Provenance and education Johann Friedrich von Recke was born in
Mitau, the capital of the
Duchy of Courland, which by the time of his death had been
incorporated into Russia. Today (2015)
Mitau is in
Latvia. Recke's father was a merchant, and for some time the city mayor. His father died around the time he was eight, however. From 1774 till 1779 he attended the city's main school, which at that time was under the joint headship of K. A. Kütner and Johann Heinrich Kant whose brother, After his university years he crowned his formal education with a tour of Europe, with extended stays in
Berlin,
Paris and
Leipzig. Johann von Recke returned to Mitau during 1785.
Public service In Mitau he was sponsored for a position in public service by
Duke Peter of Courland. Between 1787 and 1788 von Recke worked for the duchy's Archive and Administration secretary (
Archiv- und Lehnsekretär), then taking over the office himself in 1788. He retained the post till 1795 when
Duke Peter was persuaded to agree to the incorporation of the
Duchy of Courland into
Russia, as a little noticed (in English language sources) concomitant of the
Third Partition of Poland. On 28 January 1796 he was appointed secretary to the
Courland Governorate. Further promotion, to the post of "Kameralhofsrath", followed in 1801. he produced the first of what would be several volumes of the General Writers and Scholars Lexicon of the provinces of Latvia, Estonia and Courland (
Allgemeine Schriftsteller- und Gelehrten-Lexikon der Provinzen Livland, Esthland und Kurland). ==References==