Birth: 11.02.1765 in Hamburg, Germany
Death: 27.12.1833 in Hamburg
Job: Dr. jur, various jobs
He was very tall, strong, and good looking. At the age of 10 his mother died, so he didn`t get the strict education he needed. He was not ambitious; we can say he was hedonistic. He was good in Latin and French, and played the violin.
In 1785 he went to the University of Goettingen to study jurisprudence. His father gave him a lot of money to go to Goettingen, plus a carriage with four good horses and coachmen who was also his butler. He had lots of friends but he didn`t study much. He was so rich that he thought it was not necessary to work later. He was more interested in history, politics, literature and philosophy. He loved more the revolutionary theories of that time than thinking about keeping up with his studies, something that influenced his own children's world view.
In 1788/89 he went to Leipzig and received his doctoral degree. Titel:"De distinctione inter animum occidendi directum et indirectum e juris-prudentiae criminali elimanda."
In 1790 he went back to Hamburg. In 1791 he married his sister-in-law Margaretha Franziska Graepel. She was tall, slim and good looking. To maintain an occupation he worked as a farmer, because he loved the nature, but he didn't lend a hand himself and was not ambitious enough to pay attention to the workers all the time. What he liked more was hunting with a lot of friends and play host to big parties. His possessions got smaller and smaller. First they lived in a country house in Friedrichsruh, near Hamburg, which was bought by Otto v. Bismarck. In 1792 his father died. He inherited a lot of money, but not as much as the squanderer expected. They moved to a house in Peine near Pinneberg, and later to a property in Dockenhuden, near Blankenese.
At first he had enough money that sometimes in winter, when he wanted to drive to Hamburg, he could afford to engage the whole male population of two nearby villages to shovel the snow out of his way so that it was easier to drive with his sleigh. Starting in 1807 he began to experience a few financial problems. When the French came to Hamburg around 1813/14, the situation began to deteriorate. In 1816 he returned to Hamburg and tried to work as a merchant, but was not very successful at it. He moved several times in Hamburg from one apartment to another.
Without the help of his clever and frugal wife it would have been even worse. The oldest daughter, Emilie, gave music lessons. Juliane worked as a house-teacher. Rudolf was only able to study because he had a scholarship. Mathilde married Pastor Riefkohl, who educated her three younger brothers. Johann Diederich died in 1833 at the age of 68.