Career
He was originally a ship"s captain, but stopped sailing at a relatively young age. He was the father of Marichen Altenburg and thus the maternal grandfather of playwright Henrik Ibsen. Johan Andreas Altenburg owned the stately Altenburg Manor in central Skien, where the Ibsen family lived until Knud Ibsen"s bankruptcy, as well as several ships, a farm and Bratsberg county"s second largest brewery.
The Altenburg Manor burned to the ground in the 1886 fire in Skien.
Johan Andreas Altenburg was born at Lille Ulefos, the son of sawmill manager Diderik Altenburg (1719–1766) and Marichen Johansdatter Barth (1737–1769).