Heemskerk, Wilhelm von

Lawyer, President of the Nassau financial administration

Born: 22.08.1804 in Dillenburg

died: 18.12.1883 in Wiesbaden

Heemskerk studied law in Giessen and Göttingen, passed the state examination in 1829 and joined the Nassau administrative service. In 1835 he was transferred to the police office in Wiesbaden and promoted to secretary in 1837. Two years later he was appointed secretary in the General Domain Directorate.

Here he continued his career as Assessor, Privy Domain Councillor and Director (1863) until he was appointed President of the Finance College in 1866. This put him in charge of the entire financial administration of the Duchy of Nassau, including the domanial assets. He was also a member of the State Council. As the highest representative of the financial administration, he was a member of, among other things, the commission for the development of a new estates code and a commission for the reorganization of the Main customs. He also represented Nassau at the customs conferences in Munich and Berlin from 1863-65.

After the Prussian annexation, he was removed from office. In 1866/67, together with Nikolaus Wilhelm Prince of Nassau, he led the negotiations on the financial settlement of the ducal house. On October 23, 1867, Duke Adolph zu Nassau appointed him president and head of the Nassau Chamber of Finance, a newly established authority charged with administering the assets of the ducal house. He retired in 1874.

He was decorated with high orders. As honorary president, Heemskerk held positions in various agricultural associations and was a member of the board of trustees of the Hof Geisberg agricultural college and the executive committee for the national monument on the Niederwald. He was president of the Wiesbaden Beautification Association for many years and chaired the committee that campaigned for the construction of the English Church(Church of St. Augustine of Canterbury) on Frankfurter Strasse.

He found his final resting place in the North Cemetery.