Ulrika Fredrika Bremer

Not to be confused with her granddaughter, the Swedish novelist Fredrika Bremer.

Ulrika Fredrika Bremer, née Salonius (1746 – 1798), was a ship owner and merchant in Swedish Finland. She was the paternal grandmother of Fredrika Bremer. After the death of her husband Jacob Bremer in 1785, she took over his businesses and ships in Åbo (now Turku, Finland). She successfully managed his business empire and was one of the richest Finnish women of her time.

Life

Ulrika Fredrika Salonius was the daughter of the judge Eric Gustaf Salonius (d. 1748) and Hedvig Magdalena Wittfooth (d. 1752), and married the recently-widowed merchant Jacob Bremer in 1767. Jacob Bremer was the richest business person in Finland and the biggest ship owner in Åbo. He was also a partner or shareholder in the Åbo sugar factory, the town's two tobacco factories, the Järvenoja paper factory, the Åvik glass factory, the Kuppis brick factory, the Koski and Luvia sawmills, the Swedish East India Company, and several smaller businesses, as well as the owner or landlord of various manors, farms, and inns.

At the death of her spouse in 1785, Ulrika Fredrika Bremer inherited her husband's guild membership and the right to manage his business empire. Although she had two stepsons Isac and Joseph and her own son Carl Fredrik, the eldest and youngest suffered from mental instability and lack of business acumen and she took it upon herself to manage the family holdings. Under her management, the Bremer house preserved a dominating place in Finnish business life.

Following her 1798 death, her son Carl (the father of Fredrika Bremer) sold most of the businesses, moving to Sweden in 1804.

References

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