- Jan Gerard Kemmerling
Jan Gerard Kemmerling (
February 4 ,1776 -January 15 ,1818 ) wasmayor ofHeerlen andNieuwenhagen .When the French arrived in Heerlen in 1795, Kemmerling sympathized with their ideas of Enlightenment and
revolution . He becamesecretary at age 23 for the newly established French Canton Heerlen. In 1801 he also started to work as a notary, and in the same year became a member of the municipality. In 1805 he was mademaire (French name for mayoral) of Heerlen, he was also the maire of Nieuwenhagen (till his death).When the Prussians occupied Heerlen on
July 13 ,1814 , he was successful in befriending them. After Heerlen became a part of the newKingdom of the Netherlands (May 12 ,1815 ) he remained as mayor.King Williem I rather had civil servants who were trained in modern administratorial duties under
Napoleon then once not used to this.ource
[http://www.heerlen.nl/Smartsite.dws?id=3225]
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