Draft:Johann Gildemeister (merchant)

Johann Mathias Gildemeister (born 11 September 1753 in Bremen; died 9 February 1837 in Bremen) was a merchant as well as council member and senator of the city of Bremen.

Biography
Gildemeister was the son of a Bremen merchant. He attended high school in Bremen. He then trained and worked as merchant amongst other places in Holland and England. In 1776 he took over the cloth merchant business of his deceased father in Bremen.

He was also interested in problems of technology and astronomy. In 1788 he was elected a council member in Bremen (from 1813 called senator). His duties on the council included dykes and fire brigade, and coin history.

Jointly with mayor Christian Abraham Heineken, he conducted the trigonometric survey of Bremen. The map was made by the copper engraver Georg Heinrich Tischbein. Gildemeister was also friends with the astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers.