Marie Kofoed
Marie Kofoed, née Bohn (19 January 1760 - 20 April 1838), was a Danish businessperson, landowner and philanthropist. She was a local patriot and played an important part in the history of Bornholm.
Life[]
She was born to the businessman Morten Bohn (1719-1802) and Barbara Kirstine Ancher (1725-1771) in Rönne. She married businessman Jochum Herman Ancher (1746-1786) in 1776, and the merchant and landowner Hans Peter Kofoed (1743-1812) in 1786. She belonged to the Bornholm elite by birth and both her marriages.
Career[]
After the death of her second spouse, she managed his affairs and estate and became a major landowner and business person. She both inherited a fortune and expanded it, and she used spent a great part of her money charity. She financed public institutions such as churches, schools and hospitals on Bornholm and Själland, and supported a number of individuals, notably Johan Nicolai Madvig, whose education she paid for, and particularly took an interest in the welfare of sailors and their families in Copenhagen.
Legacy[]
In her will, she bequeathed large sums to the benefit of sailors and their widows on Bornholm; the widows of officials in Copenhagen; and poor unmarried women. She was known for her social projects, and was in 1818 awarded with the title of etatsrådinde, a title normally only held by women married to men with the male equivalent and not otherwise granted to women for their own merit.
References[]
- Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon
- Dansk Biografisk Leksikon
- 1760 births
- 1838 deaths
- 19th-century Danish businesspeople
- 19th-century Danish women landowners
- 19th-century Danish landowners
- Danish philanthropists
- Danish women philanthropists
- Bornholm
- People from Ronneby Municipality
- 19th-century businesswomen