1. SCHRÖDTER-Kumm (Prussia: 1835–1878)

by Alan Craig          Download the PDF for this page  (40.8 MB)

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N.B. — Throughout this text, all of Robyn’s direct ancestors are marked in purple. All blue text [inside brackets] represents additional information or corrections, and did not form part of the original documents. Copies of the original birth, death, marriage and census records are held by me and stored in the Cloud, and can be made available to interested parties.

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FOREWORD: This chapter was a long time in the making, and was one of the last in our compendium of family stories to be written. Although much of the information we have about Robyn’s paternal side had been available to us for many years, a lot of the records date from before 1880, and are written in old German handwriting — and it was a long wait to have them accurately translated. Roslyn Livingston-Shubert, who is related to the ‘McCartney’ line, contacted me a few years ago and began sharing information that was valuable in telling the story of Susanna Shorter. Roslyn also happens to live in Germany and, in 2024, kindly arranged for her friend Monika Kramme to translate our old Prussian records — Monika and Roslyn jointly did a wonderful job, and we can now tell this story more completely. I also would like to acknowledge the monumental work done by Delwyn and Noel Bergman, whose books on the German migrants to Queensland have been an invaluable source of information, particularly: “The Passage of Time — The 1865 Voyage of the Susanne Godeffroy”; and “Before the Farm — Some History on the Behrens and Schrödter Families”.

A challenging problem when trying to research old German records (mainly Lutheran) is the mind-boggling complexity of given names across the family. Nearly everyone has three first names. To make it worse, every family reused the same small number of names in various combinations, and it is often impossible to say which was a person’s ‘preferred’ name. For males, we get to choose from: August, Wilhelm, Friedrich, Ferdinand, Christian, or Carl (if we’re lucky, Heinrich or Ernst as well). Females can select from: Auguste, Wilhelmine, Friedrike, Christina, Louise, and Emile, with an occasional Charlotte or Caroline for variety! Nearly everyone was given Christening names also being used by their siblings, parents, and cousins … just in different orders, and often not consistently used in the same order for a particular person! Searching index lists can be a very eye-watering experience.

The earliest records we have for the “Schroder” family come from an area in northern Germany, about 70 km (~45 miles) north-east of Berlin. When our family lived there, this district was part of the province of Brandenburg, in what was then West Prussia. Germany, as a single nation state, did not exist until Bismarck brought about the unification of various German states and confederations (the remnants of the Holy Roman Empire) in January 1871. By this time, our family had already started to emigrate to Queensland. See my maps on this page to get an idea of how the face of Europe changed from those times till now. The old map above shows all the villages and hamlets (in red) that appear in our family records, but broader views of the district and provinces can be found at this link.

To help the reader from falling into a pit of confusion, I will start with the family tree. I advise you to keep this, and the map above, handy when reading through the story to keep a track of who’s who.

Ten years after Carl and Christine married, the other 2g-grandparents tied the knot, but at Seehausen, a little to the south-west, and at the northern tip of the Oberuckersee:

1845 PRUSSIA MARRIAGES: Seehausen, Angermünde ⁴Source: KUMM, Ferdinand & METZKER, Wilhelmine; 1845 Prussia Marriages; FHL 1273009; Seehausen, Brandenburg.

married: 10 November 1845      at: Seehausen, Angermünde
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Ferdinand Ludwig Kumm, Labourer; Not previously married
of: Seehausen     age: 25 years; Mother gave consent   [b. ~ 1820]
father: Christian Kumm, Sexton of Kaakstädt
—
Wilhelmine Metzker, Not previously married
age: 26 years;  Parents gave consent   [b. ~ 1819]
father: [Wilhelm Friedrich] Metzker, Court-Clerk of Blankenburg

Ferdinand was a farm-hand (Knecht) at Kaakstedt, a farm just west of the southern tip of the Oberuckersee, and his father, Christian Kumm, was a Church Sexton (Küster). Wilhelmine’s family seem to have been in Blankenburg, which lies just 4 km (3 miles) to the northeast, on a lake of the same name. Unfortunately, we don’t get her father’s first names, but he was a Court Clerk (Gerichtsdiener). We know nothing much about their lives, but Ferdinand and Wilhelmine had at least six children, all at Seehausen: “Caroline” Charlotte Emilie (1846); August Ferdinand (1848); Bertha Auguste Louise (1850); Auguste Ernistine Karoline (1856); and Emilie Ottilie Henriette (1859).

1846 PRUSSIA BAPTISMS: Seehausen, Angermünde ⁵Source: KUMM, Caroline Charlotte Emilie; 1846 Prussia Church Births; vol 811/5, FHL 1,334,703; Seehausen, Brandenburg.

Caroline Charlotte Emilie Kumm
born: 23 July 1846 (6:00 pm); Legitimate
baptised: 2 August 1846, Evangelische
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father: Ferdinand Kumm, Labourer
mother: Wilhelmine Metzker
—
minister:  Derselbe
witnesses:  1. Weaver Friedrich Braun;
2. Spinster Auguste Prott;  3. Wife of Master Distiller Schutz

Caroline was Robyn’s great-grandmother (see right), and we follow her life as we progress. However, the lives of the other children are almost completely unknown to us, except that Bertha was married in 1883 to a Herman Ganzer, and they married in Berlin — and it was Hermann who was the informant when Wilhelmine Metzker died in Berlin in 1895 (more on that later).

GREAT-GRANDPARENTS: Carl Schrödter & Caroline Kumm

Before we deal with Carl and Caroline, we first need to look at Carl’s older brother Wilhelm, because his marriage to Wilhelmine Behm in 1862 not only gives us some vital information, but also set in train a series of events that would dramatically change the lives of this family and its descendants. First, the marriage:

1862 PRUSSIA MARRIAGES: Prenzlau, Brandenburg ⁶Source: Schrödter, A.C. Wilhelm & Behm, Wilhelmine F.; 1862 Prussia Lutheran Marriages; FHL 184888 Prenzlau, Brandenburg.

married: 11 May 1862     at: St Sabinen-kirche, Prenzlau
—
August Carl Wilhelm Schrödter, (Bachelor)
Farmhand [Knecht] of Bietikow
born: 17 August 1836 at Bietikow (legitimate)
age: 25¾ years
father: Carl Wilhelm Schrödter, Carpenter (deceased)
consent: Mother [Christine Kluth] gave written consent  
—
Wilhelmine Friedrike Behm, (Spinster)
born: 22 February 1839  at Wilhelmshof (legitimate)
age: 23¾ years
father: Gottfried Behm, Labourer in Bietikow
consent: Father gave verbal consent

This couple were married in the regional town of Prenzlau, and we see that Wilhelm’s father, Carl Wilhelm Schrödter, was already deceased. Wilhelmine Behm had been born a little to the east at Wilhelmshof, but like the Schrödter family, was now living in Bietikow. They were to have a son, also Wilhelm, in June 1862, so Wilhelmine must have been heavily pregnant when she married. However, Wilhelm, his new wife and son, along with his brother August, were all to travel to Hamburg in 1865, where they boarded the Sailing Vessel “Susanne Godeffroy” and, with 533 other passengers, departed their homeland forever — they would not be the last.

1869 PRUSSIA BAPTISMS: Seehausen, Angermünde ⁷Source: SCHRÖDTER, Wilhelm August Ferdinand; 1869 Prussia Births; vol.141/p.103; FHL 1273009; Seehausen, Brandenburg.

Wilhelm August Ferdinand Schrödter
born: 6 February 1869 (2:00 am), Illegitimate
baptised: 21 February 1869, Evangelische
—
father: Friedrich Carl Schrödter [name added 1 year later]
mother: Caroline Charlotte Emilie Kumm
—
witnesses:  1.Civil Servant Strasburg (Seehausen);
2. Spinster Wilhelmine Kumm (Seehausen); [Caroline’s aunt ?]
3. Spinster Wilhelmine Schröder (Bietikow); [Carl’s sister]
4. Batchelor Ferdinand Schröder (Bietikow). [Carl’s brother? or Carl?]

In 1869, nearly fours years after his two older brothers, sister-in-law and nephew emigrated to Queensland, Carl Schrödter and Caroline Kumm had an ‘illegitimate’ child at Seehausen (see right).  This child, Wilhelm, would eventually become Robyn’s grandfather — but it was nearly a year before his parents actually married (see below). Seven months after they married, Wilhelm’s birth record was officially amended to make him ‘legitimate’, and this handwritten note was scribbled across his baptismal certificate:

“According to the registry of August 30, 1870, the baptism witness Eduard Friedrich Karl Schrödter accepted the paternity of the child and married the mother on January 30, 1870, thus legitimising the child.”

1870 PRUSSIA MARRIAGES: Seehausen, Angermünde ⁸Source: SCHRÖDTER, Carl & KUMM, Caroline; 1870 Prussia Church Marriages; Vol 141, p.113, film 1273009; Seehausen, Brandenburg.

married: 30 January 1870    at: Seehausen
—
Eduard Friedrich Carl Schrödter, Farmhand  [Knecht]
Not previously married
of: Bietikow      age: 25 years   [b. ~ 1845]
father: Carl Wilhelm Schrödter, Master Carpenter of Bietikow [deceased]
—
Caroline Charlotte Emilie Kumm
Not previously married; father gave verbal consent
age: 23 years   [b. 23 Jul 1846]
father: Friedrich Kumm, Labourer of Seehausen

They would have given their belated vows in the little wooden church at Seehausen (pictured above), and it wasn’t too long before Caroline fell pregnant with their second child, Marie Amelia. We haven’t discovered her birth entry, but we know from later records that she must have been born around November 1870, just a couple of months before German unification.

We know little else about these families at that time. Most of the Schrödter family had been living in Bietikow, over 7 km (4 miles) to the north of Seehausen. For Carl and Caroline, now married with two children, the  scene was set for for the next chapter in the family’s history. With his older brothers now running a dairy farm at Wararba Creek, near Caboolture in Queensland, Carl and Caroline decided to leave his widowed mother and younger siblings at home and join them — and they took that journey out of Hamburg in May 1871 aboard the Sailing Vessel “Lammershagen” — the rest of the Schrödter family would eventually join them:

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Years 1876–1878

1876 GERMAN MARRIAGES: Seelübbe, Angermünde ⁹Source: Schrödter, Wilhelmine J.L. & Lüdke, Christian F.W.; 1876 Germany Marriages; Nº 1; Prenzlau, Brandenburg.

married: 9 January 1876     at: Seelübbe
—
Christin Friedrich Wilhelm Lüdke    age: 25 years
Horse Groom   born: 4 Nov 1851, at Bietikow
father: Christian Friedrich Wilhelm Lüdke, Bietikow
mother: Dorothea Sophie Hermann, Bietikow
—
Wilhelmine Justine Louise Schrödter    age: 27 years
born: 4 Nov 1851, at Bietikow
father:  Wilhelm Schrödter, Master Carpenter, deceased
mother: [Christine Wilhelmine] Kluth, Bietikow

However, we haven’t quite finished with our family in Germany as yet, because we have some other important events to record. First, in 1876, Carl’s younger sister, Wilhelmine, married Wilhelm Lindke at the small village of Seelübbe, though their families lived in Bietikow. Seelübbe is basically within walking distance to the west of Bietikow and, as we will find out later, this was the place that Caroline Kumm’s mother, Wilhelmine Metzker, had been born around 1820. The name ‘Lüdke’ is sometimes spelt as ‘Lindke’, and this family is known to have had one daughter in Bietikow, in 1877.

The last remaining Schrödter brother, Ferdinand, had married Ernestine Rovert in 1876, but their marriage certificate has not been found. The following year, Ferdinand and Ernestine, travelled to Hamburg for the 15,000 nautical mile (28,000 km) sailing journey to Queensland, aboard the S.V. “Charles Dickens”; they arrived at the Port of Brisbane on 4 September 1877. On the journey, their first child, Ernst, had been born. Ferdinand, Ernestine, and baby Ernst spent a month in quarantine on arrival, but then headed to Wararba Creek to join the growing Schrödter clan at the family dairy farm.

By now, all four of Christine Kluth’s sons had departed for the New World, and only her married daughter remained with her in Germany (note, no longer ‘Prussia’). Perhaps it had always been the family’s plan for them all to head for Queensland, and there were many possible reasons why the Schrödters might chose to do so. Economic conditions had fallen as the British Industrial Revolution provided goods cheaper than German craftsmen could make them. The German population had grown exponentially, and there was a rising tide of nationalism under Bismarck’s rule. Conscription was on the cards for many of the young men to help the country fight wars all over the Continent (e.g. Second Schleswig War, 1864; Austro-Prussian War, 1866; and the Franco-Prussian War, 1870–1871) — and perhaps this was a catalyst for many Germans to start heading for Australia, but we will never know for sure what motivated our ‘Schrödter’ family.

However, Wilhelmine and Wilhelm Lüdke took a ‘free passage’¹⁰Free Passages: On application to the Agent-General in London, or Emigration Agent in Germany, free passages may be granted to female domestic servants and such other emigrants of the labouring class, approved by the Agent-General, as may from time to time be specially required in the Colony; provided that in the case of labourers and others, not female domestic servants, an undertaking is entered into, to repay to the Queensland Government, in one year after arrival in the Colony, £8; and in two years after arrival in the Colony, £8 sterling, being £16 in the whole, and on such undertaking being paid, a non-transferable land order for forty acres of land will be issued. from Hamburg aboard the S.V. “Herschel” in May 1878, and her widowed mother (Christine Kluth-Schrödter) was a ‘full-paying’ passenger¹¹Full Paying Passengers: Each person proceeding by a ship sailing direct from Europe to Queensland, and who shall have paid the full cost of his passage, or the passage of members of his own family, including domestic servants of such family, shall be entitled to a non-transferable land order on account of each person whose passage shall have been so paid in full, to the extent of forty acres of land for each person or statute adult of twelve years and upwards, and twenty acres of land for each child between the ages of one and twelve years. Intermediate and steerage passengers are required to sail in ships approved by the Agent-General, and sailing under instructions. on the same journey. It took 120 days for the “Herschel” to reach Maryborough, Queensland, and they landed on the 10th of September, 1878. Take a look at the painting of this ship (right), and imagine there were 336 passengers on that trip, plus a crew — not 1st Class on the Queen Mary, that’s for sure! However, our travellers would soon journey south to Wararba Creek to join their growing family at the dairy farm, and that story will be told in the next chapter. As a footnote, the ”Herschel” briefly came back into our family story in 1894, and you can read about that in the “Addendum” at the bottom of this page.

At this point, our family’s direct connection with Germany was almost at an end, and we only have to report that Caroline Kumm’s mother had likely moved to Berlin to be with her married sister Bertha Ganzer. Her mother would die there in 1895, and it was from her death certificate we discovered that Caroline’s grandparents had been William Friedrich Metzker and Marie Elisabeth Märten.

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See the relevant maps (maps open in new browser tabs):

• Brandenburg, Prussia
• Australia (East Coast)