Johanna Sophia Herre
Johanna Sophia Herre (8 July 1706 – 5 June 1796), was the morganatic wife of William Gustav, Hereditary Prince of Dessau, and later Imperial Countess (German: Reichsgräfin) of Anhalt.
Her father, Christian Herre (1646–1720), formerly Mayor of Jeßnitz —he had acquired his fortune as a merchant and heir from a previous marriage– continued his successful business after his second marriage with Katharina Dorothea Starke in 1691.
Johanna Sophia Herre had four siblings, one younger sister and three older brothers, of whom two were officers in Prussian service and the youngest was Provost in Wörlitz.
[2] The secret wedding took place at night in Dessau with only the couple, the Pastor Hoffmeister from Raguhn (who performed the ceremony) and Johanna Sophia Herre's grandmother, Anna Elisabeth Starke, were present.
In the summer of 1727, shortly after the birth of their first child, William, the small family moved to Gut Kleckewitz, where Johanna Sophia Herre spent the next two decades in virtual seclusion.
In the course of eleven years of marriage, they had nine children: The constantly growing family made their living from the private fortune of William Gustav and the income from Gut Kleckewitz as well as his position as a Prussian officer.
Despite his apparent happy married life, the Hereditary Prince sired two sons in 1732 and 1734 from his relationship with Henriette Marianne Schardius, daughter of the Superintendent of Dessau.
Under the condition that they would continue to live inconspicuously at Gut Kleckewitz, he fixed maintenance for all children up to their 16th birthday, an annual pension for his widowed daughter-in-law and dowries for his three granddaughters.
Prince Maurice was appointed guardian of the children; Johanna Sophia's own affairs were to be handled by her brother Christian Herre, Prussian quartermaster.
[2] After clarifying the financial questions (Prince Leopold II and his siblings shared the cost of 22,000 Reichsthalers) the formal application was made to the Reichshofrat (Imperial Council) in Vienna.
In that year, Prince Leopold II gave his sister-in-law her own palace in the Kavalierstrasse street in the main city of Dessau, along with exemption from taxes and duties.
The text (written by the Prince himself, testimony to his great respect for the deceased) reads: johanne sophie herre / graefin zv anhalt / geboren den VIII.
