Johann Jakob Bethmann (from 1776: ''von'' Bethmann; also known as ''Jean-Jacob de Bethmann''; 20 June 1717 – 2 September 1792) was a German merchant and shipowner.
Life
Johann Jakob was born in
Bergnassau, one of three sons of the administrator ''Simon Moritz Bethmann'' (1687–1725). After the premature death of their father, the brothers were raised by their maternal uncle ''Jakob Adami'' in Frankfurt am Main. While the brothers
Johann Philipp and
Simon Moritz established the ''Gebrüder Bethmann'' bank based on their uncle's inheritance, Johann Jakob moved to Bordeaux in 1740, where he established ''Bethmann & Imbert'' (since 1779 ''Bethmann & fils'') as a trading enterprise and shipowning company.
In 1745 Bethmann married the Protestant ''Elisabeth Desclaux'' (1725–1785), a Bordeaux native. In 1749 he took Swiss citizenship and in 1758 he became a citizen of Frankfurt am Main. In 1768 he was appointed
imperial consul for Bordeaux, and in 1776 he was
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The concept of a knighthood ...
.
Bethmann proved an astute businessman and prospered quickly. Besides trading in goods and merchandise, he was not averse to an engagement in the
slave trade Slave trade may refer to:
* History of slavery - overview of slavery
It may also refer to slave trades in specific countries, areas:
* Al-Andalus slave trade
* Atlantic slave trade
** Brazilian slave trade
** Bristol slave trade
** Danish sl ...
and had already secured a guaranty worth 300,000
livres
Livre may refer to:
Currency
* French livre, one of a number of obsolete units of currency of France
* Livre tournois, one particular obsolete unit of currency of France
* Livre parisis, another particular obsolete unit of currency of France
* F ...
from his brothers in Frankfurt for that purpose before the plan for a joint venture with the
Danish West India and Guinea Company was aborted due to business uncertainty.
[Weber, p.198, citing Henninger.]
He left his daughter ''Katharina Elisabeth'' (1753–1813) in the care of his childless brother Simon Moritz in Frankfurt. There she married in 1769 the merchant ''Peter Heinrich Metzler'' (1744–1800), who thenceforth used the surname ''Bethmann-Metzler'' (subsequently ''von Bethmann-Metzler'' or ''de Bethmann-Metzler'') but remained in Frankfurt as a partner in the bank.
After Johann Jakob's death in
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
, his Frankfurt grandchildren returned to the city.
Johann Jakob Bethmann was a friend of German author
Friedrich Melchior Grimm.
See also
*
Bethmann family
The Bethmann family (; ) has been remarkable for the high proportion of its male members who succeeded at mercantile or financial endeavors. This family trait began in medieval northern Germany and continued with the Bethmann bank, which Johann Ph ...
Notes
Bibliography
* Wolfgang Henninger: ''Johann Jakob von Bethmann 1717–1792. Kaufmann, Reeder und kaiserlicher Konsul in Bordeaux'', 2 volumes, Bochum 1993
* --: ''Grimms Freund aus Bordeaux. Johann Jakob von Bethmann (1717–1792)''; in: J. Mondot / C. L'Arriere (ed.), Lumières et commerce. L'example bordelais; (=Obras Generales 61); 2000
* Wilhelm Stricker: Bethmann, Johann Jakob. In: ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB). Vol. 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 574–576.
* Klaus Weber: ''Deutsche Kaufleute im Atlantikhandel, 1680–1830''. C.H.Beck, Munich 2004 ,
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bethmann, Johann Jakob
German expatriates in France
1717 births
1792 deaths
Johann Jakob
Merchants from the Holy Roman Empire
18th-century German businesspeople