Anna Henriette Gossler

Anna Henriette Gossler, who went by the name of Henriette, was the eldest child of Johann Hinrich Gossler and Elisabeth Berenberg. Her mother was the sole heir to Berenberg Bank, and her father became a partner in 1769 and the sole owner in 1772. From 1788, the family lived in the Mortzenhaus (during the summer they lived on a country estate). She married Ludwig Erdwin Seyler, who became a co-owner of Berenberg Bank in 1788 and the senior partner/head in 1790. Her husband was one of Hamburg's most prominent merchants and politicians during the early 19th century, especially during the Napoleonic Wars. They had a house in Wandrahm and (according to the family tradition, needs verification) a country home in Blankenese. Berenberg Bank's head office was moved to their Wandrahm home and then to the home of their son-in-law Gerhard von Hosstrup when Mortzenhaus was requisitioned by the French in 1813. Her father-in-law was Abel Seyler, one of the great theatre principals of 18th century Europe.

She is interred in the family grave of the Berenberg/Gossler family on the Old Hamburg Memorial Cemetery (Althamburgischer Gedächtnisfriedhof, formerly Ehrenfriedhof), together with her mother Elisabeth Berenberg, husband, several of their children and many other relatives, among them her brother, Senator Johann Heinrich Gossler and her nephew, Hamburg First Mayor Hermann Gossler. The grave is one of only six family graves on the memorial cemetery, which is reserved for notable Hamburg citizens.

Many of her descendants in Norway until the present day, especially her matrilineal descendants, have been named for her (Anna Henriette or Henriette).

Literature

• Wikipedia (Deutsch): Goßler (Hanseatengeschlecht)
• Wikipedia (English): Berenberg/Gossler/Seyler
• Percy Ernst Schramm, Neun Generationen: Dreihundert Jahre deutscher Kulturgeschichte im Lichte der Schicksale einer Hamburger Bürgerfamilie (1648–1948). Vol. I, Göttingen 1963.