Winkler Generations
Meanwhile back in Prussia the persecution of the Old-Lutherans continued. More Lutheran emigrants associated with Pastor Kavel were to soon leave for the new colony. Amongst those who were to follow were Samuel Ludwig and Christiane Bensch – my Great-Great-Great Grandparents.
Samuel Ludwig Bensch was born in France in June of 1799 but by 1836 he was living in Prussia. Samuel, a nightwatchman, was a member of the congregation of Pastor Gotthard Daniel Fritzche who ministered in the village of Turowo in Posen. Pastor Fritzche was continually harassed for refusing to conform to the Union Church and use it’s Agende. He had been ordered to cease his ministerial activities or he would be fined or even imprisoned. He was forced to leave his congregation and accept refuge at the homes of his parishioners.
One of those parishioners was a Turowo landowner by the name of Zahn. It became known to the authorities that services were being conducted at the Manor house of Squire Zahn. On a Sunday morning in October 1836, the 23rd to be precise, the local commissioner and a policeman were sent to report on the activities. Upon arriving at the Manor house they found Pastor Fritzche conducting a devotional service for about a dozen people. One of those in attendance was Samuel Bensch. Squire Zahn, when asked to explain why they had defied the royal order forbidding such services, stated that they were unable to hold their usual Sunday service in the forest that morning because of the inclement weather. Also, the Pastor was unwell, suffering from an abscess. “At the request of the members of our congregation, I placed one of the rooms in my residence at the disposal of the pastor for divine service.” All those attending the service were warned against taking part in any privately held service in the future, risking fine and imprisonment.
This loss of freedom to worship as they chose, and the continued religious persecution suffered by the Old-Lutherans led to the Bensch family leaving Prussia less than two years later.
One of those parishioners was a Turowo landowner by the name of Zahn. It became known to the authorities that services were being conducted at the Manor house of Squire Zahn. On a Sunday morning in October 1836, the 23rd to be precise, the local commissioner and a policeman were sent to report on the activities. Upon arriving at the Manor house they found Pastor Fritzche conducting a devotional service for about a dozen people. One of those in attendance was Samuel Bensch. Squire Zahn, when asked to explain why they had defied the royal order forbidding such services, stated that they were unable to hold their usual Sunday service in the forest that morning because of the inclement weather. Also, the Pastor was unwell, suffering from an abscess. “At the request of the members of our congregation, I placed one of the rooms in my residence at the disposal of the pastor for divine service.” All those attending the service were warned against taking part in any privately held service in the future, risking fine and imprisonment.
This loss of freedom to worship as they chose, and the continued religious persecution suffered by the Old-Lutherans led to the Bensch family leaving Prussia less than two years later.
Bound for South Australia
Samuel Ludwig Bensch and his wife Christiana (nee Hecht) left Turowo in 1838. In Hamburg, after an eight-week delay, they boarded the barque Catharina bound for Australia. The Catharina departed Hamburg on 21 September 1838. The route took them along the Elbe River, entering the North Sea at Cuxhaven on the northern shore, sailing to Australia via the English Channel, the Canary Islands, and around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. They did not call into any ports on the 126-day voyage. The 125 emigrants on board had all borrowed money from George Fife Angus to pay for their passage to Australia.
The Catharina arrived in Port Adelaide on Tuesday, 22 January 1839. Another ship, the Zebra, with 198 passengers had arrived at Port Adelaide three weeks earlier on 2 January 1839. Pastor Kavel became concerned that there would not be enough suitable land at Klemzig for all of the new arrivals.
As luck would have it, the Captain of the Zebra, Dirk Meinherts Hahn, was acquainted with a merchant by the name of William Hampden Dutton. Mr Dutton of Sydney, who had lived and worked in Prussia at one time, had recently purchased land near Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills. As the Zebra passengers were disembarking, Mr Dutton was at Port Adelaide and recognized Captain Hahn. Events then led to his passengers establishing a new settlement in the fertile Adelaide Hills. The new village was named Hahndorf in honour of Captain Hahn. |
After a short stay at Klemzig, the Catharina passengers initially settled at Glen Osmond, on land owned by Osmond Gilles, the first Colonial Treasurer. After a few years most of the Glen Osmond settlers had moved on to Hahndorf or to Hope Valley near Klemzig. Some were also invited to move back to Klemzig. In “Kavel’s People from Prussia to South Australia” it reports that, after a short stay at Klemzig, Samuel & Christiana Bensch settled at Glen Osmond, then Hope Valley. Samuel & Christiana later moved back to Klemzig.
Cost of Passage
George Fife Angas of London gave financial assistance to many of the early German Immigrants who came to South Australia. Interest on the loan for passage was charged at 7½ % and in many instances it took well over a decade for the loan to be repaid. A common method of repayment was to deliver wheat to a mill in the name of Mr Angus; the value of the wheat was then credited to the outstanding loan.
The cost of the passage to Australia for Samuel & Christina Bensch was £38-14-11 (i.e. £16 –12 each for 2 adults and £5 –11 for a 3 year-old child - No further trace of that child has been found, and he or she may not have survived the journey) In their first 10 years in Australia, Samuel & Christiana seem to have to repaid little of of their debt to George Fife Angas. In fact, the debt had grown to over £73.00 with further advances for seed and equipment required. However, in 1852 Samuel started reaping a wheat crop and finally was able to begin repaying the loan . It took until 12th January 1855, 16 years after their arrival, before the final instalment was paid. Unfortunately Samuel had died 2 years earlier & it fell upon Christiana to repay the balance of their passage money. |
The Bensch Family
My Great-Great Grandmother, Caroline Wilhelmina Bensch, was born at Klemzig in 1841. A year later, in July 1842, a son, Johann Christian, was born to Samuel & Christiana Bensch. Johanna Eleonore followed in February 1845.
Sometime after the birth of Eleonore the Bensch family moved to the Barossa Valley. They settled at Siegersdorf near Langmeil (now part of Tanunda) and rented about 80 acres of land from George Fife Angas. Samuel was naturalised on March 25th 1847, his occupation at that time was given as farmer at Langmeil. Samuel Bensch died on 11 March 1853 from apoplexy (stroke). He was buried at Siegersdorf . |
In 1854 Christiana remarried. Her new husband was Johann Gottlieb Mattschoss. They married at the Lutheran Church at Bethany on 27th October 1854. This was the third marriage for Gottlieb Mattschoss. His first marriage in Prussia had produced three children and his second marriage produced three more. Christina and Gottlieb, being both in their fifties by now, did not have any children together. The three young Bensch children moved in with the Mattschoss family and when Gottlieb and Christina moved to Greenock Creek at the foot of the Nain Hills in 1857, Caroline Wilhelmina Bensch would have been about 16 years old.
Gottlieb Mattschoss suffered a severe stroke in 1859 from which he never recovered. He died in June 1866. Christiana continued to live at Greenock Creek with her step-son, Johann Christoph Mattschoss. She had been a member of the Langmeil Lutheran Church and the Zum Schmalen Weg Church at Nain. Christiana died on 7 December 1891, she was buried at the Zum Schmalen Weg Lutheran Cemetery, Nain.
Gottlieb Mattschoss suffered a severe stroke in 1859 from which he never recovered. He died in June 1866. Christiana continued to live at Greenock Creek with her step-son, Johann Christoph Mattschoss. She had been a member of the Langmeil Lutheran Church and the Zum Schmalen Weg Church at Nain. Christiana died on 7 December 1891, she was buried at the Zum Schmalen Weg Lutheran Cemetery, Nain.
Descendants of Samuel Ludwig Bensch
Samuel Ludwig Bensch was born in about June 1799 in France and died on 11 March 1853 at Siegersdof, South Australia at age 53 years. He married Christiana Hecht before 1839 in Germany. Christiana was born in about 1804 in Prussia, Germany and died on 7 December 1891 at Nain, South Australia at age 87 years and was buried at “Zum Schmalen Weg” Lutheran Cemetery at Nain. They appear to have had five children: an unnamed child, Caroline Wilhelmina, Johann Christian, Johanna Eleonore and Ernst Gottlieb.
- The fare for a three-year-old child was purchased by Samuel and Christiana Bensch when they journey to South Australia, which leads to the assumption that a child was born in Germany and traveled to South Australia with them. It is not known what happened to this child, possibly he or she died on the voyage.
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- Johanna Eleonore Bensch was born on 20 February 1845 at Klemzig, South Australia and died on 17 July 1922 at age 77 years. Eleonore married Carl Friedrich Rudolph Haupt on 29 September 1866 at Nain, South Australia, Carl was born in about 1842 in Trebschen, Prussia and died on 8 October 1913 at Lindley, South Australia at age 71 years. They had seven children: Carl Friedrich, Maria Pauline, Ernest Herman, Bernard August, Augusta Mathilda, Wilhelm Gottlieb and Ernst Gustav.
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