Waitz von Eschen
Waitz of ash is the name of an originally from Thuringia originating noble family . Today the family is active in Kassel under the name "Freiherren von Waitz Unternehmensgruppe" . She belongs to the still existing Althessian knighthood .
history
16th and 17th centuries
The established line of the Waitz von Eschen family begins with Johannes Waitz , who is documented as a merchant and iron hammer owner in Tambach near Ohrdruf and Schmalkalden from 1570 to 1588 . In the course of the 17th century members of the family found themselves as civil servants or traders in Thuringia, and Heinrich Sigismund Waitz was mayor and tax collector in Gotha as well as licentiate in medicine and rural physics. His son, Jacob Sigismund (1698–1776), who was raised to the status of imperial baron in 1764 , became the progenitor of the Hessian branch of the family that still exists today.
Jacob Sigismund († 1776)
Jacob Sigismund Waitz (1698–1776) was the son of the aforementioned Heinrich Sigismund Waitz , mayor and tax collector in Gotha . He grew up in Gotha, studied engineering at what was then the Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig and then entered the Hessian state services, where he first came to the Bergkollegium. In 1750 he leased the Mecklenburg Saline brawn and narcotics-weilburgische silver mine pit Mehlbach in Weilmünster . Jacob Sigismund Waitz later became the Hessian Chamber Director and in 1756 Minister of State.
After the French occupation of the Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel during the Seven Years' War in 1757 , he led the government on behalf of the escaped Landgrave Friedrich II. For this purpose, Jacob Sigismund Waitz was named "Waitz von Eschen" by Emperor Franz I on April 7, 1764. raised to the hereditary imperial baron status.
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From 1770–1773 he had the Palais Waitz von Eschen built by the architect Simon Louis du Ry on the Opernplatz in Kassel , which was one of the most elegant houses in the city until it was destroyed in 1943. After a falling out with the Landgrave, Baron Jacob Sigismund Waitz von Eschen resigned as Minister of State and Head of Mining and Metallurgy in Hessen-Kassel in 1774 and went into Prussian service. From 1775 he was mining lignite near Großalmerode near Kassel. In the 19th and 20th centuries, his descendants owned further mining fields and country estates and were involved in a wide range of entrepreneurial activities. a. with alum plants, blue paint factories , porcelain production, machine and plant engineering. Lignite mining was only stopped in 2003.
Offspring
Since Baron Jacob Sigismund Waitz lost his own sons early from ashes, he adopted his son Johann Friedrich von Hilchen to Nauheim (1706-1781), the husband of his daughter Karoline Dorothea Magdalena, who after his marriage and adoption also Baron Weitz of ash called . He was possibly a descendant of Johann Hilchen von Lorch . Johann Friedrich was initially bailiff for Sontra and later the Hessian-Hanau senior bailiff and senior chamber councilor. After he inherited the Waitz property and title through his wife, the couple lived in Kassel. Several descendants came from this marriage, including Friedrich Sigismund (1745–1808) and his youngest brother Johann Friedrich (1759–1804):
- Baron Friedrich Sigismund (1745–1808) became Hessian Chamber Assessor in 1769, War, Domain and Bergrath in 1770, Secret Legation Councilor in 1773, President of the Chamber College and Tax Director in 1783 and President and Director of Mining in 1786, Minister of State in 1796, Curator of the Universities of Marburg and Gießen and 1802 order chancellor. It was used for several diplomatic broadcasts and in 1795 concluded the peace in Basel between Hesse and the Republic of France . Friedrich Sigismund founded the Kassel line of the Waitz von Eschen family that still exists today through his descendants.
- Baron Johann Friedrich (1759-1804) moved to Hanau, also in the service of the Hessian landgraves, and founded the Hanau line of the Waitz von Eschen family there. His eldest son August (1799–1864) bought the "Emmerichshöfe" between 1824 and 1835, about 10 km east of Hanau. After the Hanau line died out without male heirs in 1933, Emmerichshofen Castle passed to the Kassel line of the Waitz von Eschen family, who still own it today.
Baron Karl Sigismund (1795–1873), the son of Friedrich Sigismund from the Kassel line of the family, was lord of Gut Winterbüren (near Fuldatal- Rothwesten ), Gut Waitzrodt ( near Immenhausen ) and Hirschberg ( near Herborn ) in Hesse. He was also chamberlain to Elector Wilhelm II and a member of the Schönfeld district . After Hessen-Kassel was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia , he became a liberal-conservative spokesman in the Prussian mansion in 1867 . After Karl Sigismund's death , the family property passed to his son Roderich (1833–1915), who continued to expand the family property.
coat of arms
The split shield shows three golden ears of wheat on the right in blue above a green three-mountain , on the left a golden high cross between two golden ears of wheat in red. The right helmet with blue and gold covers carries three golden ears, the left with red and gold covers the cross between two golden ears of wheat.
literature
- Pierer's Universal Lexicon. Volume 18. Altenburg 1864, p. 760.
- Wilhelm Grotefend: Waitz-von Eschen, Friedrich Siegmund Freiherr . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 40, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1896, pp. 599-602.
- Günter Hinze: 400 years of lignite mining on the Hirschberg. Kassel 1975.
- Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels , Adelslexikon Volume XV, Volume 134 of the complete series. Starke, Limburg (Lahn) 2004, ISSN 0435-2408 .
- Heide Wunder , Christina Vanja , Karl-Hermann Wegner (Hrsg.): Kassel in the 18th century - residence and city. Euregio, Kassel 2000, ISBN 3-933617-05-7 .
- Basis for a Hessian scholar and writer history from the Reformation up to the present day, Volume 9, p.397ff Familie von Waitz
