Spieß, August Christian Friedrich

Grammar school teacher, regional historian

Born: 08.03.1815 in Okriftel

died: 26.06.1893 in Wiesbaden

Spieß studied philology and history in Göttingen. In 1837 and 1838 he worked as a private teacher in Braubach and Rüdesheim. From 1839, he worked at the Pädagogium in Dillenburg, where he became vice principal in 1841. At the end of the 1840s, Spieß moved to the Gymnasium and Realgymnasium in Wiesbaden. He was promoted to professor in 1851. He returned to Dillenburg in 1860. There he worked as principal from 1862 and as director of the grammar school there from 1875-86. At the same time, he ran the mining school and was chairman of the local historical society from 1883-86.

He was a patron of the Evangelical Association of the Gustav Adolf Foundation, founded in Leipzig in 1842, an aid organization that had set itself the task of supporting members of the Evangelical Protestant Church who were either oppressed or barely supported in their home countries. Spieß was also the initiator of the Wilhelm Tower in Dillenburg, erected in 1872-75, which commemorates Prince William I of Orange, who was born in the town in 1533.

After his retirement, Spieß moved to Wiesbaden to spend the rest of his life there. Among other things, he was involved in the Association for Nassau Antiquities and Historical Research, of which he was temporarily the second director.

He wrote poetic works, including a poem in honor of a special bell within the chimes of Wiesbaden's Marktkirche, as well as various textbooks. Spieß was awarded the Order of the Red Eagle, 4th class.