Life Piter Poel

1 life

1.1 family provenance
1.2 years
1.3 apprenticeship , university
1.4 st. petersburg , stockholm
1.5 settling in hamburg , altona
1.6 literary legacy

life
family provenance

piter poel born in arkhangelsk, father, jacobus jan poel, had been sent rutger van brienen set northern branch of st. petersburg based van brienen trading company. rutger van brienen both business partner , father-in-law of jan poel, had married, second wife, magdalena van brienen around 1750. piter parents fourth recorded child, , father s sixth recorded child. sources comment admiringly on jan poel s ability linguist: had undergone commercial training in leiden , fliuent in dutch, russian , german.

the poel family connection st. petersburg dated @ least time of pieter s grandfather, jacobus jan poel/pool (1682-?), son of amsterdam boat builder had emigrated during first part of eighteenth century , become ship builder tsars .

early years

the first 3 years of pieter poel s life eventful. @ time of birth father had befriended peter, duke of holstein-gottorp, grandson of peter great. duke had been born in kiel , spoke little russian explains why drew friends st. petersburg s german expatriate community. mark of friendship between dutch born merchant , future tsar duke became piter poel s godfather ( patenonkel ). in january 1762 russian empress died , nephew, duke of holstein-gottorp, became tsar peter iii. new tsar invited friend, jan poel, after estates in southern holstein, , supervise pet project there, involved construction of canal. jan poel accordingly travelled holstein , took new duties.

a few weeks later new tsar assassinated. widow, remembered in history catherine great, spent next 34 years building russia , denigrating reputation of late husband. following death of friend, tsar, jan poel hurriedly closed down business activities in arkhangelsk , moved young family hamburg had contacts in merchant community. year after move, on 8 october 1763, magdalena poel, pieter s mother, died @ hamburg.

between ages of 3 , 6 pieter poel brought @ orphanage/boarding school sister magdalena, 3 years older was. between ages of 6 , 15 educated @ boys boarding school. childhood therefore gave him little experience of family life.

apprenticeship , university

jan poel died in 1775 , left piter sufficient inheritance allow him independence , fund university education. 1776 till 1778 undertook commercial apprenticeship company in bordeaux, later described 1 of europe s dirtiest cities ( verderbsten städte ). @ bordeaux mastered french language , developed affection french theatre.

piter lived couple of years in geneva studied intensively in order prepare application german university, before moving göttingen in november 1780 enrolled @ university period of study covered history, statecraft , social economics, intention of undertaking career diplomat. lecturers included ludwig timotheus spittler. encouraged in pursuit of university education sister magdalena, herself had been in restless marriage adrian wilhelm pauli, member of hamburg merchant class, since 1776. while @ göttingen became member of influential zn student fraternity in 1781, later recall in memoirs. poel made full use of networking opportunities fraternity membership provided.

st. petersburg , stockholm

at end of summer term left göttingen , headed st. petersburg, maternal uncle, abraham van brienen, considered have become man of great influence in both commercial , political worlds: while in st. petersburg poel able know of uncle s contacts. during 1783 , 1784 employed rank of captain secretary , interpreter @ college of foreign affairs (foreign ministry) in st. petersburg. uncle had promised him position in russian diplomatic service, towards end of 1784 poel gave on idea of diplomatic career russians , moved sweden, tried obtain position in public service. despite contacts in business world, no suitable government job forthcoming, however. there suggestions adherence reformed version of protestant faith may have counted against him resolutely lutheran political establishment in stockholm.

settling in hamburg , altona

in 1785 piter poel moved hamburg developed close friendship merchant caspar voght. 1786 2 of them set out on extended business trip, taking in paris , london. poel remain on terms voght rest of life. in 1789 poel moved house again, relocating altona. in 1938 altona became western suburb of hamburg, in 1789 not merely separate municipality, part of different jurisdiction, duchy of holstein. piter pohl lived in altona fifty years, , die in 1837.

friendship caspar voght opened many doors piter pohl. joined social circle included pioneering physician johann reimarus , merchant georg heinrich sieveking. member of circle mathematics guru , creator of hamburg trade academy, johann georg büsch. in 1787 piter poel married büsch s daughter, friedericke elisabeth (1768 - 1821). marriage happy 1 , resulted in eleven recorded children.

in altona acquired right publish venerable altonaische mercurius (newspaper), while not dictating editorial policy of was, in day, 1 of influential german-language newspapers in northern europe. in altona piter poel undertook work journalist , writer.

in 1793 poel joined 2 of friends buy country house beside elbe @ neumühlen, half hour walk west of town house in altona s große freiheit (street). other purchasers merchant , enlightenment philosopher georg heinrich sieveking (1751-1799) , banker-merchant conrad johann matthiessen (de) (1751-1822). 3 of them developed house summer residence became known meeting point hamburg s wealthy cosmopolitan elite. project survived sieveking s death in 1799 , matthiessen s divorce in 1801, house @ neumühlen sold in 1811 , poel set home in teufelsbrück few hundred meters further downstream. between 1816 , 1822 lived caspar voght @ house in flottbek, settlement on western fringe of altona, , here on 18 october 1821 wife died following two-day illness. after same of neumühlen house, subsequent homes continued provide social hub hamburg elite, poel himself @ heart of things. 4 years after widowed elder sister magdalena, whom had been close, fell ill , rushed home in bückeburg take leave of her, arrived late. 7 of eleven children had lived adulthood, , piter poel withdrew increasingly private life, while still sustaining friendships, notably caspar voght , danish diplomat johann georg rist lived in altona between 1815 , 1834.

literary legacy

during period began work on memoirs, covering years outbreak of french revolution. insisted these not intended publication despite promptings of insightful friends. couple of years before death, in 1835 agreed publication of fragments of memoirs, notably in altonaer merkur (newspaper). published lengthy work on reoccupation of hamburg french in 1813, published under title hamburgs untergang . later son gustav poel (1804-1895) published various of father s papers under title bilder aus vergangener zeit .