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Carl Magnus Dahlström (25 November 1805 – 23 February 1875) was a Finnish merchant, businessman and Commercial Counsellor. After gaining trading experience in
Loviisa Loviisa (; sv, Lovisa ; formerly Degerby) is a municipality and town of inhabitants () on the southern coast of Finland. It is located from Helsinki and from Porvoo. About 43 per cent of the population is Swedish-speaking. The municipality co ...
, Dahlström moved to
Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
to work for Abraham Kingelin's trading house. He started his own trading house two years after and focused on retail in
Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and fr ...
area. Dahlström's trading house grew substantially after taking over Kingelin's businesses. Dahlström invested on
steam ship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships c ...
ping and became one of the most significant
shipowner 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 frei ...
s of the city. Since the 1850s Dahlström invested increasingly on domestic industry. He was founding owner of Aura Sugar Mill, Turku Engineering Works, Kymi Paper Mill and Akaa Steam Sawmill. Dahlström took part in the local politics and represented Turku bourgeoisie in
Diet of Finland The Diet of Finland ( Finnish ''Suomen maapäivät'', later ''valtiopäivät''; Swedish ''Finlands Lantdagar''), was the legislative assembly of the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1809 to 1906 and the recipient of the powers of the Swedish Riks ...
1863–1864. Dahlström's sone
Ernst Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (1975 ...
and
Magnus Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wi ...
continued their father's businesses and became notable philanthropists in Turku.


Early years

Dahlström was born in
Loviisa Loviisa (; sv, Lovisa ; formerly Degerby) is a municipality and town of inhabitants () on the southern coast of Finland. It is located from Helsinki and from Porvoo. About 43 per cent of the population is Swedish-speaking. The municipality co ...
, Uusimaa Province. His parents were Swedish-born
gardener A gardener is someone who practices gardening, either professionally or as a hobby. Description A gardener is any person involved in gardening, arguably the oldest occupation, from the hobbyist in a residential garden, the home-owner supple ...
Abraham Dahlström and Anna Sofia née Tollet. Father died when Carl Magnus was just 12 years old.


Career


Merchant career

Dahlström's first workplace was at local merchant Nordman, and in 1832 he moved to
Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...
to work as bookkeeper for Abraham Kingelin's trading house. In 1836 he received bourgeoisie rights and founded a retail company together with Carl Gustaf Eschner, who also was originally from Loviisa. In 1842 Dahlström became sole owner. He developed business with help of his former employer, Abraham Kingelin, and created a wide network of business partners in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, Stockholm, Hamburg and
Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
. He travelled almost yearly in Germany, Sweden and France. In 1844 Dahlström married Kingelin's daughter Sofia Karolina. When Kingelin's trading house later fell into trouble, Dahlström took it over in 1859. The main export articles were timber, butter, iron and
pine tar Pine tar is a form of wood tar produced by the high temperature carbonization of pine wood in anoxic conditions (dry distillation or destructive distillation). The wood is rapidly decomposed by applying heat and pressure in a closed container; ...
; in the way back Dahlström imported coffee, grain, sugar and alcoholic beverages.


Shipping

As Dahlström's businesses relied on
sea transport Maritime transport (or ocean transport) and hydraulic effluvial transport, or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people ( passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used thr ...
, he invested on shipping. The local pioneer in
steam ship A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships c ...
ping, ''Åbo ångfartygsbolag'' ("Turku Steam Shipping Company"), bankrupted in 1849, after which the company was re-established under name ''Åbo nya ångfartygsbolag'' ("Turku New Steam Shipping Company"), in which Dahlström was a shareholder. In 1856 he founded ''Aura Ångfartygsbolag'', which operated new steamship ''Aura''; the ship travelled from Turku to Stockholm in 14 hours. The company was merged to the New Steamship Company in 1861. By the 1860s Dahlström was one of the most significant shipowners of Turku.


Aura Sugar Refinery

The new economic policy following to the
Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included t ...
and economic upswing advanced the development of Finland. Therefore, Dahlström decided to invest on domestic production. He saw potential in sugar production, as the oldest
sugar refinery A sugar refinery is a refinery which processes raw sugar from cane or beets into white refined sugar. Many cane sugar mills produce raw sugar, which is sugar that still contains molasses, giving it more colour (and impurities) than the ...
of Finland, located in Turku, had been closed down already in 1824 and more than 90% of sugar in the Finnish market was imported. A new technology developed abroad made it possible to produce sugar competitively in Finland. A consortium of Turku merchants, including Dahlström, Fr. Spoof,
Gustaf Adolf Lindblom Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...
, E. P. Thomé and Abraham Kingelin Jr. founded ''Aura Sockerbruk'', ("Aura Sugar Refinery"). A modern factory building was built in 1856–1859. Dahlström was the first manager of the company, and under his leadership, the operations were profitable since the beginning, and the company became a strong competitor against the other domestic producer, Töölö Sugar Refinery.


Engineering

Dahlström could see the potential of steam-engine powered seafaring and invested on engineering operations. He was a shareholder in the 1874-started ''Åbo mekaniska verkstads'' ("Turku Engineering Works"), founded by
Carl Korsman Carl Johan Korsman (14 June 1829 — 24 May 1907) was a Finnish shipowner and military officer. Korsman joined in the military in 1846; he served in infantry and resigned in 1868 as captain. In 1869 Korsman started shipping business first in c ...
. At the beginning the main focus was on
shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roo ...
, but later the company specialised on machinery.


Forest industry

Dahlström saw potential in the Finnish sawmilling and paper industry. He was founding owner of 1872 started Kymi Paper Mill located in
Kuusankoski Kuusankoski is a neighbourhood of city of Kouvola, former industrial town and municipality of Finland, located in the region of Kymenlaakso in the province of Southern Finland. The population of Kuusankoski was 20,392 (2003) and the total ar ...
; he owned six of total 20 shares of the company, being the largest shareholder. Dahlström's son Ernst Dahlström was the first manager of the company. Dahlström was the main shareholder also in
Viiala Viiala is a former municipality of Finland. On 1 January 2007, it was consolidated with Toijala to form the town of Akaa. Viiala is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Pirkanmaa region. The municipality had a populat ...
-located 1873 founded ''Akkas Ångsåg Ab'' ("Akaa Steam Sawmill Ltd"), which was a joint project between Turku and
Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclo ...
businessmen.


Other businesses

Dahlström was co-founder of Turku Gasworks in 1861; the company built
street light A street light, light pole, lamp pole, lamppost, street lamp, light standard, or lamp standard is a raised source of light on the edge of a road or path. Similar lights may be found on a railway platform. When urban electric power distributio ...
ing to the city. Large part of Dahlström's industrial property had come through his marriage. He owned shares from
Littoinen Littoinen ( Finnish; ''Littois'' in Swedish) is a village in south-western Finland, centred on ''Lake Littoinen'' ( fi, Littoistenjärvi, sv, Littois träsk). The village is shared between the town of Kaarina and the municipality of Lieto, and ...
Baize Factory and Kingelin & Co. brewery. Managing of industrial operations took eventually so much of Dahlström's time that he gave up retail business in 1870.


Political career

Since the 1840s Dahlström took part in positions of trust. He was selected to follow his father-in-law in the board of city elders. Dahlström took part in boards of schools and other institutions. He represented the bourgeoisie of Turku in
Diet of Finland The Diet of Finland ( Finnish ''Suomen maapäivät'', later ''valtiopäivät''; Swedish ''Finlands Lantdagar''), was the legislative assembly of the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1809 to 1906 and the recipient of the powers of the Swedish Riks ...
in 1863–1864; as a member of treasury committee, he promoted renewal of economic legislation and building a railway connection between Turku and Helsinki.


Private life

Dahlström married Sofia Karolina née Kingelin in 1844. The couple got two daughters and five sons in 1844–1859; three sons survived until adult age. 1846 born
Ernst Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (1975 ...
and 1859-born
Magnus Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wi ...
continued their father's businesses and became notable philanthropists in Turku.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dahlstrom, Carl Magnus Finnish businesspeople People from Loviisa 1805 births 1875 deaths