Bethmann family
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The Bethmann family (/ˈbɛtmɑːn/; BET-mahn) has been remarkable for the high proportion of its male members who succeeded at mercantile or financial endeavors. This family trait began in medieval northern Germany and continued with the Bethmann bank, which Johann Philipp Bethmann (1715–1793) and Simon Moritz Bethmann (1721–1782) founded in 1748 and soon catapulted into the foremost ranks of German and European banks. Even after the bank's sale in 1976, there are Bethmanns engaged in commercial real estate and forestry in the 21st century.
Bethmann family | |
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Current region | Hesse |
Etymology | Collector of voluntary taxes |
Place of origin | Goslar |
Titles | Freiherr von Bethmann |
Members | Konrad Bethmann Johann Philipp Bethmann Johann Jakob Bethmann Simon Moritz Bethmann Moritz von Bethmann |
Connected families | Bethmann-Hollweg |
The most notable of the Bethmanns was Simon Moritz von Bethmann (1768–1826), a banker, diplomat, politician, philanthropist and patron of the arts. His sister Maria Elisabeth was the mother of Marie d'Agoult and the grandmother of Cosima Wagner; his sister Susanne Elisabeth was the great-grandmother of Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg, who was chancellor of Germany from 1909 to 1917.