Frederik Dietrichson

Frederik Dietrichson was born in 1723 in the Danish West Indies, where his father, Erasmus, according to the family register was governor (not confirmed elsewhere). The year after, his father was appointed regimental commander in Kristiansand. Frederik became an officer and made his career in regiments in Kristiansand and Bergen.

He was a lieutenant in the 1st Vesterlen Regiment from 1739 and a captain from 1750. In 1755 he became a major in the 1st Bergenhus Regiment, and he became a lieutenant colonel in 1762 and commander of the regiment in 1766. He became a colonel in 1772 and the year after commander of the 1st Vesterlen Regiment, which his father had led. In 1780 he became major general and commandant in Kristiansand. Store norske leksikon calls him acting commandant. He took part in the Seven Years’ War, and in 1788, as commander of both Vesterlen regiments, he followed Prince Carl of Hesse into Dalsland and Bohuslän.

The family register from 1882 says that he became especially well known from the Lofthus rebellion in 1787, when he was commandant in Kristiansand. A newspaper account from 2016 tells how his soldiers met several hundred farmers by the river Nidelva, and that he had the bailiff released.

He was married twice. He first married Maria Hedevig Stockfleth in Stavanger in 1756, and she died in Bergen in 1759. In 1761 he married Elisabeth Frøchen in Bergen. The register mentions nine children, among them the four sons Johan Wilhelm, Erasmus, Bernt Fröchen and Gabriel Grubbe, who became the forefathers of one branch each.

Frederik died in Kristiansand on 29 May 1791. In 2016 a grave was found on the town square in Kristiansand during work on a parking facility, and the newspaper says it was his.