Abraham Schneider (9 May 1735 – 22 April 1795) was a German-Danish businessman, industrialist and ship-owner. He owned Jonstrup Textile Mill in Jonstrup outside Copenhagen as well as the country house Store Godthåb in

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the region of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of less tha ...

Biography

Abraham Schneider was born on 9 May 1735 in

Canton Bern The canton of Bern, or Berne (; ; ; ), is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. The bear is the heraldic symbol of the canton, displayed on a red-yellow ba ...

. Switzerland. He came to Copenhagen to work for

Reinhard Iselin Reinhard Iselin (4 August 1714 – 10 April 1781) was a Danish merchant, shipowner and industrialist who founded Reinhard Iselin & Co. in Copenhagen in 1749. The company completed 65 expeditions to the Danish West Indies. Iselin was also active i ...

. In 1762, he worked as a bookkeeper in Iselin's office (Købmager Quarter No. 22), together with another Swiss immigrant, Christopher Battier. In 1769, Schneider was married to

Joost van Hemert Joost van Hemert (22 June 1696 – 15 June 1775) was a Danish merchant, financier and shipowner. His trading house, Joost van H. & Sønner, founded circa 1740, was later continued by his son Peter van Hemert. Early life Joost van Hemert was born ...

's daughter Elisabeth. This made him the brother-in-law of

Peter van Hemert Peter van Hemert (29 May 1734 - 20 May 1810) was a Denmark, Danish merchant and shipowner. His family's trading house, Joost van Hemert & S'nner, existed until 1805. Early life and education Hemert was born in Copenhagen on 20 May 1734, the son of ...

and Gusbert Behagen. Schneiderestablished his own trading firm. He was a co-owner of the ships ''Baronesse Iselin'', ''Wenskabet'', ''Constantia'' and ''Patientis''. He was awarded the prestigious titles of Court Agent (''Gof-Agent'') and ''

etatsråd was a Danish and Norwegian title, which was conferred by the king until 1909 and entailed a third-class rank in the order of precedence, and thus the right to enroll one's daughters in Gisselfeld Convent and Vemmetofte Convent. It was awarded to ...

''. In 1774, Schneider bought the country house Grøndal in

. In In 1776, he also bought the neighboring country house Store Godthåb. He merged the two properties into one, large estate, demolished Grøndal's buildings and refurbished Store Godthåb's old main building. In 1777, Schneider bought Jonstrip Textile Mill. The factory was destroyed by fire in 1778. A large new building complex was completed in 1781. In 1778, he borrowed 45,000

Danish rigsdaler The rigsdaler was the name of several currencies used in Denmark until 1875. The similarly named Reichsthaler, riksdaler and rijksdaalder were used in Germany and Austria-Hungary, Sweden and the Netherlands, respectively. These currencies were of ...

from his father-in-law. In 1783, he obtained a loan of 130,000 rigsdaler from the government. In the same year, he went bankrupt. On 31 March 1795, Store Godthåb was sold. Schneider died on 22 April 1795 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Legacy

Konstrupgård (the textile mill's former main building) was later converted into a teacher training college (Jonstrup Seminarium). It is now home to a public school. Store Godthåb was listed in the Danish Registry of Protected buildings and Places in 1918.

Erik Pauelsen Erik Pauelsen (2 or 14 October 1749 – 20 February 1790) was a Danish painter. He is most notable for his landscapes and was also a popular portraitist. However, he did not experience the same level of success as Jens Juel and Nicolai Abildgaar ...

painted a pair of portrait paintings of Schneider and his wife.

References

External links

Abraham Schneider
at geni.com
Source
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schneider, Abraham 18th-century Danish businesspeople 18th-century Swiss businesspeople Businesspeople from Copenhagen Danish businesspeople in shipping Swiss emigrants to Denmark 1735 births 1795 deaths