Nicolai Abraham Holten (27 March 1775 – 12 May 1850) was a Danish civil servant in the financial administration and director of Øresund Custom House.

Early life and education

Holten 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 ...

, the son of customs officer and former pharmacist Johannes (Hans) Holten (1741–1816) and Ane Margrethe Holten née Abildgaard (1747–1826). His grand father was royal furniture maker Johann von Holten and he was named after his maternal uncle

Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard (11 September 1743 – 4 June 1809) was a Danish neoclassical and royal history painter, sculptor, architect, and professor of painting, mythology, and anatomy at the New Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen ...

. He attended Efterslægtselskabets Skole from October 1788 to September 1790. He was later educated in Niels Ryberg's trading house.

Career

After completing his education Holten established his own business as a bankier and broker. He collaborated with the government and was in 1816 appointed to specialist director of national debt (). He headed to the office for foreign payments in 1817–1839 and was a member of a commission that made a proposal for the important Negotiable Instrument Act () of 1825. He was also consulted as a personal advisor on financial matters by Frederick VII. Holten was appointed director of in

Helsingør Helsingør ( , ; sv, Helsingör), classically known in English as Elsinore ( ), is a city in eastern Denmark. Helsingør Municipality had a population of 62,686 on 1 January 2018. Helsingør and Helsingborg in Sweden together form the northern ...

in 1830 but continued as a member of the governing board of the national debt department until 1848. He was appointed to council of state () in 1817, in 1829 and (

privy council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

lor) in 1847.

Landowner

He purchased Lindegården on the

Hornsherred Hornsherred () is a peninsula between Roskilde Fjord and Isefjord on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. It falls within the expanded Frederikssund municipality and includes Jægerspris and Skibby and before 1 January 2007 a part of Bramsn ...

peninsula in 1909 and the nearby manor of Krabbesholm in 1910. He used Lindegården as a summer residence and was responsible for many improvements of the management of his land. He was interested in trees and established a nursery on his estate. He was known for treating the farmers on his estate well and he founded the school in Skibby.

Personal life

Holten married Johanne (Hanne) Cathrine Kirstine Mangor (2 May 1778 – 20 November 1869) in the Church of the Holy Ghost in Copenhagen on 15 May 1799. She was a daughter of country doctor in

Næstved Næstved () is a town in the municipality of the same name, located in the southern part of the island of Zealand in Denmark. Næstved has several adult education centers, five elementary schools - and has at least one of each type of the four ...

and later city doctor () in Copenhagen C. E. Mangor (1739–1801) and Marie Elisabeth Mangor née Klagenberg (1743–1823). Nicolai and Cathrine Holten had four children, one son and three daughters. Hans Christian Holten became a vicar of the parishes of Skuldelev and

Selsø Selsø (''Selsø Slot'') is a historic manor house located near Skibby, on the Hornsherred peninsula, Frederikssund Municipality, some west of Copenhagen, Denmark. The estate traces its history back to the 13th century. The current main buildi ...

. Sophie Holten married the folklorist Just Mathias Thiele. The two other daughters did not survive childhood. Sophie Holten's daughters Ida and Anna grew up in their grandparent's home from the time they were five and three years old after their mother's death in 1835. Holten owned the

Gustmeyer House The Gustmeyer House (Danish: Gustmeyers Gård) is a historic property on Ved Stranden, opposite Christiansborg Palace on Slotsholmen, in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It was built in 1797 to a Neoclassical design by Johan Martin Quist. The Nobel ...

in Copenhagen. He sold it when he was appointed director of Øresund Customs House in 1839. He died on 12 May 1850. He was buried from St. Olaf's Church and interred at

Assistens Cemetery Assistens Cemetery ( da, Assistens Kirkegård) is the name of a number of cemeteries in Denmark. The common nominator is, as the first part of the name implies (Latin: ''assistens'' meaning assisting), an assisting cemetery for a town's churches. ...

References

External links

Bicolai Abraham Holten
at geni.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holten, Nicolai Abraham 1775 births 1850 deaths 19th-century Danish businesspeople Danish bankers Danish civil servants 19th-century Danish landowners Businesspeople from Copenhagen Holten family Danish Customs Service personnel