Category Archives: German

Finding Frederick

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For many years, my husband Trevor’s family had resigned themselves to never knowing the identity of their great-grandfather. Their grandmother Ida Beatrice Conroy was born in Bingara, New South Wales, on 13 January 1889 to Emma Ethel Conroy aged 20, with no father given on the birth registration.[1] Ida married William James Tighe in Goondiwindi, Queensland on 13 October 1904.[2] The marriage registration named both Ida’s mother and father, but it also raised questions. Ida’s father’s name was stated as … Continue reading

Broaden your horizons.

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One of the topics I’ve presented to a few societies is “The marriage of family and local history”. By broadening our research focus to our family’s geographic context to the place(s) where they lived, we can learn so much more about their engagement with their local community and the successes and trials of that community. I don’t know about you, but when I drive through a small country town, I wonder how it came to be – what brought it … Continue reading

A journey of Faith for Dorothea.

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On 8 July 1838 at the Bethlehem Church in Berlin, six couples were married by Pastor Johannes Evangelista.[1] They were part of a group of twenty recruited for a Christian mission to the indigenous population at Moreton Bay. My great great grandmother, Dorothea Caroline Weiss, sometimes called Caroline or Maria, was one of the women who married that day. But she was not married to my great great grandfather yet. Her new husband was Heinrich Moritz Schneider (Moritz), a medical … Continue reading

Death of a blacksmith.

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The body of a 69-year-old man was found by a fisherman on the western breakwater of Townsville’s waterfront. It was Thursday 15 June 1916, when Don Ingham, deep in thought about hooks and bait, nearly fell over a dark shape sprawled across the stony path on the way to his favourite fishing spot. As evening light fell on the becalmed water, this was when Don loved to fish, an incoming tide, a quiet reprieve after the day’s work: but not … Continue reading

My Valentine.

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By Karyn Walker. My Valentine is a recent discovery. A name on the family tree. My great-great-grandfather, Valentine Karle.  Confirmed to be born on 25 February 1826 in Schriesheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany on his marriage entry some twenty five years later. Another German connection, unknown until my mother’s side of the tree was uncovered. Valentine is an exotic name amongst the more prosaic Hermans and Johannes and Gottleibs and Williams of the Karle family in early 19th century Germany.  A romantic … Continue reading