Person:Agneta Wolters (1)

Personal History

——from: 'Hermann Friedrich Dörrien - merchant of Hamburgh and London, & his family' by Robin Cary Askew

« ... And so it would seem likely to have been in London where Mr. Dorrien married Miss Wolters in or around 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. ....”

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 Mr. 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 Mr. Fr. Dorryen Marchd 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:"^S1 (NOTE: Please to imagine this in its original German Gothic!)

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 he offers 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 solitary record that does indicate a first name for her. This is from the Lutheran Church register containing the burial record of her son,‘Friderick’ showing her first name as ‘Agneta.’

“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)”^S2 [bold text mine]

...

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.”

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 apparently 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).^S3

.... »

—See full article (updated July 2019): 'Hermann Friedrich Dörrien, merchant of Hamburgh and London, & his family' by Robin Cary Askew at MySource:Robinca/Hermann Friedrich Dörrien, merchant of Hamburgh and London, & his family - or in downloadable MS.Word document format (with charts & endnotes) at: Media:Hermann Friedrich Dorrien, merchant of Hamburgh and London, & his family.doc.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} 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).

   « Harmen Friedrich ~~ Hildesheim (Andr.) 1670 Aug. 9., † London 1740 (γ 1733) Haufmann in London ~ . . . . 1700 . . . m. . . Wolters * . . 1674 . . . † . . . . 1726 . . . . Englische Linie: »
   > Accessed on: www.rainerdoerry.de/Literatur/

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Hamburg Lutheran Church Register General 1669-1849, MS 8356 > “Kirchen Buch der Kirche S.S. Trinitatis in Trinity-Lane ....” .

   « Anno 171⅘ [1715] ... 11 marti.. | Friderick Dorrien, filius __ Fr. Dorrien, et Agneta Dorrien nat: Wolters / an den misells ins gewölbe beigesetzt »
   > Accessed on a photocopy obtained from the London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London, EC1R OHB, United Kingdom > Family History > Hamburg Lutheran Church > Reference: CLC/189/MS08356 / Description: Register of baptisms 1669-1849; confirmations 1734-1835; communicants at denizations 1696-1783; marriages 1671-1754, 1831 and 1843-9; deaths and burials in the church 1695-1847; preachers ordinations 1728-1891; deaths and burials not in the church 1724-6; collections upon briefs 1707-10; school children of the community 1724-30. 1 volume / Former Reference: MS 08356 / Dates: 1669 – 1891 In English and German.

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} Lohmann, Reinhard: Die Familie Wolters in Hamburg während des 17. Jhs. und die Beziehungen von Liebert Wolters Vater und Sohn nach Schweden, 1969
   pp. 18-19, 307.

   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.
   « ... Liebert II Wolters heiratet im mai 1673 unter Aufsehen erregenden Umständen Agatha, die einzige Tochter des sehr reichen Peter von Overbeck.(22) ...
   « ... Aus dem Familienarchiv Brants in Amsterdam erhalten wir auch für eine zweite weibliche Linie einen Hinweis auf Fortführung der Wolterschen Familientraditionen: 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) ... »
   « ...
   V. I. 8: 17 Maria Jacoba Wolters, x London 1642 / oo I. Hamburg 1667 den "Engelsmann” FranzTownly
   VI. 20: ...
   V. 8: V.20 Liebert II Wolters, x 19.5.1647, + 25.2.1719 / oo 1673 Agatha von Overbeck
   VI. 20: ...
   VI. 20: 24 Anna Maria Jacoba Wolters, x 1674, + 1726 / oo 1700 Hermann Friedrich Dorrien, Kaufmann in London
   .... »
   NOTE: x = born; + = died; oo = married