ANDERSSON SMITH, LAURITZ ANDERSSON [SSNE 6800]

Surname: ANDERSSON SMITH
First name: LAURITZ ANDERSSON
Nationality: SCOT

Text source

Lauritz Andersson Smith was the son of Andrew Lawrenceson Smith [SSNE 6799] and Maren Knudsdatter. Lauritz was born in 1680 in Sola, Haaland near Stavanger. In 1697 he entered the service of the widow, Elisabeth Seehusen and by 1708 he became a burgess and subsequently became one of the "6 men" of town. He married Seehusen's grandaughter Johanna Margaretha Leigh, daughter of the school rector, that year. Thus the town's leading artistic and merchant houses were combined. He gradually took over Seehusen's business so that when she died in 1714 he maintained the business and the property. He also obtained salmon fishing rights in Sele and Suldal against payment to the bishop. He established himself at the square (Torget) on Nedre Strandgate and bought a plot from the Cathedral. He enjoyed a variety of duties, including acting as lawman when the appointed lawman was absent; a factor for the regional administrator, a representative for the French consul in Bergen as well as inheriting many commercial activities from the late Elisabeth Seehusen. He frequently lent money to people and had business contacts with : London, Edinburgh, Stockholm, the Baltic states, Lubeck and particularly the Netherlands. Among his other talents, he could speak Dutch. Two of the Norwegian merchant companies he dealt with were Collett & Leuch in Kristiania and Pay & Smith on Bragernes. At the age of 40 he suffered a severe illness but on recovery he initiated a project to curb smuggling. In 1720 he freighted English ships direct from Lisbon to Stavanger and Scottish ships from Amsterdam. After 1734 he established a factory where hides were worked and sent to the Netherlands in particular. Ten years later he applied to establish a sail-factory. He had a brother Knud [SSNE 6801], also an artist

C. W. Schnitler, Stavanger 1125-1425-1925 (Stavanger, 1925), pp.217-221; O. Smith, Andrew Lawrenceson Smith og Lauritz Andersson Smith's mannlige etterkommere i Norge og Danmark (Oslo, 1943), p.5; J. Elgvin, En By i Kamp: Stavanger bys historie 1536-1814 (Stavanger, 1956), pp.217-228.

Service record

DENMARK-NORWAY, STAVANGER, SOLA, NORWAY: Arrived 1680-01-01; Departed 1744-12-31; Capacity MERCHANT, purpose MERCANTILE
NORWAY, STAVANGER: Arrived 1708-01-01, as BURGESS; Departed 1744-12-31, as BURGESS; Capacity BURGESS, purpose CIVIC, MERCANTILE; Arrived 1734-01-01; Departed 1743-12-31; Capacity HIDE FACTORY, purpose MERCANTILE