Wilhelm Christoph Günther

Wilhelm Christoph Günther , also Christoph Wilhelm Günther (born February 11, 1755 in Cospeda near Jena ; † November 15, 1826 in Weimar ) was a German pastor , author , member of the Weimar police authority, director of the orphanage institution, supervisor of the penitentiary institutions and hospital catering in Weimar , Co-administrator of the sovereign estates, director of the grand ducal upper consistory, court preacher and doctor of theology, close friend of Goethe and Herder , knight of the white falconry order .

Life

Günther was born in the rectory in Cospeda near Jena. When he was two years old, he and his parents came to the parsonage in Mattstedt , since his father Carl Christoph Günther had taken up the pastor's position there. After high school in Weimar and theological graduation from the university in Jena, he became assistant preacher in Weimar on Herder's recommendation in 1781; from 1785 he became a substitute (assistant preacher) and went to his father to help. In 1790 he succeeded his father in Mattstedt. His edition of “Children's Tales” was published in Erfurt as early as 1787 .

Already in his youth he must have met Johann Karl Wilhelm Voigt , later Bergrat under Goethe, in Mattstedt. In 1767 he had identified a deposit of Letten coal there on Schösserberg . The term "Lettenkohle" was later extended to all occurrences of Keuper . After Karl August von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1757–1828) ordered the development of known deposits due to a lack of fuel in 1799, Günther asked Mattstedt for permission, which he received on February 16, 1766. Between 1799 and 1801 16 men mined around 12,000 bushels (19,000 quintals) from a seam 7 to 16 cm thick. Initially there were 7 tunnels at a distance of 25 meters. The deepest tunnel, created later, was driven 120 meters into the mountain. Having become aware of the fossil-rich coal, Goethe also came to Mattstedt. Visits by Goethe on August 8, 1800 and April 26, 1801 are recorded in the chronicle of the place. He and Günther became friends. In order to transport the coal to Weimar, the "Leipziger Straße" (today: Bundesstraße B87) was extended to the Chaussee on Goethe's recommendation. Unfortunately, the quality of the coal was getting worse and so the mining stopped after 6 years. The only thing that has been preserved is the former Vorwerk and the name of the district “Poche”.

In 1801 Günther was appointed senior consistorial councilor and court preacher in Weimar . He was to become Herder's successor. He himself suggested his brother-in-law, who was a pastor in Wormstedt, as his successor, since he preferred the comforts of country life. At the suggestion of Karl August and his co-financing, an orphanage was built in Weimar, of which Günther became the director. Entrusted with further administrative tasks, he, like Goethe, became an advisor to the Grand Duke.

After the attempted plundering by French troops on October 14, 1806 in Goethe's house on Frauenplan in Weimar, which Christiane Vulpius knew how to prevent, Günther married Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Christiane Vulpius in the sacristy of St. James on October 19; after 18 years of wild marriage, the marriage was considered inappropriate. The necessary triple line-up was also not ordered. They had seized the opportunity because of the chaos of war. Goethe chose the day of the battle as the wedding date and had it engraved on the rings.

Günther was married to Auguste, b. Löffler, a daughter of the Gotha superintendent Josias Friedrich Löffler .

Günther died on November 15, 1826 in Weimar. He was buried in a long funeral procession on November 17, 1826 in the family crypt on the Jacobskirchhof .

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  Mattstedt rectory

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  Memorial plaque for Pastor Wilhelm Christoph Günther

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  Gravestone on the Jacobskirchhof

Works

• Child fairy tales collected from oral narration. Erfurt: Keyser 1787
  • 2nd edition Jena: Frommann 1857 ( digitized version )
  • New edition edited by Thomas Eicher with the collaboration of Christel Altmeyer and Eva-Maria Nüsse. With illustrations by Maike Hohmeier, Oberhausen: Athena 1999 ISBN 978-3-932740-31-2
• The orphans in the Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar: History of the pension institution for orphans through private education in families, along with their success within forty years. To celebrate the government jubilee Sr. Königl. Highness of the Grand Duke. Weimar: Landes-Industrie-Comptoir 1825 ( digitized )

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Christoph Günther  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Wilhelm Christoph Günther  in the German Digital Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Coal, alum and vitriol - historical raw material extraction, Hans Hagdorn and Klaus-Peter Kelber (2015), p. 19
2. ^ Wilhelm Christoph Günther. Child fairy tales collected from oral stories, hardcover edition, Thomas Eicher, Eva Laubrock, Tobias Moersen - December 14, 1998, pp. 127-133, ISBN 3-932740-31-9