John Birkett Wienholt

The family, originally Winholdt, can be traced back to Wiemsdorf, Oldenburg, Germany.

John Birkett Wienholt was the son of a German merchant who had settled and married in Britain. He became a London merchant too and lived at Thames Ditton, Surrey, and later at Castle House, Laugharne, Carmarthenshire. He specialised in dry salting anchovies. Although he appeared to be well to do and his large family prospered, he leaves a legacy of mysteries regarding the source of his wealth. There is a puzzle regarding his supposed first marriage to Frances Drysdale, a wealthy widow from Plymouth who wrote a will in 1802 leaving most of her fortune to him. When she died in 1814 he claimed she was his wife - but was she? Following his marriage to Sarah Hill at Laugharne in 1816, he didn't stay in one place for very long and his children were born in several different European countries. He died and was buried at Laugharne, where there is a family tomb in the churchyard and many memorials to the Wienholt family in St. Martin's church. These include a stained glass window to his memory in the south transept. The lych gate was presented to the church in 1913 by 'Miss Wienholt' and the pulpit was donated by the family in 1925.

J B Wienholt was still in his 20s when declared bankrupt in April 1801 [see National Archives record Ref: B 3/5164 - "In the matter of John Birkett Wienholt late of the Old Swan, London, merchant, bankrupt. Date of commission of bankruptcy: 1801 April 28"]. A later bankruptcy is recorded as 3 Nov 1804 in 'The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure' (in an extract from the London Gazette) - Wienholt, J.B., of the Old Swan, merchant. This information links him to his mother's cousin Daniel Birkett junior, who, in Sun Fire Office records dated 1st May 1816, is named as: "Insured: Daniel Birkett Jnr, Alexander Logan and Abraham Townsend, Old Swan Lane, dry salters." And this is of interest because JBW's family were in a legal wrangle in 1831-3 with the widow of Daniel Birkett Jnr over her inheritance from her father, Daniel Birkett Snr.

In 1807 JBW was granted Freedom of the City of London "by redemption in the Company of Cooks", for which he paid forty-six shillings and eightpence (see photo of certificate under Media tab).

Further notes by M H Buchanan, his 3x gt-granddaughter, 6 July 2016:

Page 84 of the European Magazine and London Review, Volume 66 [viewed online at Google books] reports the death on 26 June 1814 at Plymouth, of Mrs Weinholt [sic], wife of J.B. Wienholt Esq. The 1814 burials record for St. Martin's Church, Laugharne, entry No.30 [viewed online through FindMyPast] reports the burial on 11 July of Frances Berkitt [sic] Wienholt, abode Plymouth, aged 40. A handwritten note has been added to this: "Buried in the Family Vault in the Churchyard." The minister at the burial, J H Williams, was the same minister who officiated at the wedding two years later of J B Wienholt and Sarah Hill. Frances Drysdale's will dated 29 April 1802, leaving the bulk of her estate to J B Wienholt, was proved on 19/20 July 1814, less than a month after her death [see document from National Archives under Media tab]. There is no mention of her having married J B Wienholt.

I visited Plymouth Library and Plymouth Records Office on 30 June to see if I could find any local records regarding J B Wienholt's marriage to Frances Drysdale or her death in 1814. I found nothing. I looked at microfiche of the Plymouth & Dock Telegraph, a weekly publication, for the year 1814 up to November. (Unfortunately the issue for 2 July was missing).