Charlotta Maria Lönnqvist (4 February 1815 Siuntio – 27 April 1891 Siuntio) was a Finnish cultural personality. She is mainly known as the benefactor of

Aleksis Kivi Aleksis Kivi (; born Alexis Stenvall; 10 October 1834 – 31 December 1872) was a Finnish author who wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish language, ''Seitsemän veljestä'' ("Seven Brothers") in 1870. He is also known for his 1864 p ...

who lived in her cottage in 1864-1871. She was also a known

wolfer Wolfer or Wolfger (also ''Walfer''; died between 1158 and 1161) was a German knight possibly from the Duchy of Swabia, who, alongside his brother Héder, settled down in the Kingdom of Hungary and became a member of the Hungarian nobility. Wolfer w ...

, who was awarded a prize by the Finnish Hunting Association for her skills.

Life

Charlotta Lönnqvist was the daughter of the soldier Jonas Lönnqvist and Maria Forsström. She never married. After the death of her parents, she inherited her childhood cottage. She had a small saving capital and occasionally earned some money catering at weddings and funerals. From 1864 to 1871,

lived with her. It was regarded improper for a male to live alone with a female of the same class (in which neither was employed by the other), and this caused rumors that they were lovers. Charlotta Lönnqvist participated in charity, and her relief work during the

famine of 1866-68 A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompan ...

ruined her. Kivi therefore gave her an income from his writings in 1869.

References

Suomen kansallisbiografia (National Biography of Finland)
Finnish women 1815 births 1891 deaths 19th-century Finnish people Swedish-speaking Finns {{Finland-bio-stub