Sophie Thalbitzer (née Zinn, 15 April 1774 – 27 December 1851) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

memoirist known for ''Grandma's Confessions'' ( da, Grandmamas Bekiendelser), which offers a rare first-hand account of everyday life for a child and young woman in an upper-class bourgeois family 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 ...

during the late 18th and early 19th century. She was a daughter of the wealthy merchant

Johann Ludvig Zinn Johann Ludvig Zinn (14 September 1734 – 3 February 1802) was a German-Danish merchant who founded a trading house in Copenhagen in 1765 and died as one of the wealthiest men in the city. Zinn lived in the Zinn House at Kvæsthusgade 3 in Copenha ...

and grew up in the Zinn House at Kvæsthusgade 3. The building was listed on the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1959.

Biography

Sophie Dorothea Zinn was born into a wealthy merchant family in

, the daughter of

and his wife. She was a keen reader and was particularly struck by

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

's '' Confessions''. One of her father's business partners,

Hinrich Ladiges Hinrich Ladiges (14 January 1731 – 4 March 1805) was a German-Danish sugar manufacturer. He owned two sugar refineries in Copenhagen and died as one of the wealthiest men in the country. He died unmarried and left much of his estate to charity ...

, a wealthy sugar manufacturer who was 40 years her senior, proposed to her when she was 17 years old. Her father was strongly in favour of the liaison but she declined. She later married Henry Thalbitzer (1767–1818) who was

Royal Prussia Royal Prussia ( pl, Prusy Królewskie; german: Königlich-Preußen or , csb, Królewsczé Prësë) or Polish PrussiaAnton Friedrich Büsching, Patrick Murdoch. ''A New System of Geography'', London 1762p. 588/ref> (Polish: ; German: ) was a ...

n consul to

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 northe ...

. She was widowed in 1818.

''Grandma's Confessions''

She wrote her memoirs after she became a widow at the age of 41. They were originally intended for their son Carl Wilhelm Thalbitzer (Billy) but later published under the name ''Grandmama's Bekiendelser''. They offer a first-hand account of everyday life as a child and young woman in an upper-class environment in Copenhagen during the late 18th and early 19th century.

References

External links

Sophie Thalbitzer on Geni
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thalbitzer, Sophie 1774 births 1851 deaths Danish women memoirists 18th-century Danish memoirists 19th-century Danish memoirists Danish women writers Writers from Copenhagen