794 as an ensign in the 1st  k. k. Infantry Regiment, von Negri was involved in the first coalition wars, most recently with the rank of first lieutenant , before he left in May 1801.

Theodor von Negri, who also married Jeanette von Leerodt at this time, stayed “as a quiet country dweller” at Zweibrüggen Castle , which belonged to his maternal grandparents , but then moved to Aachen, where Jean Charles François de Ladoucette , Prefect of the Département de la Roer, gave him a place Prefectural Council Office offered. Obviously, however, he refused to take up a state office under French rule . After the end of this period, Theodor von Negri made himself available to the new Governor General of the Lower Rhine General Governor, Johann August Sack , who commissioned him, under the command of Major von Siegler, to set up a Landwehr battalion. When the citizens' militia was established, in May 1814 he became chief of the battalion for the city of Aachen.

After the transition to Prussia, Negri was accepted into the Prussian army as the prime lieutenant of the unpaid infantry . As a member of the Malmedy garrison set up in 1820 , in which the 3rd Battalion of the 25th  Landwehr Regiment was stationed as part of the 15th Division (Cologne) in the VIIIth Army Corps (Koblenz), he led a company of the 3rd Battalion during military exercises. He did not retire from military service until 1821, not least because the double burden of managing the district administration was no longer bearable for him.

District Administrator of the Malmedy District

After the transition of the Rhineland as a result of the resolutions made at the Congress of Vienna and the subsequent division of the province into administrative districts, cities and districts, he was finally appointed provisional district administrator of the Malmedy district on April 20, 1816. The definitive confirmation of his appointment was issued with the Supreme Cabinet Order of January 16, 1817. Previously, a higher official, C. von Harley, who had been appointed in Liège since May 1814, was intended for the position, and von Negri also did not have the property within the to be filled. In 1821, its administrative area was again considerably expanded when the previous district of Sankt Vith was dissolved and the ten mayor's offices belonging to it were added to the district of Malmedy.

In the weeks after the July Revolution of 1830 , von Negri organized a vigilante group that was supposed to ward off possible dangers early on, especially during nightly patrols. On September 8th, a Fusiler company of the 28th Infantry Regiment also came to the city to reinforce them. However, she was able to move away again after a short time, as there was no unrest in the district, although crop failures were to be feared and bread prices rose.

Theodor von Negri submitted a request for retirement on February 1, 1840, which was granted with the Dimissoriale from May 15 to June 30, 1840. His retirement pension was four eighths of his last salary, corresponding to 600 thalers / year. As early as 1831 the Prussian king had given him the Order of the Red Eagle III. Class awarded, according to Kaufmann possibly a reward for his actions in 1830. When he left he also received the ribbon for the Order of the Red Eagle III. Class. The 68-year-old von Negri suffered increasingly from gout ; both his physical strength and his mental freshness decreased. The numerous business trips in the extensive district, whose headquarters were with Malmedy in the far west and which, due to the poor road conditions, could mostly only be done by horse, had left their mark.

From 1819 to 1840, Mrs. L. Wolff stood by his side as district secretary. He, who had studied in Heidelberg and knew the French language, formed the office staff of District Administrator Theodor von Negri with a district clerk. In addition, only in very limited spatial conditions. Since von Negri was only very imperfectly able to write German, Wolff wrote any reports and orders for him. Theodor von Negri retired to Aachen, where he died in 1852 after years of painful illness. With a period of service of almost a quarter of a century, he remained the longest serving district administrator in Malmedy.

“According to the judgment of the later District Administrator Frühbuss , who knew him well, Negri was endowed with only modest intellectual gifts. But what set him apart was, in addition to his strong willpower and tireless diligence, the great honesty of his attitude. "

- Karl Leopold Kaufmann

family

In 1801 the Catholic Theodor von Negri married Maria Alexandrina Anna Johanna Agilolpha Josepha Antonetta called Jeanette von Leerodt (baptized on July 9, 1764 at Schloss Leerodt ; died on March 30, 1821 in Malmedy), a daughter of Johann Jakob Josef Anton Freiherr von Leerodt and his wife Maria Odilia Elisabetha Catharina Charlotte Johanna Nepomucena von Leerodt, née Countess von Satzenhoven zu Bechtolsheim .

Von Negri then married again before May 1825. Antonia Freiin von Broich (born on October 17, 1793 at Broich Castle near Montzen ; died on January 12, 1878 in Aachen) was a daughter of Karl Freiherr von Broich and his wife Maria Anne von Broich, née de Sluse. Her nephew, Eduard Freiherr von Broich , was the district administrator of Malmedy from 1865 to 1876.

Negri's second marriage had five children, including a daughter.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Horst Romeyk : The leading state and municipal administrative officials of the Rhine Province 1816–1945 (=  publications of the Society for Rhenish History . Volume 69 ). Droste, Düsseldorf 1994, ISBN 3-7700-7585-4 , p. 651 .
2. ^ Herbert M. Schleicher: Ernst von Oidtman and his genealogical-heraldic collection in the University Library in Cologne. Volume 11. Folder 832-915. MOCKEL – PALMER. (Publications of the West German Society for Family Studies , Cologne, New Series No. 80). Cologne 1996, pp. 243-247 (folder 870 Negri), here p. 243.
3. ↑ Broicher Hof In: Heribert Reiners (arrangement): The art monuments of the district of Aachen. (= Paul Clemen (Hrsg.): Die Kunstdenkmäler der Rheinprovinz , Ninth Volume, II.), L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1912, p. 39. (Unchanged reprint: Pädagogischer Verlag Schwann, Düsseldorf 1981, ISBN 3-590-32111- 3. )
4. ^ ^{A b c d} Karl Leopold Kaufmann : The Malmedy border district in the first five decades of the Prussian administration. Ludwig Röhrscheid Verlag, Bonn 1940, p. 8.
5. ↑ Ulrike Nyassi, Mechthild Wilkes: The register of the University of Cologne. Fifth volume 1675–1797. (= Publications of the Society for Rhenish History VIII) Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 1981, ISBN 3-7700-7537-4 , p. 713, no. 806.150: February 10, 1790 Theod. LB de Negri de Zweybruggen.
6. ^ ^{A b c} Karl Leopold Kaufmann: The Malmedy border district in the first five decades of the Prussian administration. Ludwig Röhrscheid Verlag, Bonn 1940, p. 9.
7. ^ ^{A b} Karl Leopold Kaufmann: The Malmedy border district in the first five decades of the Prussian administration. Ludwig Röhrscheid Verlag, Bonn 1940, p. 74.
8. ^ Karl Leopold Kaufmann: The Malmedy border district in the first five decades of the Prussian administration. Ludwig Röhrscheid Verlag, Bonn 1940, p. 73.
9. ↑ Max Bär : The administrative constitution of the Rhine province since 1815. (Publications of the Society for Rheinische Geschichtskunde XXXV), Droste Verlag, Düsseldorf 1998 (second reprint of the Bonn 1919 edition), ISBN 3-7700-7600-1 , p. 240.
10. ^ Karl Leopold Kaufmann: The Malmedy border district in the first five decades of the Prussian administration. Ludwig Röhrscheid Verlag, Bonn 1940, p. 64.
11. ^ ^{A b c} Karl Leopold Kaufmann: The Malmedy border district in the first five decades of the Prussian administration. Ludwig Röhrscheid Verlag, Bonn 1940, p. 122 f.
12. ^ ^{A b c} Karl Leopold Kaufmann: The Malmedy border district in the first five decades of the Prussian administration. Ludwig Röhrscheid Verlag, Bonn 1940, p. 123.
13. ^ Karl Leopold Kaufmann: The Malmedy border district in the first five decades of the Prussian administration. Ludwig Röhrscheid Verlag, Bonn 1940, p. 123 f.
14. ↑ Romeyk gives the year 1804 for the marriage.
15. ^ Herbert M. Schleicher: Ernst von Oidtman and his genealogical-heraldic collection in the University Library in Cologne. Volume 10. Folder 666-764. HÜCHELHOVEN – LOUVENBERG. (Publications of the West German Society for Family Studies , Cologne, New Series No. 77). Cologne 1995, pp. 379–407 (folder 722 Leerodt), here p. 389, according to information given there, marriage in 1803.
16. ^ Herbert M. Schleicher: Ernst von Oidtman and his genealogical-heraldic collection in the University Library in Cologne. Volume 11. Folder 832-915. MOCKEL – PALMER. (Publications of the West German Society for Family Studies , Cologne, New Series No. 80). Cologne 1996, pp. 243-247 (folder 870 Negri), here p. 246.