Aron von Reis, originally ''Aron van Rees'' (born 30 August 1777 in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, died 9 June 1848 in

Marstrand Marstrand () is a seaside locality situated in Kungälv Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 1,320 inhabitants in 2010. The town got its name from its location on the island of Marstrand. Despite its small population, for histo ...

, Sweden, was a Dutch-Swedish

industrialist A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

. He and a business partner specialized in creating

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

textiles and printing floral patterns on them called ''kattun'', receiving royal decorations for their success.

Biography

Origin

Aron von Reis was the son of tobacco processor and factory owner Andreas van Reis (alternatively called ''Anschel, Andries van Rees, Andreas wan Reijs, Anders von Reis'') and Sara Aronsdotter Herfurt, he from

Nijkerk Nijkerk (; Dutch Low Saxon: ''Niekark'') is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city located in the middle of the Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. Population centres Some people state that ''Groot Corlaer'' is a ...

, she from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, both deceased in Gothenburg. She was a descendant of Philip Uri Joosten Halevi. The family was among the first Jews allowed to settle in the

Marstrand Free Port The Marstrand Free Port () was a largely autonomous island territory of Sweden, during the Gustavian Era of the late 18th century, which effectively functioned as a merchant republic. As a free port designed with inspiration from the Italian ' ...

, so declared by King

Gustav III Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of King Adolf Frederick and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what he saw ...

of Sweden.

Career

In 1815 von Reis and Aron Magnusson founded the successful

printing plant known as Aronsdal in Gothenburg. Magnusson's and von Reis's wives Fredrika Marcus and Lowisa Marcus were first cousins. Their factory annually produced over 100,000

ell An ell (from Proto-Germanic *''alinō'', cognate with Latin ''ulna'') is a northwestern European unit of measurement, originally understood as a cubit (the combined length of the forearm and extended hand). The word literally means "arm", an ...

s of cotton fabric, plain as well as printed. King

Charles XIV John Charles XIV John (; 26 January 1763 – 8 March 1844) was King of Sweden and Norway from 1818 until his death in 1844 and the first monarch of the Bernadotte dynasty. In Norway, he is known as Charles III John () and before he became royalty in ...

of Sweden and Norway awarded each of the partners a gold medal with the ribbon of Vasaorden in 1821 for their industrial achievements. The following year, the partners also opened a

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...

facility ''Wäfveriet Lovisa Fredrica'' in Aronsdal (today the Krokslätt area of central Gothenburg), and the von Reis family resided in the factory's apartments 1816–1823.

Family

Aron von Reis and his brother Moses von Reis both married daughters of

Norrköping Norrköping ( , ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Lin ...

community leader Jacob Marcus. Aron and his wife Lowisa had 17 children whose notable descendants include

Isa Quensel Isa Quensel (21 September 1905 – 3 November 1981) was a Swedish actress and operatic soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scie ...

Magnus Uggla Per Allan Magnus Claësson Uggla (pronounced ; born 18 June 1954) is a Swedish entertainer, composer, actor, and occasional radio host. He is known for his satirical lyrics. Uggla was born in Stockholm. He was the lead singer of the hard rock ...

Stefan Anderson Knut Stefan Anderson (26 December 1878 – 8 May 1966) was a Swedish industrialist, journalist and master craftsman clockmaker/watchmaker decorated with badges of chivalric orders by the Kings of Sweden, Denmark and Norway and the President of F ...

and

Birgit Ridderstedt Birgit Ridderstedt (November 26, 1914 – September 16, 1985) was a Swedish-American folk singer who appeared at festivals and on television in the 1950s and early 1960s with material she produced herself. Background Born in Ludvika, Sweden, ...

. Two of their sons were among the first students at

Chalmers University of Technology Chalmers University of Technology (, commonly referred to as Chalmers) is a private university, private research university located in Gothenburg, Sweden. Chalmers focuses on engineering and science, but more broadly it also conducts research ...

and the Gothenburg Institute of Commerce. Another son had a very early photo studio in Gothenburg.

Hugo Valentin Hugo Mauritz Valentin (October 4, 1888 – May 7, 1963) was a Swedish historian, writer, and scholar in the field of Jewish history, particularly the history of Jews in Sweden, for which he has been labelled "The father of Swedish-Jewish histor ...

has described the von Reis family in his writings. Aron's brother Moses is among the ancestors of

Siri von Reis Siri Sylvia Patricia von Reis (February 10, 1931 – August 3, 2021) was an American botanist, author, and poet of half- Finnish and half- Swedish ancestry. She was an authority on traditional medicine. She was also an investigator at the New Yo ...

and her daughter

Serena Altschul Serena Altschul (born October 13, 1970) is an American broadcast journalist, known for her work at MTV News and CBS. Early life and education Altschul was born in New York City to Siri von Reis, an author and botanist, and Arthur Altschul, a m ...

. The marked graves of Aron von Reis and his wife and parents are all in the Old Mosaic Cemetery of Svingeln in Gothenburg.Article
at website of the Gothenburg Homeland Society

References

Printed source

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reis, Aron von Jewish Swedish history 1777 births 1848 deaths 18th-century Swedish businesspeople Dutch emigrants to Sweden 18th-century Dutch Jews