Person:Hermann Dörrien (1)

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Personal History

« Hermann Friedrich Dörrien (aka ‘Frederick Dorrien’), a Merchant of London,^S6 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),^S1,S2,S3 which was the first church in Hildesheim to embrace Lutheranism.^S8 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.” ^S11,S12,S13 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 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 ſiſter was married to one of our maſters, Mr. Dorien. ....” ^S7 [This citation contains a transcription of the quotation above with the modern s instead of the original ſ.]

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.^S9

.... »

—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 1.3} Schlotter, Hans: Genealogien Hildesheimer Ratsgeschlechter bis 1802, Hannover 1989
   p 87.

   « 6 Herman Friedrich, Kaufmann in London. / ~~ Hi/Andr. 9.8.1670; / + London 1740 / oo 1700 N. Wolters. » [* = born / ~~ = baptized / Hi = Hildesheim / Andr. = St. Andreas / + = died / oo = married]
   > Accessed on: www.rainerdoerry.de/Literatur/

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4} 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: » [* = born / ~~ = baptized / Andr. = St. Andreas / † = died / m. = married]
   > Accessed on: www.rainerdoerry.de/Literatur/
   NOTE: Both this source and the previous one ^S1 are in error regarding the year of death for Herman Frederick Dörrien – which must have occurred before 21 Nov. 1733, when his will was probated. Though Herr von Arnswaldt does include the correct year of 1733 in brackets.

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5} Rainer Dörrys Website zur 'Ahnenforschung'.

   « Dörrien Hermann Friedrich (Frederick) / ev., Kaufmann in London / * ... in Hildesheim, ~ 09.08.1670 in Hildesheim, St. Andreas / † ... in London, [] 26.11.1733 in London, Alter: 63 J 3 M 17 T / Vater: Dörrien Hans Christian / Mutter: Tappen Ilse Margarethe / oo 08.1700 in London, German Lutheran Church in Trinity Lane mit Wolters Agneta, * 1674, † 1726. .... »
   > Accessed on: [Familiengruppe Dörry / Doerry und Nebenlinien > D > Dörrien > "Dörrien Hermann Friedrich (Frederick) ~ 09.08.1670 in Hildesheim, St. Andreas [] 26.11.1733 in London, ev., Kaufmann in London"

4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} Guildhall Library Index of the Registers of the Hamburg Lutheran Church
   p. 8.

   « d 26 11 1733 DORRIEN Friederick; kaustmann; Allster? »
   > Accessed on a photocopy obtained from the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA) [See next citation]

5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3} Hamburg Lutheran Church Register General 1669-1849, MS 8356 Kirchen Buch der Kirche S.S. Trinitatis in Trinity-Lane .....

   « 1733 ... 26. Novembr. im Gewölbe begraben (buried in vault) ¿___? Friederick Dorrien. Kauffmann (merchant) ¿___ ___ / ___ ___? ..... »
   > Accessed on a photocopy obtained from the London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London, EC1R OHB, United Kingdom.
   Updated Online Access on 02/06/2023 at Family History > Research Guide > Search 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."

6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} 'Will of Frederick Dorrien, Merchant of London'
   21 November, 1733.

   « I Frederick Dorrien of London Merchant ....”
   > Description Will of Frederick Dorrien, Merchant of London Date 21 November 1733 Catalogue reference PROB 11/662 / Dept Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury Series Prerogative Court of Canterbury and related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers Piece Name of Register: Price Quire Numbers: 280 - 325 Image contains 1 will of many for the catalogue reference
   > Accessed and downloaded at: National Archives UK - Documents Online
   My Transcription of this will may be seen here: MySource:Robinca/Transcription of the Last Will and Testament of Frederick Dorrien, Merchant of London

7. ↑ 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. / 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. / From the depositions of the witnesses it appeared, that the prisoner having been discharged the service of Messieurs Stein and Dorien, for some misdemeanours, about three days before the fact was committed, took lodgings at the Sun Alehouse in Queenstreet, and told the master of the house, that his father was a merchant in Saxony, and that he was come to London to learn the English language, after which he was to go to the West Indies; and that his cloaths were to arrive that evening by the carrier. .... // The Confession of HERMAN STRODTMAN. “In the year 1683, or a little before, I was born at Revel in Lisland, and had the happiness to come of a good family; my parents being of some account in the world, and also a godly and religious people, who took great care of my education. / 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 sister was married to one of our masters, Mr. Dorien. ....”
   > Accessed on: books.google.co.uk/

8.   Wikipedia - St. Andreas (Hildesheim).

   > Accessed on de.wikipedia.org/ (in German) & en.wikipedia.org/ (in English)

9. ↑ Hamburg Lutheran Church Register General 1669-1849, MS 8356 Kirchen Buch der Kirche S.S. Trinitatis in Trinity-Lane .....

   > Searched on photocopies of the original pages for marriages covering a period of about five years before the birth of their eldest child, Liebert, who was baptised on July 4th, 1701 > « Anno 1701 ... 4 Juli | Liebertus Dorrien Son to Mr . Friederic Dorrien in Bushlane »
   « Anno 171⅘ [1715] ... 11 marti.. | Friderick Dorrien, filius __ Fr. Dorrien, et Agneta Dorrien nat: Wolters / an den misells ins gewölbe beigesetzt »
   > Accessed on photocopies obtained from the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), 40 Northampton Road, London, EC1R OHB, United Kingdom / Tel: 020 7332 3820. See Ref. S5 above.

10. ↑ ^10.0 10.1 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

11.   National Archives > 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. .... »
    Accessed 02/06/2023 at - nationalarchives.gov.uk/

12.   Hamburg Lutheran Church, in London Metropolitan Archives - 1000 Years of London's History in Documents, Photos, Maps and Films.

    Administrative History:
    « German Lutherans worshipped in the City of London at the Church in Austin Friars 'of the Germans and other Strangers' from 1550, and in 1672 they obtained from Charles II letters patent enabling them to build their own church, with the power to appoint ministers and hold services according to their own customs, on the site of the Holy Trinity Church (destroyed during the Great Fire), Trinity Lane. The inaugural service was held in December 1673, although baptisms were registered from 1669, and a church, rebuilt and extended in 1773, remained there until 1871. In that year it was bought and demolished by the Metropolitan Railway Company who were then building Mansion House station close by. The congregation then built a new church on a site in Alma (later Ritson) Road, Dalston, installing fittings such as the altar-piece and organ taken from the old church. »
    Hamburg Lutheran Church / Date of Creation: 1688-1945 / Reference Code: CLC/189
    Scope and Content: Records of the Hamburg Lutheran Church, including letters patent granting the right to establish the church; registers of baptisms, confirmations, marriages and burials; consistorial act books; papers relating to the construction of the new church in Dalston; and financial accounts.
    Classification: NON-ESTABLISHED RELIGIONS
    Site Location: London Metropolitan Archives
    Accessed 02/06/2023 at lma.gov.uk/

13.   ‘Holy Trinity Lutheran Church’ - image, in The Lutheran Link, Newsletter of The Lutheran Council of Great Britain
    Issue No. 29, Summer 2009.

    Note: This Newsletter is no longer accessible online. But, when it was, this issue "No. 29, Summer 2009" contained an image of the Hamburg Lutheran Church along with the following text: "Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Trinity Lane, London – built in 1673, on the site of Holy Trinity-the-Less, which had burnt down in the Great Fire of London." It also credited the source of the image as 'The Guildhall Library.' And The Natiional Archives website informs us that « Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section is administered by the London Metropolitan Archives: City of London and no longer operates as a separate archive repository. All records formerly held by this office are now administered by cityoflondon.gov.uk/ »
    Now (as seen on 02/06/2023), the website: thelutheranlink.com/ only has a message, saying: “coming soon!”
    However, the same image is now available to be seen online at 'Getty Images' > gettyimages.co.uk/ - which has the following accompanying text: « 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) »