Christian Stellmacher
| Town/City | Westbury TAS 7303 |
|---|---|
| First name | Christian |
| Last name | Stellmacher |
| Country of Origin | Prussia |
| Date of Birth | c1827 |
| Year of Arrival in Australia | 1870 |
| Submitted by | Christine Davis |
Story
The Stellmacher Family
Very little family history has come down the generations, but much can be gleamed from the Shipping Agents (Ashin Morrison) charter of the Immigrant ship ‘Figaro’ on its journey departing Hamburg, Germany 25th July 1870, arrived Hobart, Tasmania 26th October 1870. Among the 130/137 immigrants on board were the Stellmacher family – Christian 43yrs, Augusta 37yrs, Elise 8yrs, Anna 6yrs, August 3 1/2yrs & Maria 6mths., on family ticket 34. Their religion was Lutheran (Protestant), the predominate religion of Prussia at that time, the other states of Germany were Roman Catholic. Also it was noted for education Ð Read and Write.
Christian’s occupation was Farm Servant and the passage cost 30 pounds sterling, They travelled to Hamburg from Polnisch Donbrowken, Prussia (northeast) which is now Dabrowka Polska via Barnie Mazurskie, near Goldap, Poland.
The family on reaching Tasmania settled at Lower Longley, south of Hobart on the farm of another German, August Karl Frederick Knop, who had immigrated a few years earlier.
In latter years August Stellmacher married August Knop’s daughter Augusta. This family changed their name to Stellmaker in 1903 when they were naturalised. Later moving to the small township of Bismark, on the side of Mt. Wellington, now known as Collinsvale. They had 3 sons Reuben, Leslie & Albert (dec) as an infant and 4 daughters Cecila, Myrtle, Daphne & Florence.
Of Christian’s other children, Elise married Charles Felhberg, Anna married August Totenhofer and Maria married Harry Camp.
The reason for their migration can only be assumed from the history of the times: economic hardship and the Franco-German War (1870-1871) which started July 19th, 1870.