Catharina Lysholm ( Meincke; 1744 - 9 December 1815), was a Norwegian businesswoman and

ship-owner A ship-owner is the owner of a merchant vessel (commercial ship) and is involved in the shipping industry. In the commercial sense of the term, a shipowner is someone who equips and exploits a ship, usually for delivering cargo at a certain fre ...

. Catharina Meincke was born at

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denma ...

, Norway. She was the daughter of merchant and office holder Hilmar Meincke (1710–1771) and Catharina Mølmann (1720–1748). In 1763, she married merchant Broder Brodersen Lysholm (1734–1772), then one of the most successful merchants in Trondheim. Both her father and husband had originated from Flensburg in

Southern Schleswig Southern Schleswig (german: Südschleswig or ', da, Sydslesvig; frr, Söödslaswik) is the southern half of the former Duchy of Schleswig in Germany on the Jutland Peninsula. The geographical area today covers the large area between the Eid ...

. She acquired wealth through both inheritance and marriage. Her father was co-owner of the copper works at Løkken and Røros, organized a West Indies company and operated a tobacco factory. Upon his death, she inherited the bulk of his estate. Upon the death of her spouse in 1772, she took over his business interests in partnership with Hans Carl Knudtzon who had moved to Trondheim from Bredstedt in

North Frisia North Frisia (; ; ) is the northernmost portion of Frisia, located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany between the rivers Eider and Wiedau. It also includes the North Frisian Islands and Heligoland. The region is traditionally inhabited by the Nort ...

. She managed the perhaps largest ship company in

from 1772-1779 operating under the name ''Fru Agentinde Lysholm & Co''. By 1779, she was one of the co-founders and owners of the city's shipyard at which time she pulled herself out of the company and Knudtzon became the sole owner. She was a leading figure in the city's commercial life, and was honored by being saluted upon her return to the city after business trips. She participated in philanthropy, and erected several buildings, among them the manor at Havstein (1772), which became a center of the local upper class society. A street at Ferstad in Trondheim district of

Byåsen Byåsen is a large neighborhood area in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It constitutes a large part of the city in the borough of Midtbyen. It encompasses a number of areas southwest of the main city centre. This includes al ...

was named after her in 1986.

References

18th-century Norwegian businesswomen 18th-century Norwegian businesspeople 1744 births 1815 deaths Norwegian businesspeople in shipping Ship owners Norwegian founders Women founders Norwegian shipbuilders Norwegian people of German descent 19th-century Norwegian businesswomen 19th-century Norwegian businesspeople {{Norway-business-bio-stub