The Correspondence of Caspar Georg Carl Reinwardt - DWC - KNAW

Van Heiningen / 26
after its arrival. On 7 March 1817, Arnoldine Reinwardt asked Van Marum to
inform her if he was still in the possession of the letter written by her on 12
February 1817, or that he did already sent it on to Batavia.At this occasion she also
askedVan Marum for the first time to give her, her sister and her mother financial
support. Of course her brother was well aware of their delicate financial situation.
And therefore he would certainly agree with a proper financial arrangement in
behalf of his next of kin. Arnoldine proposed to pay her from her brother’s capital,
which – as she knew – was administrated byVan Marum.The two sisters were well
aware of their brother’s prosperity and they knew that he would be willing to share
his affluence with them. Their daily costs of living were high and besides they had
to spend a lot of money on doctors and pharmacists. Meanwhile, their mother was
advanced in years and she (Arnoldine) herself was suffering from ‘asthenia’ [see also:
NA-RANH 529-20b:A. Reinwardt to M. van Marum: 5 July 1817, NA-RANH
529-20b: A. Reinwardt to M. van Marum: 16 September 1817 and NA-RANH
529-20b: C.Fr. Morian (Lüttringhausen) to M. van Marum: 20 September 1817.
Through Arnoldine Reinwardt’s letter, dated 1 December 1818 (NA-RANH 529-
20b) Van Marum was informed about the death of Caspar’s mother. Arnoldine, at
the time being ill herself, had not been able to inform him until now. In her letter
she thanked him for sending the jars of ginger. This gift was really compensating
the loss of the shipment of coffee. Between the lines she informed him that
she has learned through her niece Caroline and through Mr. Morian, that her
brother Caspar was ill. So for obvious reasons they were eagerly looking forward
to receiving more favourable news from their brother. They also expressed their
hope that meanwhile Van Marum would have informed Caspar about the death
of his mother. Shortly before the end of December 1818, Arnoldine was again
begging for financial support. Her mother’s funeral still had to be paid.Van Marum
informed Mr. Morian – who was taking care of their business - by return, that he
was willing to send the money immediately, but that at the same time he had to
decide to deduct this advance in four terms from the trimestrial remittances of
200 guilders each. [NA-RANH 529-20b: late December 1818]. Of course it was
most regrettable that he could not consult Reinwardt before making this decision.
On 18 March 1819, Arnoldine Reinwardt thanked Van Marum, also on behalf
of her sister, for his generosity and for adding a letter from her brother. They
were worrying about his weak pulmonary condition. Most regrettably she had to
stress again that it was almost impossible for her to pay the pharmacist from the
trimestrial remittances, which they were receiving at the time. This fact brought
her into a precarious situation, asVan Marum had to believe.