As a consequence of the bankruptcy, we have a good insight into the home of the
Scheele family around the time of Scheele’s birth [26]. A visitor entering the front
door had Joachim Christian’s office to the left. The furniture included a desk, a table
with six chairs and an oak casket. On the walls were family portraits in golden
frames. To the right was the living room with a large table, twelve English chairs, a
wing chair, a large mirror in golden frame and eight sconces. The family had two
maids, a servant girl, a wet nurse, a shop assistant, and a worker.
Our knowledge of Scheele’s childhood is, of course, very limited. According to
Scheele’s biographer and friend Carl Johan Wilcke (1732–1796; Sect. 6.2) [27], he
had been a quiet and brooding child. He preferred to be on his own, rather than
playing with his brothers and sisters. He played with silkworms, grew plants, did
carpentry work, turning, painting, and made models from cardboard. Aged six, he
went to a private school with a teacher called Schmidt, a popular school among
Stralsund’s burgher children. Sjöstén claimed that Scheele studied at the Stralsund
Gymnasium [28], which does not seem to be true; rather it was his younger brother
who studied at the Gymnasium [29].
Fig. 2.6 Family tree of Scheele, based on the research of Zekert. Image Anders Lennartson
2.2 Scheele’s Childhood
19
Scheele family around the time of Scheele’s birth [26]. A visitor entering the front
door had Joachim Christian’s office to the left. The furniture included a desk, a table
with six chairs and an oak casket. On the walls were family portraits in golden
frames. To the right was the living room with a large table, twelve English chairs, a
wing chair, a large mirror in golden frame and eight sconces. The family had two
maids, a servant girl, a wet nurse, a shop assistant, and a worker.
Our knowledge of Scheele’s childhood is, of course, very limited. According to
Scheele’s biographer and friend Carl Johan Wilcke (1732–1796; Sect. 6.2) [27], he
had been a quiet and brooding child. He preferred to be on his own, rather than
playing with his brothers and sisters. He played with silkworms, grew plants, did
carpentry work, turning, painting, and made models from cardboard. Aged six, he
went to a private school with a teacher called Schmidt, a popular school among
Stralsund’s burgher children. Sjöstén claimed that Scheele studied at the Stralsund
Gymnasium [28], which does not seem to be true; rather it was his younger brother
who studied at the Gymnasium [29].
Fig. 2.6 Family tree of Scheele, based on the research of Zekert. Image Anders Lennartson
2.2 Scheele’s Childhood
19