Agneta Wilhelmina Johanna van Marken-Matthes (4 October 1847 – 5 October 1909) was a Dutch entrepreneur. She and her husband were involved in the manufacture of yeast throughout their lives, and were engaged in the co-operative movement, taking care of their workers. Matthes and Van Marken created living quarters for workers in her hometown, Delft in South Holland, named Agnetapark after her. These are considered a model for the co-operative development and construction of garden cities (self-contained communities) for workers. Matthes founded and ran a Delft perfume factory, Maison Neuve, to take advantage of a by-product from the yeast factory.
Life
Family and childhood
Agneta Wilhelmina Johanna Matthes was born on 4 October 1847 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Agneta Matthes was the daughter of Jan Willem Frederik Matthes, an insurance agent. She and her sister, Sara Elizabeth Marken-Matthes (1849–1902), grew up in upper middle-class circumstances. Matthes was taught privately, and spent 1862 to 1864 in Utrecht in a boarding school. When she returned to Amsterdam, she studied piano and dance, and took art classes and religious instruction. Matthes' sister Sara Elizabeth, who was affectionately known as Nora, married Zionist politician Arnold Kerdijk (1846–1907), the founder of the Free-thinking Democratic League, in 1876. He was a Member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands between 1877 and 1901. Sara Elizabeth and Arnold lived at the Spoorsingel in Delft and had four children. Agneta maintained a close relationship with them, Nora named her first-born daughter after her sister "Agneta".
Marriage
In 1865, Agneta met Jacob Cornelis van Marken, known as Jacques, who studied technology and sociology at the Polytechnical School of Delft, a precursor of the Delft University of Technology. During his studies he took a study tour to Austria-Hungary and found a new method of producing yeast, which fascinated him. Later, when he heard a baker in Delft complain about the varying quality and poor availability of yeast in the Netherlands, he recalled the method which he learnt during his tour, and decided to produce industrial baker's yeast of consistently high quality.
On 7 October 1869 the couple married just before the first yeast factory in the Netherlands, the Nederlandsche Gist & Spiritusfabriek NV, opened. The factory is now part of the multinational chemical company Koninklijke DSM. is regarded as one of the Dutch pioneers in the development of industrial food production because of his concept of factory production.
Their marriage was registered in the Delft population register on 10 November 1869. Their first home was a modest apartment on a canal, but they moved frequently after that. As of 2012, all of their homes are still standing and all are classified as historic buildings. Their last home, to which they moved on 3 June 1885, was a villa in Agnetapark, Delft. When Matthes learnt that their marriage would be childless, she decided to dedicate her life to her husband's business and career, and participated in the establishment and management operation. She accompanied her husband to the factory every day, having her own office. She also continued to have private lessons. In addition to administrative activities, their main interests were personnel policy issues. Matthes and van Marken maintained close contact with the employees of the factory and their families, which appealed to the couple's sense of community; they wanted to be part "of a larger whole". Agneta Matthes shared her husband's belief in progress, and they both promoted the personal development of their employees.
Husband's infidelity and children
In 1886, when Jacques van Marken was in France at a spa, Agneta Matthes found a letter from Maria Eringaard requesting the child support that he owed for their children, which led to Matthes discovering that her husband had begun a relationship with Eringaard in 1871 when she was aged 15, and that he had four children by her. Matthes solved the financial problems discreetly. She did not tell van Markem that she knew about the affair until 1889, when Eringaard died of tuberculosis, as had two of her children.