Born: 1796, Switzerland
Died: 1856
Country most active: Switzerland
Also known as: Valeria Merian
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Valeria Bachofen-Merian, descended from patrician stock and one of the finest and foremost families of Basel, Switzerland, was married in 1815 to Johann Jakob Bachofen, a rich silk merchant of the same city. A large estate (Rittergut) was the young couple’s home and here they were happy beyond dreams, and were blessed with six children. The father’s hobby was the collecting of rare specimens of painting and sculpture, but, like a good Swiss, he would not let this hobby interfere with his commercial enterprises. Valeria, the mother, was the queen of her household and her husband and children loved her with all their hearts. Her social position among the upper class of Basel was unchallenged. She became in due course of time internationally known as the mother of Johann Jakob Bachofen, who, as the eldest son of the family, bore his father’s name. The mother’s influence and inspiration changed the course of her son’s life from business and the collecting of oil paintings to a college course, and she encouraged him to become a student at the University of Zurich, to take up the study of jurisprudence. He continued his studies in languages and law at Paris and London and received his doctor’s degree in Gottingen. He often spoke of his mother as his guiding genius and once wrote to her that he would talk about her loyalty and devotion to his last breathy and again, “You are the greatest and most stimulating thing in my entire life, my mother!”
Valeria Bachofen-Merian devoted the greater part of her motherly love to this illustrious son until his marriage at the age of forty. Among the numerous writings of this son, the best known is Mutterrecht, a most profound study on the evolution of mothers’ rights, which in its evolution led up to the woman’s suffrage movement and the later assertion of women’s rights at the present time. The mother, Valeria Bachofen-Merian, departed this life in the year 1856, a great Swiss mother of a great Swiss son. She was deeply mourned by every one who knew her and her memory will forever be honored as the inspiring light in the life, studies and accomplishments of her famous son.