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Heinrich von Orelli

Swiss judge and local politician (1783-1860)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ94918748 ↗
Source-derived summary

Heinrich von Orelli (10 May 1783 – 26 December 1860) was a Swiss judge and politician from Zurich.

Early life and education

Orelli was born on 10 May 1783 in Zurich, the son of Johann Heinrich von Orelli, secretary of the Physical Society of Zurich, and Regula Lochmann. He attended the Zurich School of Art and subsequently worked as a substitute at the registry office in Brugg from 1799 to 1802. He then pursued studies at the University of Göttingen and undertook educational travels.

Personal life

In 1808, Orelli married Anna Schulthess, daughter of Hans Conrad Schulthess. He was a member of the noble society of the Schildner zum Schneggen from 1806.

Political and judicial career

Orelli served as a judge on the Zurich district court from 1808 to 1816. He was subsequently appointed to the Zurich Supreme Court, serving two terms: from 1819 to 1829 and again from 1831 to 1843. He was elected as a member of the Grand Council of Zurich from 1815 to 1839. From 1829 to 1831, Orelli served on the cantonal government and was a delegate to the Federal Diet from 1829 to 1830.

Editorial summary

“Heinrich von Orelli” enters the record as swiss judge and local politician (1783-1860). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Heinrich, Orelli and Swiss can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1783, 1860, 1799, 1802—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1783-05-10. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Heinrich, Orelli and Swiss.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Heinrich von Orelli” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Heinrich, Orelli and Swiss provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q94918748. VIAF identifies the subject as 120355402. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1783, 1860, 1799 and 1802.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Heinrich von Orelli”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Heinrich von Orelli primary sources, Heinrich von Orelli archive and Heinrich research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Heinrich von Orelli”?
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  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Heinrich von Orelli” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.