Bethmann family
The Bethmann family is a resident in Frankfurt am Main since the 18th century family of bankers.
History
The Bethmann family came from Goslar, where they can be detected since 1416 and belonged to the urban upper class of the Board, effective and arms leading families.
The grandfather of the company's founder, Konrad Bethmann (1652-1701), was Master of the Mint in 1683 the Princess of Nassau- Holzappel in Cramberg an der Lahn, 1687 mint master of the Teutonic Order in Friedberg and 1692 Electoral Mainz mint master in Aschaffenburg. At his death he left a considerable fortune to his widow Anna Elisabeth ( 1654-1727 ). Anna Elisabeth Bethmann was from Minden and stood in a special relationship with the local Simeon and Mauritius pen. This may be the reason that in the following generations always one of the sons of the first names Simon Moritz received.
Anna Elisabeth moved as a Protestant with their children in the Lutheran Frankfurt am Main, where they had relatives. Three of their daughters married with Frankfurt citizens. Her son Simon Moritz Bethmann (1687-1725) was bailiff in mountain Nassau on the Lahn.
Simon Moritz had three sons:
When he died, his widow Elizabeth, born Thielen (1680-1757) returned to Frankfurt and was a housekeeper in the family of her brother, the merchant Jakob Adami ( 1670-1745 ). After his death he bequeathed to his nephew, half of his fortune. Johann Philipp and Simon Moritz took over the trading business Jacob Adami, from the 1748 Bankhaus Bethmann Brothers, later Bethmann Bank arose. The third brother Johann Jakob founded a trading post in Bordeaux. He later became an imperial consul in Bordeaux and founded the still existing Bordeaux branch of the family.
Bankhaus Bethmann developed in a short time become one of the leading hotels in Germany, especially by trading government bonds, which could be compared only with the event later House of Rothschild.
While Simon Moritz died childless, had his older brother Johann Philipp from 1762 closed marriage to Catherine Margaret Schaaf ( 1741-1822 ), the daughter of Frankfurt aldermen and the Imperial Council Anton Schaaf, six children, four of whom survived:
After the death of Johann Philipp Bethmann in 1793, his son Simon Moritz took over the management of the bank. He was regarded by his contemporaries as the first citizen of Frankfurt, in France, he was also called le roi de Francfort. Through its financial transactions he received contacts with almost all European royal houses, which he used in numerous diplomatic missions for his native city. In 1802 he succeeded to reduce the French Kontributionsforderungen. Due to its occurrence in the negotiations on Reichsdeputationshauptschluss he reached the secularization of ecclesiastical territory located on the Frankfurt assets in favor of the imperial city treasury. In 1807 he was Russian Consul General, 1808 charged by Emperor Francis I in Austrian nobility. On October 31, 1813 Napoleon stayed in his garden shed. Bethmann reached through negotiations the peaceful withdrawal of the French army from Frankfurt.
Simon Moritz von Bethmann sat down for Culture, Arts, Business and Sciences Frankfurt in a variety of ways. Christmas 1826, he suffered in a box, funded by the Urban Theatre him a stroke, where he died two days later. Bethmann was buried in St. Peter's Cemetery, where his grave is preserved. On his 100th birthday, the sculptor Eduard Schmidt of Launitz created a monument in the Friedberger Anlage.
Simon Moritz von Bethmann (1792-1869) was married since 1810 with born born in British Guiana Dutch Louise Friederike Boode. After Louise von Bethmann of Louisapark at the Mörfelder highway is named in Frankfurt.
The couple had four sons:
As Bethmann's sons when her father died were minors, initially took over his partners the management of the bank. In 1828, married his widow with Matthias Franz Borgnis ( 1798-1867 ).
1833 Moritz von Bethmann joined the management of the bank. He funded the construction of several railways in Germany, in 1854 the Prussian Consul-General was raised in the Free City of Frankfurt and the Baden baron. In 1863 he hosted the participants of the Frankfurt Prince day in his garden shed. Like his father, he was a generous patron and supporter of the Frankfurt art and cultural life.
At the Bethmann family remember Bethmannstrasse in Frankfurt's Old Town, the Bethmannpark in Northrend, the Louisapark and Bethmann school, a vocational school of commerce.
Coat of arms
The Bethmann's coat of arms can be traced back to the year 1530. It shows in the split sign, turn right into gold half black eagle, left in silver two oblique red bar. On the crowned helmet with red and silver covers a black eagle flight. Later came a currency Tuebor (lat. I will protect ) added.
Bethmännchen
One legend has it that the Bethmännchen, a confection made from marzipan, to have been invented in 1838 by the Parisian pastry chef Jean Jacques Gautenier, who was head chef at home Bethmann. Originally Bethmännchen were equipped with four almond halves, one for each of the four sons. After the death of Henry in 1845, is henceforth omitted an almond half. This legend is controversial, especially since Simon Moritz had already died in 1826. Probably the Bethmännchen are therefore older.