Theodor Kleinschmidt
German trader, explorer and naturalist (1834–1881)
Johann Theodor Kleinschmidt (6 March 1834 in Wolfhagen – 10 April 1881 in Utuan, Duke of York Islands, Bismarck Archipelago) was a German trader, explorer and naturalist. He sometimes anglicised his name as John Theodore Klinesmith. He worked for the J. C. Godeffroy and Sohn and collected natural history specimens for Museum Godeffroy as well as some European collectors. He was murdered on the island of Utuan in New Britain.
Biography
Kleinschmidt was the son of Georg (1806–61) and Amalie van Heyken (born 1810). He trained as a mechanic at Kassel and worked for the Main Weser Railways at the age of 18. He also trained as an artist and then as a sailor and moved to the United States of America in 1843 but had to give up due to short-sight. He launched out in business in Saint Louis (Missouri) while also showing skills as an artist. He suffered losses during the Civil War when he served as a major between 1861 and 1865 and went bankrupt. He then left for Australia then on to Fiji to flee his creditors.
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This entry incorporates text from “Theodor Kleinschmidt” 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.