MySource:Robinca/Hermann Friedrich Dörrien, merchant of Hamburgh and London, & his family

Hermann Friedrich Dörrien, merchant of Hamburgh and London, & his family

Hermann Friedrich Dörrien (aka Frederick Dorrien), a Merchant of London, was born in Hildesheim, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) in about 1670. He was baptized on August 9th of that year at the church of St. Andreas (St. Andrew), which was the first church in Hildesheim to embrace Lutheranism. He was the fifth son of Hans Christian Dörrien (1627-1691), “Citizen and Merchant of Hildesheim,” who – at the time of Hermann Friedrich’s birth – was a Ratsherr (town councillor) there; and then, from 1678 to 1690, its Riedemeister (deputy mayor). In fact he came from a long line of merchants and town councillors of Hildesheim.

His paternal grandfather, Hans Dörrien (1601-1661), ‘the younger’, was also a “Citizen and Merchant of Hildesheim” – and served there as both town councillor (from 1647) and deputy mayor (in 1649). While his great grandfather, the older Hans Dörrien (1571-1629), who was a “clothier and wool merchant of Hildesheim,” served as Bürgermeister (mayor) in the years 1624, 1626, and 1628. His great, great grandfather, Jacob Dörrien (c.1541-1608), while also a wool merchant and clothier, does not appear to have served on the town council of Hildesheim. But his great, great, great grandfather – also called Hermann – was the mayor of neighbouring Alfeld (a.d. Leine) after 1557. And although Hermann Dörrien is the earliest to have been identified for this pedigree, it has been noted that, since 1448, Alfeld has had one mayor, one treasurer and eight town councillors all bearing the name "Dorry" – or (presumably) one of its many early variants: Dörry, Dorrien, Dörrien, Dörien, Dorring....

Hermann Friedrich Dörrien’s mother was his father’s second wife, Ilse Margaretha Tappen (1633-1672), who had also been married once before – to Johann Rhese, a medical doctor, who had died in 1658. Ilse Margaretha’s father, Rötger Tappen (c.1590-1673) was himself a town councillor of Hildesheim – and could trace his family back through a long line of town councillors to a namesake, Rötger Tappen: “Burgher of Hildesheim” and Ratsherr (town councillor) from 1554. This Rötger appears to have been a son of Zacharias Tappen: Patricius (patrician) of Hildesheim, who lived around 1500, when he married Salomé von Damm, whose similarly patrician family was well-known in nearby Braunschweig (Brunswick).

Said to have been one of Braunschweig’s richest citizens and a town councillor there from around 1339, Bürgermeister Tile von Damm was one of the first victims of a tax revolt in the city – known as the Große Schicht (Great Uprising) of 1374 in which eight town councillors were killed. Tile von Damm was caught hiding in the Hagen market on the 19th of April, 1374 and immediately beheaded. However members of his family remained “almost without interruption between 1307 and 1671 on the city council of Braunschweig (Brunswick).”

Hermann Friedrich Dörrien however did not follow his father’s footsteps into municipal government. That was left to his older brother, Johann Jobst, who served as Hildesheim town councillor between 1700 and 1704; and its mayor for thirty-two years – from 1706 to 1738.

But Herman Friedrich did follow the example of his father’s other career as a merchant. In 1644, when just seventeen, Hans Christian had gone to Hamburg to apprentice as a "Kaufmanns-Lehre" (merchant-apprentice) and a year later for the next four in Amsterdam. His grandfather, Hans Dörrien – the younger had also gone to Hamburg as an eighteen-or-so-year-old merchant apprentice in 1619. He also made even more extensive “educational visits” to other cities and states: “Cologne, Rouen, Paris, Antwerp, Flanders, the Netherlands and England.” And the older Hans had gone even farther afield: “Leipzig, Nuremberg, the Netherlands, Spain, Brazil, Brabant, Flanders, France and England.”

Although he never knew either his grandfather or his great grandfather, we might speculate that these experiences were passed down to Hermann Friedrich Dörrien as family stories and, combined with the more recent experiences of his father, they may have inspired him – or even laid the way for him – to leave Hildesheim and Saxony behind and seek his fortune in the then growing economic magnet that was London at the end of the seventeenth century.

There is some suggestion that Hermann Friedrich also went first to Hamburg. Perhaps he also apprenticed there as a merchant (Kaufmanns-Lehre) – as his father and grandfather had done before him. But, if he did, he must have decided that his future mercantile prospects would be even brighter in London. And he arrived in England sometime before the end of 1693 – when he would have been twenty-three years old. During the process of his naturalization in England, he was certified to have taken the sacrament on Christmas Day, 1693 “in the true Protestant High German Lutheran late Parish Church, Trinity the Less, London.” He was joined in this by a fellow communicant, Georg Stein. Mr. Stein was then – or would soon become – his partner in business and they would share the same house together with their apprentices (see inset quotation next below). Their naturalizations were complete less than two years later in 1695, on March 15th – having both taken the oath on the previous January 29th.

And so it would seem likely to have been in England where Mr. Dorrien married Miss Wolters in August of 1700 – when he was about thirty and she about twenty-six. This Miss Wolters (or Wolter) turns out to be the sister of one of Mr. Dorrien’s young apprentices, by the name of Peter Wolter, who was tragically murdered, less than a year later by his erstwhile friend and fellow apprentice Herman Strodtman, in whose confession, made on the eve of his execution (18 June, 1701), he mentions the detail of his master’s marriage.

HERMAN STRODTMAN was indicted at the Old Bailey, on three ſeveral indictments. The firſt was for the murder of Peter Wolter, his fellow ſervant, on the 27th of April, 1701: the ſecond, for breaking open the houſe of Meſſieurs Stein and Dorien, and ſtealing a watch and other things, the property of the ſaid Peter Wolter; and the third for ſtealing divers goods, the property of Herman Frederick Dorien, on the day before mentioned. ... The Confeſſion of HERMAN STRODTMAN:

“... About the year 1694, my father ſent me to ſchool to Lubeck, where I continued till Michaelmas 1698. From thence I went to Hamburgh, and ſtaid there till I ſet out for England. I arrived at London in March following, and (together with one Peter Wolter, who came with me to England) was bound apprentice to Mr. Stein and Mr. Dorien, merchants, and partners in London. Peter Wolter and myſelf, having been fellow-travellers, and being now fellow-’prentices, we lived for ſome time very friendly and lovingly together, till about Auguſt laſt, when his fiſter was married to one of our maſters, Mr. Dorien. ....”

—From: The Tyburn Chronicle: Or, The Villainy Display'd In All Its Branches : Containing An Authentic Account Of The Lives, Adventures, Tryals, Executions, and Last Dying Speeches of the Most Notorious Malefactors Of all Denominations, who have suffererd for Bigamy, Forgeries, ... In England, Scotland, and Ireland : From the Year 1700, to the present Time, Vol. 1, London, Cooke [1768] pp. 32-44 > The Trial and Behaviour of HERMAN STRODTMAN, who murdered his Fellow-’prentice, robbed his Master, and set fire to his house. Accessed on books.google.co.uk

However, there is no record of this marriage having taken place at the German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane, London – of which Mr. Dorrien was a member of the congregation and where he had his children baptised – beginning with his eldest son, Liebert on July 4th, 1701.

“Anno 1701 ... 4 Juli | Liebertus Dorrien Son to M^r . Friederic Dorrien in Bushlane”

After Liebert, they had nine more children – eight of which were also baptised at the Trinity Lane Church. The last of these being Elizabeth, who was baptised on November 19th, 1712.

“Anno1712 ... 19 Nov. | Elizabeth Dorryens, daughter to M^r . Fr. Dorryen March^d in Sweathin’s [St. Swithin’s] Lane”

But she may not have been their youngest child. Although I have been unable to find a record of their youngest son John’s baptism at the same church, his death on December 9th, 1784, at the age of seventy, would indicate he was born in about 1714. At which time Frau Dorrien (née Wolters) would have been about forty.

But it was still in this Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane that Hermann Friedrich Dörrien – now going by the more Anglicised version of his second Christian name, Frederick – specified in his will he wished to be buried.

“I Frederick Dorrien of London Merchant ... my body I commit to the Earth to be devoutly yett privately buryed in the Lutheran Church of the holy Trinity in Trinity Lane London ....”

He does not mention his wife in his will – from which we may conclude she had died sometime before he wrote it on February 3rd, 1732. In Werner Constantin von Arnswaldt’s book on the Dorrien family, published in 1910, she is referenced as actually having died about five or six years earlier in 1726. Von Arnswaldt also gives her year of birth as 1674, indicating she would have been about fifty two years old at the time of her death.

"Harmen Friedrich ~~ Hildesheim (Andr.) 1670 Aug. 9., † London 1740 (γ 1733) Kaufmann in London ~ . . . . 1700 . . . m. . . Wolters * . . 1674 . . . † . . . 1726 . . . . Englische Linie:" (NOTE: Please to imagine this in its original German Gothic!)

—From: Arnswaldt, Werner Constantin von: Die Dörriens - Die Familie Dörrien in Alfeld, Hildesheim und Braunschweig. Im Auftrag von Gutsbesitzer Walter Dörrien, 1 Heft, 1910, chart following last page 67 (djvu: 66/66). Accessed on rainerdoerry.de

And though Von Arnswaldt repeats the mistaken ‘1740’ year of death for ‘Harmen Friedrich (Dorrien)’, he does include the alternate and correct year of ‘1733’ in brackets. So perhaps we may place some cautious reliance on the dates he gives for Mr. Dorrien’s wife. But there are no clues as to either where she was born or where she died. Though, as at least nine of her ten children were baptised at the Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity – and more than half of them buried there too – as would be her widowed husband as well, it would seem likely that she too should have been buried there. Except that there appears to be no record of this. And her husband – as already stated – did not mention her in his will – not even to express the wish to be buried near her. Does this imply that she must have died and been buried far away – perhaps in another country even? This and most other sources show only her surname of ‘Wolters’ – but there is one which includes her Christian name, ‘Agneta’ – the burial record of their son, ‘Friderick’:

“Anno 171⅘ [1715] ... ' 11 marti.. | Friderick Dorrien, filius __ Fr. Dorrien, et Agneta Dorrien nat: Wolters / an den misells(¿Mazern?) ins gewölbe beigesetzt (from the measles(?) buried in the vault)”

Sadly this little Friderick must have died when he was only a little more than three years old. And he was the second of their sons so named to have died very young. The first to have been baptised with his father’s name was buried on June 28th, 1708 – less than nine months after his baptism on September 11th, 1707.

They had ten children in all – exactly half of whom died very young, within four years of their births: the first Agatha, who was baptised on June 30th 1703 and buried on December 13th 1705; Anna Jacoba baptised March 1st 1705 and buried December 18th of the same year; Friederic baptised September 11th 1707 and buried June 28th of the following year; an unnamed son born dead and buried December 30th 1708; and finally another named Friederick baptised November 2nd 1711 and buried March 11th 1715. Both of these Fredericks have already been mentioned above.

But was ‘Agneta’ really her true given name – given to her that is by her parents?

For there is another source, which actually names her parents, but claims her first name was ‘Anna’ and makes no mention of her ever, or later on, having gone by the name ‘Agneta’. Is it possible that these two quite different forenames – with distinct origins – were considered interchangeable at the turn of the 18th century? ‘Anna’ or “Anne’ is derived from the Hebrew ‘Hannah’ while ‘Agneta’ is a Latinised form of ‘Agnes’.

Well there is an edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names which informs us that both ‘Agnes’ and ‘Ann’ had been confused with each other in the past – at least during the reigns of both Elizabeth I and James I. It also tells us, regarding ‘Agnes’, that “the original Latin form of the name was Agnes (-etis) but in the Middle Ages a form Agneta was commonly used.” And in its further comments on the popularity of ‘Agnes’, it states: “After the 16th C its popularity waned together with that of most of the non-scriptural saints, but it remained current among the poor, until its revival in the 19th C. … The Latin Agneta is also occasionally used.”

—From: Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names by E.G. Withycombe. Second edition, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1950 – reprinted with corrections 1953, 1959, 1963. pp. 6-7 & 24-25.

Of course our interest would be in knowing how likely it might have been for a well-to do immigrant German wife of an also immigrant German merchant in London at the start of the 18th century, to have ‘adopted’ or otherwise chosen to use the name ‘Agneta’ in place of her presumably baptismal Christian name of ‘Anna’.

Alternatively there is the possibility one of these sources is wrong.

Perhaps the pastor at the German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane, London – or whoever it was who wrote down the burial record for poor little Friderick Dorrien – made a mistake when he wrote “Agneta Dorrien (born) Wolters”. And it should be noted that this is the only record in the register, which mentions her by name at all. All of the other deaths/burials as well as births/baptisms for their children just indicate a son or daughter of Mr. Dorrien – and only sometimes including his first name (as he preferred in England) Frederick (or variants thereof).

However, it must also be noted that their eldest son, Liebert Dorrien and his wife, Catherine née Shiffner – having baptised their first child and eldest daughter ‘Anna’ on the 5th of September 1745 – almost two years later on the 27th of August 1747 baptised their second daughter with the name ‘Agneta’. But was this little Agneta Dorrien named after her father’s late mother (who had died in 1726), who was known as Agneta or after her mother’s still living mother, Agnata [sic] Shiffner née Bruiningk (who would die in 1793)? Her first name was actually Hedwig – but she went by the name Agnata. There are some other sources which give her name as: Agnata (née) Brewer.

Or else it is the second source which is mistaken.

However this much more recent source is considerably more forthcoming with information about ‘Anna’ and her extended Wolters family. It gives her full name as: ‘Anna Maria Jacoba Wolters’ – as well as saying she was the eldest daughter and child of Liebert Wolters by his wife Agatha von Overbeck. All three of these forenames had been used before in her family – including an aunt ‘Maria Jacoba’, who was married in Hamburg in 1667 to an “Engelsmann” (Englishman) Franz Townly.

These details are to be found in Reinhard Lohmann’s inaugural dissertation for a doctorate degree from the Economics and Social Sciences faculty of the University of Cologne, dated 10 July 1969 and bearing the title: Die Familie Wolters in Hamburg während des 17. Jhs. und die Beziehungen von Liebert Wolters Vater und Sohn nach Schweden (The Wolters family in Hamburg during the 17th Century and the relations of Liebert Wolters father and son to Sweden).

From this published dissertation of Reinhard Lohmann, we learn of the May 1673 marriage of Liebert Wolters II to Agatha, only daughter of “the very rich” Peter von Overbeck. And we are left wondering about the circumstances of it that Lohmann reports caused “quite a stir”. It is rather unfortunate he does not appear to elaborate on this. It is even more unfortunate that he does not tell us exactly where he got the information from. Although Reinhard Lohmann includes a long list of sources at the end of his thesis, he does not make it clear which of those he relied upon for these particular details.

Following are two excerpts from Lohmann’s dissertation (English translation follows the original in German). The first mentions this marriage:

Liebert II Wolters heiratet im mai 1673 unter Aufsehen erregenden Ums.änden Agatha, die einzige Tochter des sehr reichen Peter von Overbeck.22) 14 Kinder entspringen dieser Ehe …

22) Vgl. Kapitel 224. > ‘Besitz aus Erbschaften’

In May of 1673, under circumstances causing quite a stir, Liebert Wolters II married Agatha, only daughter of the very rich Peter von Overbeck.22) Fourteen children came of this marriage …

22) Cf Chapter (Section) 224. > ‘Possession from inheritances’

While the second references their daughter ‘Anna Maria Jacoba Wolters’ and her husband ‘Friedrich Dorrien’ as well as “a grandson Dorrien”:

Aus dem Familienarchiv Brants in Amsterdam erhalten wir auch für eine zweite weibliche Linie einen Hinweis auf Fortführung der Wolterschen Familientrditionen: Enkel Dorrien, Sohn von Anna Maria Jacoba Wolters und Friedrich Dorrien, führt um die Mitte des 18. Jhs. in London Handelsgeschäfte unter dem Firmennamen Dorrien und Wolters aus. 25)

25) Inventar des Familienarchivs Brants, Amsterdam 1959, Nr. 1344.

From the Brants family archives in Amsterdam we get a hint of the continuation of the Wolters family legacy – by a second female line through a grandson Dorrien, the son of Anna Maria Jacoba Wolters and Friedrich Dorrien – which goes to the middle of the 18th century in London, where commercial transactions were conducted under the company name ‘Dorrien and Wolters’.25)

25) Inventory of the Brants family archives, Amsterdam 1959, No. 1344.

—From: Lohmann, Reinhard: Die Familie Wolters in Hamburg während des 17. Jhs. und die Beziehungen von Liebert Wolters Vater und Sohn nach Schweden, Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität zu Köln, 1969 - vorgelegt von Diplom-Kaufmann Reinhard Lohmann aus Altena (Westf.) - Referent: Professor Dr. Hermann Kellenbenz Korreferent: Professor Dr. Friedrich Seidel Tag der Promotion: 10. Juli 1969. pp. 18-19; 102-106. This may be linked to via Google at: Die-Familie Wolters-in-Hamburg.pdf

[Here I must add I am indebted to Mr. John Dobson, who contacted me with the information about and access to the full text (in German) of Reinhard Lohmann’s dissertation. As also for his help and suggestions - including with some of the German, where various online translation tools did not seem adequate.]

Reinhard Lohmann’s footnote #22 only invites the reader to see another section in his own work relating to inheritances, and which does not appear to provide any references to this marriage. While his footnote #25 must refer to the ‘Inventaris van het familie-archief Brants’ (Inventory of the Brants family archives) by Isabella Henriette van Eeghen, and published by the Amsterdam Stadsarchief/Gemeentelijke Archiefdienst (Amsterdam City Archives) 1959. Although the website ‘Stadsarchief Amsterdam’ contains an item titled: ‘Familie Brants en Aanverwante Families’ (Family Brants and Related Families), which one may open in a pdf file – and where there are several entries under the number 1344 (A-Q on pp.95-97), all of which are headed: ‘London’ – none of the contents descriptions shown there include any reference to the names ‘Wolters’ or ‘Dorrien’. Yet they must be there in the archive file 1344 itself. A Google Books search reveals (snippet view) that the index for this publication does indeed contain references to both Dorrien and Wolters:

... / Dorrien (John). 1344 / Dorrien, zie [see] Wolters / ...

... / Wolters en [and] Dorrien, 1344 / Wolters en [and] Dreesman, 921 / ....

The John Dorrien here must be the youngest son of Frederick Dorrien and his wife née Wolters.

The entry ‘921’ (on p.64 – for the Dutch town of Zwolle) does show both the names ‘Wolters’ and ‘Dreesman’ – albeit no forename for the Wolters in question – in its description of the contents of that file:

921 Zwolle: Van Hendrick Dreesman en vrouw, 1706-1712, 1 pak; Wolters en Dreesman, 1705, 2 stukken (Wolters and Dreesman, 1705, 2 pieces); Michiel Dreesman 1705-1718, 1 pak; weduwe Fronten en Joannes Hanselaer, 1705-1706, 2 stukken; Johan Hendrick Krecke, 1701-1714, 1 pak ....

But clearly it would be necessary to consult the full contents of file 1344 of the ‘Family Brants and Related Families’ in the archives to discover exactly how it supports the assertion by Reinhard Lohmann in his dissertation – not only as it shows a “continuation of the Wolters family legacy ... which goes to the middle of the 18th century in London, where commercial transactions were conducted under the company name ‘Dorrien and Wolters’” – which we also know from other sources; but as it may also show that this is “by a second female line through a grandson Dorrien, the son of Anna Maria Jacoba Wolters and Friedrich Dorrien” – which at present we only ‘know’ from Mr. Lohmann’s thesis.

In the first appendix at the end of his dissertation, Reinhard Lohmann includes the descent line of the so-called ‘Hamburg branch’ of the Wolters family: ‘STAMMTAFEL WOLTERS, HAMBURGER ZWEIG’ (Genealogical Table for Wolters, Hamburg Branch). Here I will include just the part including the two generations of Liebert Wolters II and his wife Agatha von Overbeck and their fourteen children. I have left it in the original German with some English translations in square brackets as well as my notes. And I have highlighted in bold text the main names of interest here.
Note: x = born; + = died; oo = married

... / V. 8:

17 Maria Jacoba Wolters, x London 1642, oo I. Hamburg 1667 den "Engelsmann” Franz Townly

18 Louis Wolters, x 1643, + Utrecht 1712

19 Stephan Wolters, Pastor, x Hamburg 1645, + Danzig 1719

20 Liebert II Wolters, x 19.5.1647, + 25.2.1719, oo 1673 Agatha von Overbeck

21 Abraham Wolters, x Hamburg 1649, + Stockholm 1691

22 Barbara Maria Wolters, x Hamburg 1656, + jung [young]

23 Laurens Wolters, x Stockholm 1658

VI. 20:

24 Anna Maria Jacoba Wolters, x 1674, + 1726, oo 1700 Hermann Friedrich Dorrien, Kaufmann [merchant] in London

25 Johannes Wolters, x 1675, + 1688

26 Liebert Wolters, x 16.1.1677, + 12.3.1677

27 Agatha Wolters, x 1678, + 1726, oo 1703 Christoph Güpper

28 Liebert Wolters, x 1680, + 1683 “ward in London freventlig ermordet” *

29 Peter Wolters, x 1682, + 1701

[* This translates as “was wickedly murdered in London” and – as we have already learned – should surely more properly be applied to the next son Peter Wolters, who was indeed murdered in London, but in 1701 by Herman Strodtman (see above), rather than this Liebert – the second of that name to die in infancy. He was only about three when he died in 1683 – and most probably of natural causes.]

30 Maria Wolters, x 1683, + 1763, oo 1708 Jürgen Westphalen

31 Catharina Wolters, x 1684, + 1726, oo 1709 Joh. Alb. Anckelmann

32 Liebert Wolters [see my continuing text below]

33 Abraham Wolters, x 1688, + jung [young]

34 Johanna Wolters, x 1689, + 1744, oo 1717 Abraham Rotenburg, Raffinadeur [sugar refiner]

35 Elisabeth Wolters, x 1690, + 1763, oo 1726 Anton Erasmus (Sohn des Conseiller privé des Königs von Preußen) [son of the privy counsellor to the King of Prussia]

36 Johannes Wolters, x 1693, + 1757, oo 1744 Elisabeth Böhlke, Witwe [widow] des Raffinddeurs [sugar refiner] Peter Petersen

37 Justus Wolters, x 1696, + 1697

VII.36:

38 Johannes Wolters, x 1745, + 1796

39 Elisabeth Wolters, x 1747, + 1825, oo 1765 Joachim von Kellinghusen

The third son with the first name Liebert – for whom Lohmann gives no dates – but who followed Catherina (born in 1684) and before Abraham (born in 1688) is almost certainly the Liebert Wolters who was in partnership with his nephew Liebert Dorrien – who must in turn be that “grandson Dorrien, the son of Anna Maria Jacoba Wolters and Friedrich Dorrien – (by whom ‘the Wolters family traditions continued down’) to the middle of the 18th century in London, where commercial transactions were conducted under the company name ‘Dorrien and Wolters’.”*

*(fn. 25) Inventar des Familienarchivs Brants, Amsterdam 1959, Nr. 1344. (Inventory of the Brants family archives, Amsterdam 1959, No. 1344.)

From the will of ‘Frederick Dorrien, Merchant of London’, we learn that only five of his children were still alive when he wrote it. He mentions these by name: his eldest son, Liebert, whom he appoints executor of his will; those two of his daughters, who were already married by then: Agatha, the wife of Charles Halsey; and Ann, the wife of Abraham Boetefeur. And his two youngest still unmarried children: Elizabeth and John.

Agatha, who was the second child of that name – and both presumably named after their maternal grandmother (and/or an aunt of the same name) – was baptised on July 26th 1706.

“Anno 1706 ... 26 Jul: | Agatha Dorryens, daughter to M^r. Dorryen March^d in Bush Lane”

And Ann (or Anna) – another with a repeated Christian name – was baptised on December 14th 1709.

“Anno 1709 ... 14 Decembr. | Anna Dorryens, daughter to M^r. Dorryen March^d in Bush Lane”

Frederick Dorrien’s other five children all died very young – within four years of their births: the first Agatha, who was baptised on June 30th 1703 and buried on December 13th 1705; Anna Jacoba baptised March 1st 1705 and buried December 18th of the same year; Friederic baptised September 11th 1707 and buried June 28th of the following year; an unnamed son born dead and buried December 30th 1708; and finally another named Friederick baptised November 2nd 1711 and buried March 11th 1715. Both of these Fredericks have already been mentioned above.

We know Anna Maria Jacoba (aka Agneta) had a brother, the aforementioned Peter Wolters, whose life was so horribly cut short in 1701. It is also quite apparent that she had at least one other brother named Liebert (or Libert), who became a partner of her eldest son – and his namesake, in whose will he is mentioned.

“I Libert Dorrien of ffenchurch Street London Merchant ... Item I Give and bequeath unto my Uncle and partner Libert Wolters One hundred pounds ....”

There are some other references – mostly German – to a Liebert Wolters, who would appear to be the same or possibly his father.

In Margrit Schulte Beerbühl’s book Deutsche Kaufleute in London (‘German Merchants in London’), there are references to both the Dörrien merchant family from Hildesheim and to Liebert Wolters, whose ancestors were members of the ‘Company of Merchant Adventurers of London’ in Hamburg – and whose aunt married an Englishman.

“... In the case of the merchants who migrated to Bremen it is striking that siblings of theirs or other close relatives went to London at about the same time. Thus members of the merchant families of Dörrien from Hildesheim, Vogel from Herford or Teschemacher from Elberfeld settled simultaneously in both Bremen and London during the second half of the 1700s. ....”

“... The ancestors of Liebert Wolters were members of the Company of Merchant Adventurers in Hamburg and, through an aunt of his by her marriage to an Englishman; he had close links to London. [fn.176] A striking number of the children, relatives or descendants of the founding members of the English Company established offices in both Bremen and London. [fn.177] ....”

—From: Schulte Beerbühl, Margrit: Deutsche Kaufleute in London: Welthandel und Einbürgerung (1600-1818), Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH, München, 2007, pp.93-94 & 99-100. Both of these links are to pages on books.google.co.uk.

From just one of the previously mentioned sources have I been able to learn that Hermann Friedrich Dorrien had a partner named Georg Stein – that being the report on the murder of his apprentice and brother-in-law, Peter Wolters and its included confession by the killer, Herman Strodtman. Actually neither of these mentions Mr. Stein’s first name of Georg. Nor does another published account of the murder: The Newgate Calendar ... Vol. 1, by William Knapp and William Baldwin, published in London, 1824. But – given the fact that both Herman Friedrich Dorrien and Georg Stein were both certified to have taken the sacrament on Christmas Day, 1693 together at the German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane, London (also referred to above) – it is reasonable to suppose that this Georg Stein was one and the same as the partner in business, Mr. Stein.

That both Mr. Dorrien and Mr. Stein took the sacrament at the German Lutheran Church on Christmas Day, 1693 is recorded in The Manuscripts of the House of Lords (as found in snippet views on a Google Books search) The same Google search shows it was also reprinted in a publication of the Huguenot Society of London. And a similar search on the National Archives site will show it in a much more accessible format.

Cosserat's Naturalisation Act HL/PO/JO/10/1/469/871 9 Jan 1694

“Amended Draft of an Act for naturalising of Bernard Cosserat, als Mourté, and Alexander Ringli and others. Identical with Act, except that the names contained in the separate schedules on the Roll were added by the Commons (see Annex f) below.)

...

f) 11 Feb — Certificates that the persons added to the Bill by the Commons had taken the Sacrament, the first five in the true Protestant High German Lutheran late Parish Church, Trinity the Less, London, signed by John Esdras Edzard, the Minister, and Theodore Jacobsen and David Becceler, the Trustees of the said church; ...

f1) Herman Frederick Dorryen, on Christmas Day. Dated 1 Jan Attested Henry Ulcken, Peter Willoke.

f2) Georg Stein, on Christmas Day. Dated and attested as preceding. ....”

Or was his surname actually ‘Stehn’. Although all of these sources (referred to above) show his name as ‘Stein’, the same Huguenot Society publication has – on the very same page – the following:

⁸ FREDERICK HERMAN DORRIEN, born at Hildersheim in Germany, son of John Christian Dorrien and Anna Margreta, his wife.

⁸ GEORGE STEHN, born at Lubeck in Germany, son of George Stehn and Margreta, his wife.

While we know this journal must be mistaken in identifying Frederick Herman (sic) Dorrien’s mother as ‘Anna Margreta,’ who was actually his father’s first wife, rather than the correct second wife, Ilse Margreta (to use their same spelling for her second name) – the identification of ‘George Stehn’, rather than ‘Georg Stein’, does lead to a number of other sources with this gentleman’s name so written – particularly (emphasis mine):

... Indenture bearing date the fifth Day of September 1729 and made between the said Jacob Jacobsen by the name of Sir Jacob Jacobsen, Knight, Clement Boehm and Henry Sperling of London, Merchants, Herman Frederick Dorrien of Hamburgh, Merchant, Joban Henrick Boock and George Stehn of London, Merchants, of the one part, and Martin Ludolph of London, Merchant, of the other part ... reciting that the said (folgen die Trustees von 1702) were all dead and that the said Sir Jacob Jacobsen, Henry Sperling and George Stehn had declined acting in the said trust. ....

—From: Lappenberg, Dr. Johann Martin: Urkundliche Weichte des Hansischen Stahlhofes zu London, In zwei abtheilungen mit vier Tafeln in Steindruck, Hamburg, 1851, p. 196

Here it is interesting – and perhaps not a little curious – that in 1729 Herman Frederick Dorrien is given as being “of Hamburgh;” while his still or one-time partner, George Stehn (aka Georg Stein) is given as being “of London.”

It is true that Mr. Dorrien did maintain entitlement to a house in Hamburg – as he so states in his will, written in 1732. But he tells us there that it was then occupied by his son-in-law, Charles Halsey, who was married to his eldest surviving daughter, Agatha. In fact they were married in Hamburg on the 16th of January 1727. And most of their children appear to have been born there. But it is far from apparent that Mr. Frederick Dorrien ever went back to live in Hamburg himself – although he almost certainly continued to conduct his trading business between there and London. As well as elsewhere:

1707, ...

[Oct. 31.] 1172. Messrs. Stehn and Dorrien, of London, Merchants, to the Queen. On behalf of the owners and freighters of a neutral ship, the Betty galley of Stade, pray for a passport for said ship to trade with the Spanish West Indies. Signed, Stehn and Dorrien. Annexed, 1172.i. HM refers this petition to the Council of Trade and Plantations for their opinion. Oct. 31, Whitehall.

Signed, Sunderland. [CO. 389, 19. p. 175.]

—From: Headlam, M.A., Cecil, ed.: Calendar of State Papers: Colonial Series, America and West Indies, 1700-, Volume 18, Public Record Office, London 1964, p. 579

This clearly shows that Messrs. Stehn and Dorrien were still in business together in 1707. Whether or not they were still residing in the same house as in 1701, I do not know. Going back to the published reports on the murder of Peter Wolters in his bedchamber at the house of Messrs. Stein and Dorrien, none of them mentions the address of said house. But as the murder took place on the 27th of April, 1701; and Mr. Dorrien’s residence may be taken as having been in Bush Lane at the time of the baptism of his eldest child, Liebert on the 4th of July of the same year, it is quite possible – if not likely – that this was also the address of the house he shared with his partner, Mr. Stehn (I think it more likely that the correct form of his name was ‘Stehn’) together with their apprentices a few months earlier.

“Anno 1701 ... 4 Juli | Liebertus Dorrien Son to M^r. Friederic Dorrien in Bushlane”

Bush Lane remains the address given at the baptisms of most of Mr. Frederick (he has now dropped the use of his first name Herman) Dorrien’s children to follow his first born, Liebert. The last time Bush Lane was so given was at the 14 December, 1709 baptism of his seventh child Anna.

“Anno 1709 ... 14 Decemb^r. | Anna Dorryens, daughter to M^r. Dorryen March^d in Bush Lane”

The next address that appears for the family is St. Swithin’s Lane – given at the baptism of his ninth child and youngest daughter, Elizabeth.

“Anno 1712 ... 19 Nov. | Elizabeth Dorryens, daughter to M^r. Fr. Dorryen March^d in Sweathin’s Lane”

As to how much longer after 1707 Mr. Dorrien remained in partnership with Mr. Stehn – I have found no source or record to tell me. However, while there appears to be very little information for George Stehn (or Stein) – aside from those references already mentioned, I have found two other possible references: firstly, a marriage in the London diocese between a George Stehn and an Anne Peltzer in 1704; and secondly, the will of a “George Stehn of Uburne in the County of Bucks Esquire” written on January 24th 1728 and probated on July 23rd 1735.

In this will Mr. Stehn does not mention a wife Anne; but he does make his first bequest to a “Sarah Peltzir [sic] Daughter of Mr Matthew Peltzir late of London Merchant deceased ...” This does rather indicate he was the same George Stehn who had married Anne Peltzer some twenty-four years earlier. And – although he does not mention any occupation for himself beyond ‘Esquire’ – the identification of Mr. Matthew Peltzir (Peltzer) as a merchant is quite suggestive. Furthermore another of his beneficiaries provides a connection to the Lutheran church in Trinity Lane, London. He makes a bequest to his “Daughter in Law Mrs. Anne Ludolph the wife of Mr. Martin Ludolph.” The ‘Hamburg Lutheran Church Register’ has an entry for the naturalization of Martin Ludolf in 1717 – immediately following a similar entry for one Abraham Boetefeur. Abraham Boetefeur – as already mentioned above – would later marry Frederick Dorrien’s daughter Ann in 1735.

And then there is the reference in Dr. Johann Martin Lappenberg’s Urkundliche Geschichte des Hansischen Stahlhofes zu London to that indenture of September 5th 1729 (already quoted on the previous page) which links the names of “... Herman Frederick Dorrien of Hamburgh, Merchant ... and George Stehn of London, Merchants, of the one part, and Martin Ludolph of London, Merchant, of the other part ....” But although they were named as party to the same indenture in 1729, there is no indication that Messrs. Dorrien and Stehn were still in partnership at that time. Nor that they were not.

Aside from the trade to the Spanish West Indies circa 1707 (also mentioned on the previous page), Frederick Dorrien can be found listed amongst other English merchants who were engaged in trade with Portugal around 1724. In this instance he has signed his name to a petition requesting the appointment of the Rev. Arthur Young, LL.B., as chaplain to the factory at Lisbon. This was following on several complaints over the years at the alleged mistreatment of English Protestant merchants and their families residing in Portugal.

At this point we might remember that, according to just one source, Frederick Dorrien’s wife Agnata died sometime in 1726 – and not presumably in or near London – there appearing to be no record of her having been buried at the Lutheran church in Trinity Lane. Early the next year on January 16th their eldest surviving daughter Agatha was married in Hamburg to Charles Halsey.

On January 6th 1732 their second surviving daughter Ann married Abraham Boetefeur at the Holy Trinity Church. And the following year Frederick Dorrien died and was buried at the church on November 26th 1733.

SOME ADDED COMMENTS:

It would have been nice to have added here an image of the Holy Trinity Church. But the only one I have found of it is an anonymous print under copyright protection. I first saw it online at a website for The Lutheran Link, Newsletter of The Lutheran Council of Great Britain, Issue No. 29, Summer 2009 – where the photograph was credited from the Guildhall Library. The link I had for that no longer works. But on a further search today, I have found it on a Getty Images webpage, where it is described as follows: “Lutheran church, Great Trinity Lane, City of London, 1720. Artist: Anon. / Lutheran church, Great Trinity Lane, City of London, 1720. The church was on the north side of Great Trinity Lane. (Photo by Guildhall Library & Art Gallery/Heritage Images/Getty Images)” On the print itself there is a title:

And there are also very small handwritten notes at the bottom – also in Latin. And anyone interested in purchasing a copy of it are invited to do so on this webpage: Getty Images web page for: “Lutheran church, Great Trinity Lane, City of London, 1720. Artist: Anon” > gettyimages.ca And various quality prints ot it are also offered on two more websites: Magnoliabox.com and Alamy.com. The latter identifies the ‘photographer’: London Metropolitan Archives (City of London).

Curiously – for what it’s worth – there is a Swedish connection to the Trinity Lane church. Although many of its congregation were of German origin – and used to call it the ‘Hamburg Lutheran Church’ – its congregation came from many nationalities bringing together all those of the Lutheran faith who had come to live in London at that time. And its very first pastor – installed in 1668 – was a Swedish subject although born in Germany. But it couldn’t have been he who wrote in the church register in 1715 – having died almost thirty years earlier in 1686.

NOTE: This may also be seen in full (with charts, appendices & reference sources) at Media:Hermann Friedrich Dorrien, merchant of Hamburgh and London, & his family.doc. And an earlier version (without the newer information) in pdf format at: www.rainerdoerry.de/Dokumente
One of the appendices has my transcription of the 'Last Will and Testament of Frederick Dorrien, Merchant of London' - written: 3 Feb. 1732; and proved: 21 Nov. 1733. This can also be seen here: MySource:Robinca/Transcription of the Last Will and Testament of Frederick Dorrien, Merchant of London