Frederik Christian Hals von Moth (1694 – 12 August 1746) was a Danish merchant, nobleman, colonial administrator and planter who served as Governor-General of St. Thomas and St. John in the

Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with ; Saint John ( da, St. Jan) with ; and Saint Croix with . The ...

from April 1724 - May 1727 then again from 21 February 1736 - 13 April 1744. In addition, he served as Governor of

St. Croix Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincor ...

from 8 January 1735 - 15 May 1747. In 1736, his title was changed to Governor General (''generalguvernør''). His military rank was Commander (''kommandørkaptajn''). In addition, he held the rank of ' (member of the supreme court).

Family

Moth's father, Poul von Moth, was a knight. His great aunt was

Sophie Amalie Moth Sophie Amalie Moth, Countess of Samsøe (28 March 1654 – 17 January 1719) was the officially acknowledged royal mistress of King Christian V of Denmark. Together they had six acknowledged illegitimate children, all of whom bore the surname G ...

Countess of Samsøe, a

royal mistress A royal mistress is the historical position and sometimes unofficial title of the extramarital lover of a monarch or an heir apparent, who was expected to provide certain services, such as sexual or romantic intimacy, companionship, and advic ...

of King

Christian V of Denmark Christian V (15 April 1646 25 August 1699) was king of Denmark and Norway from 1670 until his death in 1699. Well-regarded by the common people, he was the first king anointed at Frederiksborg Castle chapel as absolute monarch since the decr ...

. Sophie Moth's son,

Christian Gyldenløve Christian Gyldenløve, Count of Samsøe (Copenhagen, 28 February 1674 – Odense, 16 July 1703), was a Danish nobleman and military officer. He was one of five illegitimate children fathered by Christian V of Denmark with Sophie Amalie Moth. H ...

became the founder of the

Danneskiold-Samsøe The House of Danneskiold-Samsøe is a Danish family of high nobility associated with the Danish Royal Family, and who formerly held the island of Samsø as a fief. By royal statutory regulation, the Counts Danneskiold-Samsøe and their male-li ...

family of high nobility.

Life

Moth was born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

but moved to St. Thomas where he started a family. He married Anna Elizabeth van Beverhoudt on 2 July 1722 on the island of St. Thomas. He had several children on the island over the following 17 years, one of whom was Margarethe Gjertrud who married Lucas Uytendale de Bretton in 1750. His son Frederik Christian Moth became governor of the Danish West Indies from 1770 to 1772 Moth founded the town of Christiansted in 1733 after Denmark purchased St Croix from the French. He designed the town using Christiana (now

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

) as a model. Moth was named first Danish Governor of the Danish West India–Guinea Company on 12 November 1733. He also built the

slave plantation A slave plantation was an agricultural farm that used enslaved people for labour. The practice was abolished in most places during the 19th century. Slavery Planters embraced the use of slaves mainly because indentured labor became expensive ...

known as Little Princess in Saint Croix, having acquired the land in 1738, along with owning the ''Frederiksdal'' slave plantation on Saint John.Guide til Dansk Vestindien
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References

1694 births 1746 deaths 18th-century Danish military personnel 18th-century Danish politicians 18th century in the Danish West Indies Danish nobility Danish planters Danish slave owners Danish sugar plantation owners Governors of the Danish West Indies {{Denmark-mil-bio-stub