Johan Ernst Welhaven
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Johan Ernst Welhaven | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Johan Ernst Welhaven ca 1823. | |
| Born | October 30, 1775 |
| Died | March 10, 1828 (aged 52) |
| Occupation | Priest |
| Known for | Hospital work with lepers |
Johan Ernst Welhaven (October 30, 1775 – March 10, 1828) was a well-liked priest at St. George's Hospital Church in Bergen, Norway.[1] He made great efforts to better conditions for the hospital's lepers.[2][3][4] He was also the father of the author and poet Johan Sebastian Welhaven.[2][5]
Welhaven's grandfather, Christopher Welhaven or Welhaver (1725–1783), was a passementerie maker from Ribnitz near the Hanseatic city of Rostock in what is northeastern Germany today.[6][7] His son, Johan Andreas Welhaven (1748–1811), came to Bergen at the age of 17 as an apprentice at Bryggen. After six years, he became a journeyman.[7] In time, he became a teacher at the German school for the poor established in 1777 in connection with St. Mary's Church in Bergen. Later he also became an organist and sexton at that church. He married Elisabeth Margrethe Woltmann (died 1814), who was also from northeast Germany. Johan Andreas Welhaven appears to have been a hard-working man that, in addition to acquiring the Norwegian language, paid for higher education for his three sons, including Johan Ernst Welhaven.
