Kreidl

Verla mill's owner Gottlieb Kreidl (1850-1908)

Based on his first name Gottlieb "God's love", the son born in Volders, Tyrol, on 30 January 1850, was desired. The child, who was marked as fatherless in the parish register, was given the surname after his mother, Anna Kreidl. When the boy was eight years old, his mother married Josef Pugneth. There is no exact information about the boy's schooling and school years. Later stages prove that he was literate and competent in his profession in groundwood and paper mills. He understood and spoke several languages and was Catholic in religion.

A person born out of wedlock did not have the opportunity to become a member of professional guilds in Austria. Because of this, Gottlieb applied for a job abroad. First to Ingria, south of the city of St. Petersburg, where he worked for five years as a manager at a factory whose employees were mostly Finnish-speaking. Then Count Mannerheim hired him to Kuusankoski in 1874, because his salary request was low and his Finnish language skills were better than those of his predecessors. When he was 31 years old, Gottlieb, together with other partners, Wilhelm Dippell and Louis Hänel, acquired ownership of the rapids in Verla and the turbine left over from the groundwood mill. In 1882, they founded the Verla mill company, and he was apparently not very interested in the early years. Gottlieb Kreidl may not have seen any chance of success in a small groundwood mill that was located at the end of difficult transport connections.

Gottlieb was married to Emilie Reuter, who lived in Ingria before 1884. Emilie was born in 1852 and baptized as a member of the Pavlovsk Lutheran, German-speaking parish.

The situation in Verla changed after 1890, when the Savo Railway and the railway to Kotka were completed. At that time, Kreidl's interest in Verla increased and his social rise began when he became a member of the right circles, such as Tekniska Föreningen i Finland (TFiF) in 1891. Wilhelm Dippell's brother, architect Eduard Dippell, was a member of the association from 1883 and the chairman of its Vyborg branch.

The financing and accounting of the Verla mill was handled in Vyborg under the supervision of Wilhelm Dippell. Verla's wood-pulp board was marketed through the Groundwood Association. The acquisition of groundwood and forest estates was handled by professional clerks in Verla. The new buildings for the mill and the alterations to the buildings were designed by architect Eduard Dippell. From the very beginning, the operations of the groundwood and board mill had been in safe hands. Master Herman Kronholm was able to supervise the mill's operations and employees. Gottlieb Kreidl was left with the task of reviewing the mill's operations on a general level and signing the documents that had already been prepared. His business trips were directed to other grinding mills and paper mills, where he was able to offer his help and sell the grindstones and additives needed for papermaking. This is indicated by the entries on the receivables in his estate inventory.

In his free time, he focused on taking care of his health, socializing with his loved ones, and pursuing his hobbies. The hobbies had to be deduced from the items mentioned in the estate inventory. They include numerous weapons, deer antlers, bird cages, a variety of flowers, items related to photography and music, as well as books and decorative items. With the help of these, you can imagine what the life of the mill owner was like when he lived his best years in the 1890s at the age of forty.

Gottlieb Kreidl's last years were difficult. His wife died in 1903 and Kreidl became depressed. He was declared under guardianship in the autumn of 1908 and died in December at Kammio Hospital in Helsinki. He was buried next to his wife in the Pavlovsk cemetery in Ingria. His material inheritance went to a distant relative in Austria.

An image of Kreidl's life must be formed on the basis of documentary sources and one obituary. Engineer Lennart Frey, who wrote an obituary for Kreidl, worked in Kannuskoski in the early 1890s and later as the property manager of Kymi mill in Kuusankoski. His description can be considered reliable and can be summed up in a few sentences: "The tidiness and order of the small mill was widely talked about among professionals. Kreidl more than as an industrialist and businessman, he was known as a friend and companion. One who once enjoyed his hospitality does not easily forget his inevitable, heartfelt kindness and joyful moments with him. And who doesn't remember his ability to tell stories!"

 Hannu Pukkila, who writes about the people and things related to the Verla mill.