Carl Ferdinand Heinrich (Ludwig) Von Ludwig KCMG (1784 - 1847)

Born 6 Oct 1784 in Sulz, Württemberg, Deutschland

Husband of Alida Maria (Burgers) von Ludwig — married 1816 in Cape Town, Cape Colony

Husband of Eliza (Griffith) von Ludwig — married 8 Jun 1847 in Cape Town, Cape Colony

Descendants

Died 27 Dec 1847 at age 63 in Cape Town, Cape Colony

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Desmond William Kelly Lynch [send private message]

Biography

Carl Ferdinand Heinrich was born in Germany in 1784:^[1]

Name: Carl Ferdinand Heinrich Ludwig

Sex: Male

Birth Date: 6 Oct 1784

Father's Name: Johann Gottfried Ludwig

Father's Sex: Male

Mother's Name:  Maria Barbara Maier

Mother's Sex: Female

Event Type: Christening

Event Date: 6 Oct 1784

Event Place: Sulz, Württemberg, Deutschland

Wikipedia provides an insight into the life of this interesting man:

In 1805 he responded to an advertisement in an Amsterdam newspaper and applied for a post as pharmacy assistant to a certain Stuttgart-born Dr Liesching of Cape Town. Friedrich Ludwig Liesching was a former physician to the Württemberg regiment at the Cape. Ludwig's application was accepted and he sailed for the Cape in October 1805. His qualifications as pharmacist were approved in 1807 by a body set up to scrutinise the Cape medical and apothecary fraternities. Ludwig was regarded as a physician.

In January 1816 Ludwig married Alida Maria Burgers, widow of Carl Ferdinand Heinrich Altenstaedt. She had inherited a stately dwelling in St. George's Street, and a small but lucrative business from her husband who had been a brewer, and a tobacco and snuff merchant. The business continued to thrive and Ludwig became one of the notables of the Cape community, in 1824 helping to found the South African Literary Society. The success of the business afforded him ample leisure time, so that he could indulge in his other interest, the collection of natural history specimens. Ludwig Beil, the Cape Town organist, accompanied him on a collecting trip to Swellendam in 1826. That same year he shipped a collection of plants and insects to the Stuttgart Royal Museum, in recognition of which he was awarded a Knighthood of the Order of the Royal Crown of Württemberg, which entitled him to place the prefix 'von' in front of his surname. He took a larger collection of plants, insects, birds and mammals with him on an 1828 visit to Germany - for this he received an honorary Ph.D from the University of Tübingen.

On his return from Europe, Von Ludwig bought about 3 acres of land in Kloof Street, Cape Town, and over the next couple of years planted the groundwork of a botanic garden.

The following children were born of the marriage with Alida:

Wilhelm Frans Jacob von Ludwig

Alida Louisa Matilda (von Ludwig) Cruywagen

Gertruida Johanna Maria Barbara (von Ludwig) Porteous

Josias Friedrich von Ludwig

Alida died in 1840; the 62-year-old widower married 51-year-old widow Eliza (Griffith) Bridekirk in the Lutheran Church Cape Town on 8 June 1847.^[2]

Marriage Carl Ferdinand Heinrich Baron von Ludwig and Eliza (Griffith) Bridekirk

Carl's passing was covered by the South African Commercial Advertiser and abroad:^[3][4][5]

Wednesday 29 December 1847

DIED on the 27th December at Rondebosch, Cape of Good Hope, in his 66th year, Carl Ferdinand Heinrich, Baron VON LUDWIG Phil, & MD, Knight Commander of the Royal Wurtenburg Crown and Gold Civil Merit Orders, and of the Ludwig’s Order First Class of the Grand Duchy of Hessia, Corresponding Member of the London and Massachusetts, Calcutta Horticultural and several other Societies of Natural History.

Many have this week to lament the loss of a valuable acquaintance, and kind-hearted friend, in Carl Ferdinand Heinrich, Baron VON LUDWIG, who died on Monday morning, at the age of 65 years. Baron VON LUDWIG has been long known and highly esteemed as the friend of improvement, but chiefly for his unwearied exertions in the formation of a Botanic Garden in Cape Town, for the introduction of new and useful plants. Into this rich field of observation and study, made and maintained entirely at his own expense, the public and strangers were most liberally admitted without charge. He was Patriarch of the Garden, as the late Michael BREDA was Patriarch of the field and the fold. May they never want successors, who may live a useful life, and leave a good name behind them!.

Death Notice of Carel Ferdinand Heinrich Baron von Ludwig

Sources

1. ↑ "Deutschland Geburten und Taufen, 1558-1898", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NCK8-X5S : 25 October 2021), Carl Ferdinand Heinrich Ludwig, 1784
2. ↑ "South Africa, Civil Marriage Records, 1840-1973", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZHB-XXZN : Sun Mar 10 18:24:59 UTC 2024), Entry for Carl Ferdinand Heinrich Baron Von Ludwig and Eliza Griffith, 8 Jun 1847
3. ↑ South African Commercial Advertiser 1847 - 4 - October to December and Transcribed from CO53/8 at the National Archives in Kew, Written by Sue Mackay on 23 June 2009
4. ↑ "South Africa, Cape Province, Probate Records of the Master of the High Court, 1834-1989", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPQ7-PQX1 : Wed Mar 06 23:21:49 UTC 2024), Entry for Carel Ferdinand Heinrich Baron Von Ludwig, from 1846 to 1850
5. ↑ Added by Des Lynch on 11 June 2024

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Dina Vermaak for creating WikiTree profile Von Ludwig-3 through the import of Vermaak Family Site - 05 May 2013.