Hedevig Paus

Hedevig Christine Paus (29 October 1763 – 7 March 1848) was a Norwegian businesswoman and the grandmother of the playwright Henrik Ibsen. Henrik Ibsen's parents, Knud and Marichen—Hedevig's daughter—grew up as close relatives, sometimes referred to as "near-siblings," and both belonged to the tightly intertwined Paus family at the Rising estate and in Altenburggården – that is, the extended family of the sibling pair Hedevig Paus and Ole Paus, who belonged to the merchant elite of Skien. Ibsen drew significant inspiration from his childhood environment and family, and named or modelled various characters after family members; the main character of "Hedvig" in his masterpiece The Wild Duck was named after her.