Elsbeth von Nathusius (17 January 1846 - 10 July 1928) was a German story writer.

Life

Elsbeth Luise Friederike von Nathusius was born in

Königsborn Königsborn is a village and a former municipality in the Jerichower Land district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2010, it is part of the municipality Biederitz. It is a spa near Magdeburg, Germany, immediately to the North of the tow ...

, a small but prosperous village near

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label= Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Mag ...

in central northern

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. She was one of six children born to the gentleman-farmer and high-profile

oologist Oology (or oölogy) is a branch of ornithology studying bird eggs, nests and breeding behaviour. The word is derived from the Greek ''oion'', meaning egg. Oology can also refer to the hobby of collecting wild birds' eggs, sometimes called eg ...

Wilhelm von Nathusius Wilhelm Engelhard Nathusius (from 1861 Wilhelm von Nathusius-Königsborn) (27 June 1821, Hundisburg – 25 December 1899, Halle ) was a wealthy Prussian land-owning agriculturist, industrialist, animal breeder, and agronomist who also contributed ...

(1821-1899) by his marriage to Marie von Meibom (1820–1878). A younger brother,

(1856-1937), became an army officer. Her sister,

Susanne von Nathusius Susanne Philippine von Nathusius (2 May 1850, in Königsborn – 30 December 1929, in Nietleben, near Halle) was a German portrait painter who worked in Halle and Paris. Biography She was the third of six children born to the biologist Wilhe ...

(1850-1929) became a successful portrait artist in

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

. Elsbeth herself remained unmarried and had no children. Evidence of Elsbeth charms as a small child comes from the poet and writer of children's songs,

August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben August Heinrich Hoffmann (, calling himself von Fallersleben, after his hometown; 2 April 179819 January 1874) was a German poet. He is best known for writing "Das Lied der Deutschen", whose third stanza is now the national anthem of Germany, an ...

, who visited her father in 1847 and dedicated twelve songs (including "For Elsbeth Nathusius") to the infant in a volume published under the title "The Elsbeth Album". She continued to live at the family home as a young adult and in 1890 relocated with her widowed father to

where she remained for two years. Later, in 1912, she moved to

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2 ...

, living initially in a guest house and later with her younger brother,

Wilhelm Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...

and his English-born wife, and then moving into a "women's residence" in the city's Wilhelmshöhe quarter. During the 1880s, using the pseudonym F.L.Born, Nathusius published stories in Daheim, a well-regarded fortnightly "Family magazine". Later books appeared under her name, such as "Erinnerungen an Johanne Nathusius" (''"Memories of Johanne Nathusius"'') which concerned her formidable aunt, Johanne Philippine Nathusius. Another was "Johann Gottlob Nathusius. Ein Pionier deutscher Industrie" (''... a pioneer of German industry''). This time the subject was her grandfather. There were also articles about

Philippine Engelhard Philippine Engelhard (21 October 1756 – 28 September 1831), was a German poet. She was one of the so-called '' Universitätsmamsellen'', a group of five academically active women during the 18th-and 19th century, daughters of academics on Gött ...

. her great grandmother. Her savings were destroyed by the great inflation after which she lived in greatly reduced circumstances. Elsbeth von Nathusius died of

Pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

in the summer of 1928 at the care home in Merxhausen.

Output (selection)

Using a pseudonym in Daheim

*''Unser Neffe'', 8 part series, 1886 *''Dorothee'', 3 part series (vols 35-37), 1887 *''Zum dritten Male'', 5 part series (vols 27-31), 1888

Using her own name

*''Alte Märchen. Den Kindern neu erzählt'' (''Old fairy tales retold for children''), illustrated by Otto Fikentscher, Gebauer-Schwetschke, Halle/Saale 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906 und 1910 *''Erinnerungen an Johanne Nathusius'', Gebauer-Schwetschke, Halle/Saale ca. 1905 *''Johann Gottlob Nathusius. Ein Pionier deutscher Industrie'', Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart & Berlin ca. 1912 *''Philippine Gatterer'', in: ''Hessenland'', Nr. 33, 1919 *''Philippine Engelhard. Eine deutsche Dichterin aus der guten alten Zeit''see ''Literarisches Zentralblatt für Deutschland'', Vol 70, Edward Avenarius, 191
p. 134
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nathusius, Elsbeth von 1846 births 1928 deaths 19th-century German women writers 20th-century German women writers Collectors of fairy tales Writers from Magdeburg Deaths from pneumonia in Germany