Christopher Blom Paus (8 October 1810 – 28 October 1898) was a Norwegian

shipowner A shipowner, ship owner or ship-owner is the owner of a ship. They can be merchant vessels involved in the shipping industry or non commercially owned. In the commercial sense of the term, a shipowner is someone who equips and exploits a ship, us ...

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

and banker.

Biography

Paus was born at the estate Rising Nordre in

Gjerpen Gjerpen is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Skien Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Gjerpen, which is now part o ...

, Norway. Born into the patriciate of the port town of

Skien Skien () is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsjø area and Bø. The administrative ...

, he was the son of shipowner

Ole Paus Ole Paus (1947–2023) was a Norwegian singer-songwriter and poet, widely regarded as one of the most innovative Norwegian musical figures of the 20th century and "Norway's most significant troubadour at the time of his death." Emerging during t ...

and Johanne Plesner (formerly married Ibsen). He was the uncle of playwright

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

, as he was both the half brother of Ibsen's father

Knud Ibsen Knud Plesner Ibsen (3 October 1797, in Skien – 24 October 1877, in Skien) was a Norwegian merchant from the city of Skien and the father of the playwright Henrik Ibsen. He is widely considered the model for many central characters in hi ...

and the first cousin of Ibsen's mother

Marichen Altenburg Marichen Cornelia Martine Altenburg (24 April 1799 – 3 June 1869) was the mother of the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen and is known as the model for several characters in some of Ibsen's most famous plays, including Åse in ''Peer Gynt''.Robe ...

. He was the brother of judge, Bratsberg governor and Member of Parliament Christian Cornelius Paus and lawyer Henrik Johan Paus. Christopher Blom Paus owned the house at Snipetorp where the Ibsen family lived from the time of Henrik Ibsen's

confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant (religion), covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. The ceremony typically involves laying on o ...

in 1843 to 1865. Paus started as a wholesaler and eventually concentrated mainly on shipping business. He entered his business career as a clerk in his brother's trading shop. Paus worked from the late 1820s until 1836 for merchant Christopher Hansen Blom in the Blom trading house. In the 1860s he invested heavily in shipping and entered the emigrant trade with runs between Trondheim, Québec and Newcastle. He later became one of Skien's leading shipowner and one of the leader businessman. He was a city councilor in Skien for several years and held other public offices. In addition to being a ship-owner, he was administrative director of the savings bank, ''Skiens Sparebank'' 1874–1887. He was a member of the city council in Skien for several years and held a number of other public positions. Einar Østvedt, ''Skiens historie: Fra 1870 til ca. 1925'', Skien Municipality/Erik St. Nilssen, 1959, pp. 358–359

Personal life

Christopher Blom Paus was married in 1845 to Erasmine Ernst (1817–1914) He was the father of factory owner

. His grandson Herman Paus married Countess Tatyana

Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using pre-reform Russian orthography. ; ), usually referr ...

, a granddaughter of

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

. Their descendants own Herresta and other Swedish estates. He was also the great-grandfather of General

and the great-great-grandfather of singer

. Christopher Blom Paus died at Oslo and was buried at

Vår Frelsers gravlund The Cemetery of Our Saviour () is a cemetery in Oslo, Norway, located north of Hammersborg in Gamle Aker district. It is located adjacent to the older Old Aker Cemetery and was created in 1808 as a result of the great famine and cholera epidemi ...

References

Other sources

* Arvid Høgvoll; Ruth Bærland (1996) ''Henrik Ibsen: Herregårder, kammerherrer, godseiere og proprietærer: brokker av en slektshistorie'' (Nome antikvariat) {{DEFAULTSORT:Paus, Christopher Blom 1810 births 1898 deaths People from Telemark People from Skien Norwegian merchants Norwegian businesspeople in shipping Norwegian bankers Christopher Blom Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour