Stieglitz (surname)

Last updated

Stieglitz is a surname originating in Germany. Stieglitz, meaning goldfinch, was borrowed into German from a Slavic language, probably Old Czech stehlec . [1] [2]

Contents

The surname can have several possible origins. It is considered to have been an ornamental eke-name originally applied to a prominent family, noticeable in appearance for particularly (golden or strawberry) blonde-coloured hair, of Ashkenazi Jews residing within what is now central Germany, from whom Ludwig von Stieglitz was raised to the Russian nobility, and of Protestant Leipzig patricians of German nobility. With the consolidation and expansion eastwards of the German Empire, the name spread. The original German name has also shifted orthographically to Stiglitz and beyond; later, Stieglitz was also transcribed to Sztyglic in Polish and Штиглиц in Russian. It can be a nickname applied to someone who was cheerful or dressed in colorful clothing. It could also be an occupational name for someone who traded birds or caught them. In rare cases it can refer to origin from the Polish village of Siedlisko near Trzcianka, which was formerly called Stieglitz.

Stieglitzens Hof in 1890 Stieglitzens Hof 1890.jpg
Stieglitzens Hof in 1890
Anton Graff (1736-1813), the Family of Wilhelm Ludwig von Stieglitz, 1782 Graff Stieglitz.jpg
Anton Graff (1736–1813), the Family of Wilhelm Ludwig von Stieglitz, 1782
Coat of arms of the German Barons von Stieglitz, with goldfinch Stieglitz-Wappen.png
Coat of arms of the German Barons von Stieglitz, with goldfinch
Coat of arms of the Baltic Russian Barons von Stieglitz, with goldfinch Stieglitz Baron coat of arms Wappen.jpg
Coat of arms of the Baltic Russian Barons von Stieglitz, with goldfinch

Stieglitz family

By the mid-18th century, two strands of the Stieglitz family were apparent as having emerged. Bartholomew Stieglitz, Mayor of Plzeň, Bohemia, was knighted in 1583 by Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor as Stieglitz von Čenkov; his son Kaspar and grandson Melchior Stieglitz fled to Saxony during the Thirty Years' War, where the family has since been established. In 1765, this patent of nobility was recognised by the Leipzig Council, and his great-grandson Christian Ludwig Stieglitz (1677–1758)  [ de ], long-time Mayor of Leipzig, was posthumously ennobled, he and his descendants occupying the Stieglitzens Hof  [ de ] in the central market square of Leipzig, forming a prominent political and legal dynasty of patricians. Sophie Charlotte von Stieglitz (1776–1839), the daughter of his son Wilhelm Ludwig von Stieglitz, an electoral Major of the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg who was granted Mannichswalde  [ de; nl ], in 1799 married Dresden City Governor Heinrich Adolph von Gablenz  [ de; fr; nl ] and was mother of Austrian general Ludwig Karl Wilhelm von Gablenz  [ de ]. Mannichswalde was inherited by Thuisko von Stieglitz (1808–1881), the Royal Saxon Lieutenant General and Chief of the General Staff; his son Georg von Stieglitz (1848–1912) was a Saxon Lieutenant General, while his son Robert von Stieglitz (1865–1933) was a diplomat and the last Saxon envoy to the South German courts. The family also possessed Castle Langburkersdorf in Neustadt in Sachsen and Friedenthal in Hildburghausen. [3]

Meanwhile, in 1725, 160 miles to the West in Bad Arolsen in the State of Waldeck, central Germany, Levi Stieglitz is recorded as arriving from nearby Bad Laasphe with his daughter, his two sons Hirsch Bernhard and Lazarus Stieglitz following in 1760. The family was granted Schutzjude status by Friedrich Karl August, with Hirsch Bernhard, his youngest son Jacob Friedrich, and Lazarus Stieglitz all serving as influential Court Jews (merchant bankers) to the Waldeckian Prince. [4] Johann Stieglitz, eldest son of Lazarus Stieglitz, was sent to attend school in Gotha and studied philosophy in Berlin, later pursuing medicine at the University of Göttingen and practising as a physician in Hannover from 1789. [5] Studying together in Göttingen, he became an erstwhile friend of Wilhelm von Humboldt, even saving him from drowning in the Leine. [6]

Emigration

Nikolai (1770–1820) and Boris Bernhard Stieglitz (1774–1846), also sons of Lazarus Stieglitz, both emigrated to Kherson, Ukraine, to expand the family merchant business, becoming Imperial Russian Privy Councillors, the latter going on to become a successful merchant in Poltava, while the former eventually progressed to work in the Ministry of Finance in Saint Petersburg. Lazarus Stieglitz's youngest son Ludwig Stieglitz similarly moved as a young man to Russia as a representative of the family business, becoming an entrepreneur and banker of great capacity and influence, eventually appointed by Tsars Alexander I and Nicholas I to be court banker, investing in the construction of a steamship line between Lübeck and Saint Petersburg. The family received the hereditary Russian nobility, with Ludwig's son Alexander von Stieglitz inheriting the running of the Stieglitz & Company bank, which he liquidated in 1863, becoming the first President of the State Bank of the Russian Empire. Many of the Stieglitz were elevated to the peerage, styling themselves as Barons von Stieglitz, and electing to adopt a goldfinch (rousant) for their heraldic crest; in 1846 Christian Ludwig Stieglitz (1803–1854)  [ de ] was similarly elected Baron by the King of Saxony, and the family expanded throughout central Europe. [7]

His youngest son Heinrich Ludwig von Stieglitz (1762–1824) emigrated from Pilsen to County Armagh, Ireland; Heinrich's family, including Robert William von Stieglitz  [ de ], later emigrated to Van Diemen's Land and Victoria in Australia in the 1830s to establish sheep runs on land grants and are considered early pioneers of Australia, establishing the (ironically misspelled) town of Steiglitz, Victoria [8] and Stieglitz, Tasmania. [9] At the same time Hirsch Bernard's eldest son Joseph Stieglitz emigrated to establish his company Mark & Sterlitz in New York City. Many family members, however, emigrated to Britain and America in the latter half of the 19th century and during the 20th century to escape the pogroms. Nevertheless, despite the family's extent throughout the German Empire by the 1850s, they were still concentrated in central Germany; Edward Stieglitz (1833–1909), father of Alfred Stieglitz and Julius Stieglitz, for instance emigrated to Hoboken, New Jersey, from Stadtlengsfeld, only 75 miles south-east of Bad Arolsen. [10]

Notable bearers of the surname

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loschwitz</span> Borough of Dresden in Saxony, Germany

Loschwitz is a borough (Stadtbezirk) of Dresden, Germany, incorporated in 1921. It consists of ten quarters (Stadtteile):

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Order of the Black Eagle</span> Highest order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Prussia

The Order of the Black Eagle was the highest order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Prussia. The order was founded on 17 January 1701 by Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg. In his Dutch exile after World War I, deposed Emperor Wilhelm II continued to award the order to his family. He made his second wife, Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz, a Lady in the Order of the Black Eagle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fruitbearing Society</span> German literary society founded in 1617

The Fruitbearing Society was a German literary society founded in 1617 in Weimar by German scholars and nobility. Its aim was to standardize vernacular German and promote it as both a scholarly and literary language, after the pattern of the Accademia della Crusca in Florence and similar groups already thriving in Italy, followed in later years also in France (1635) and Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Sturm</span> German entomologist and botanist (1771–1848)

Jacob Sturm was a leading engraver of entomological and botanical scientific publications in Germany at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. He was born and lived in Nuremberg and was the only son of engraver Johann Georg Sturm (1742-1793), who trained him in drawing and copperplate engraving.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Gottfried Körner</span> German writer (1756–1831)

Christian Gottfried Körner was a German jurist. His home was a literary and musical salon, and he was a friend of Friedrich Schiller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Ernest IV</span> Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

John Ernest IV was a reigning duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Thomas School, Leipzig</span> Public boarding school in Saxony, Germany

St. Thomas School, Leipzig is a co-educational and public boarding school in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. It was founded by the Augustinians in 1212 and is one of the oldest schools in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ludwig von Stieglitz</span> German Jewish businessman

Ludwig von Stieglitz was a German Jewish businessman in Russia and founder of the banking house Stieglitz & Company.

Johann Ludwig Karl Heinrich von Struve was the youngest son of the large brood of children of Johann Christoph Gustav von Struve and Sibilla Christiane Friederike von Hochstetter; part of the Struve family and brother to Gustav Struve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pfuel</span> German ancient noble family

The Pfuel family is an ancient German noble family that arrived to Brandenburg in the year 926 and later widened their influence to Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Württemberg, Westphalia, Eastern Europe and Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrian Zingg</span> Swiss painter (1734–1816)

Adrian Zingg was a Swiss painter.

<i>Musen-Almanach</i> Type of annual literary review in Germany

A Musen-Almanach was a kind of literary annual, popular in Germany from 1770 into the mid-19th century. They were modelled on the Almanach des Muses published in Paris from 1765.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanseaten (class)</span> Historical ruling class of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen

The Hanseaten is a collective term for the hierarchy group consisting of elite individuals and families of prestigious rank who constituted the ruling class of the free imperial city of Hamburg, conjointly with the equal First Families of the free imperial cities of Bremen and Lübeck. The members of these First Families were the persons in possession of hereditary grand burghership of these cities, including the mayors, the senators, joint diplomats and the senior pastors. Hanseaten refers specifically to the ruling families of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen, but more broadly, this group is also referred to as patricians along with similar social groups elsewhere in continental Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friedenspark</span> Cemetery in Leipzig, Germany

The Friedenspark is an open space of about 20 hectares in the centre of Leipzig, in the district of Zentrum-Südost, located between the Ostplatz to the north and the Russian Memorial Church to the south. The park was opened in 1983, after the secularisation and clearance, under the then East German regime, of the Neuer Johannisfriedhof, which is what the space used to be, and its thorough reconstruction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann Stieglitz</span> German physician

Johann Stieglitz, born as Israel Stieglitz was a German physician. He was the brother of banker Ludwig von Stieglitz (1779-1843) and uncle to poet Heinrich Wilhelm Stieglitz (1801-1849).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankfurt Main Cemetery</span> Largest cemetery in Frankfurt, Germany

The Frankfurt Main Cemetery is the largest cemetery in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was opened in 1828. The cemetery is located directly adjacent to two Jewish cemeteries—the Old Jewish Cemetery and the New Jewish Cemetery, Frankfurt —and together they form one of the largest cemetery areas in Germany. The cemetery is noted for its many monumental graves, its garden architecture and as the site of the graves of many notable individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Hermann Heinrich Benda</span>

Karl Hermann Heinrich Benda, was a German violinist and composer of Bohemian origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georg Joachim Göschen</span> German publisher (1752–1828)

Georg Joachim Göschen was a German publisher and bookseller in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony, notable for typography and his publications of music and philosophy. He was the patriarch of the Goschen family, whose English branch rose to prominence as bankers and politicians, including the Viscounts Goschen and Goschen baronets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vow of allegiance of the Professors of the German Universities and High-Schools to Adolf Hitler and the National Socialistic State</span> 1933 document signed by German academics

Bekenntnis der Professoren an den Universitäten und Hochschulen zu Adolf Hitler und dem nationalsozialistischen Staat officially translated into English as the Vow of allegiance of the Professors of the German Universities and High-Schools to Adolf Hitler and the National Socialistic State was a document presented on 11 November 1933 at the Albert Hall in Leipzig. It had statements in German, English, Italian, and Spanish by selected German academics and included an appendix of signatories. The purge to remove academics and civil servants with Jewish ancestry began with a law being passed on 7 April 1933. This document was signed by those that remained in support of Nazi Germany.

References

  1. Kluge, Friedrich (1891). "An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language, S".
  2. "Stieglitz". Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache (in German).
  3. Thomas Morgenroth (9 July 2009). "Sachsen: Das letzte Heiligtum von Schloss Langburkersdorf (Saxony: The Last Sanctuary of Castle Langburkersdorf)". Sächsische Zeitung. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 4 May 2011.
  4. Stieglitz, Olga (2003). Die Stieglitz aus Arolsen (the Stieglitz from Arolsen). Museum Stadt Arolsen. ISBN   3930930102.
  5. Böttcher, Dirk. Stieglitz, Johannes (Israel). Hannoversches Biographisches Lexikon.
  6. Wilhelm und Caroline von Humboldt in ihren Briefen (William and Caroline von Humboldt in their Letters), Briefe aus der Brautzeit (Letters from the Bride) 1787-1791. Osnabrück: Zeller. 1968.
  7. Hefner, Otto Titan (1866). Stammbuch des blühenden und abgestorbenen Adels in Deutschland (The Genealogy of the Rise and Fall of Nobility in Germany. Regensburg.
  8. "Frederick Lewis von Stieglitz". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  9. Dennison, C.J (1994). Where in Tasmania (1st ed.). Glenorchy, Tasmania. Retrieved 6 August 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. "Bad Arolsen". Alemannia Judaica, Arbeitsgemeinschaft für die Erforschung der Geschichte der Juden im süddeutschen und angrenzenden Raum (International Association for the Study of the History of Jews in southern Germany). Retrieved 1 May 2015.