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Hermann Abeken

German political writer and statistician (1820-1854)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 30, 2025
Entity authorityQ104169 ↗
Source-derived summary

Hermann Abeken (27 June 1820 – 27 April 1854) was a German political writer and statistician. He was the third son of Bernhard Rudolf Abeken.

Abelen was born in Osnabrück in the Kingdom of Hanover. He worked as merchant in New York City, but returned to Europe due to a chest affliction. A friend of his brother Friedrich, the young Count of Görz-Schliz, urged him to begin his law studies in Göttingen and Berlin. Beginning in autumn 1846 he began to write, influenced by his stay in the United States and statistical news.

In the summer of 1848 he was assigned head of the newly inaugurated statistical bureau at the Ministry of Stüve in Hannover. Abelen wrote for the daily press, where he supported the political decisions and goals of the Ministry. He died in Hannover in 1854.

Publications

Amerikanische Negersklaverei und Emancipation, 1847

Die Republik in Nordamerika und der Plan einer demokratisch-republikanischen Verfassung für Deutschland, 1848

1789.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Hermann Abeken” is german political writer and statistician (1820-1854). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Hermann, Abeken and German, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1820, 1854, 1846, 1848—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1820-06-27. For this dossier, Hermann, Abeken and German is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “german political writer and statistician (1820-1854)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

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 Mar 30, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q104169. VIAF identifies the subject as 10221833. The Library of Congress control number is nr2001004199. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1820, 1854, 1846 and 1848.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. 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.

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  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Hermann Abeken”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Hermann Abeken primary sources, Hermann Abeken archive and Hermann 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

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Hermann Abeken” 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.