"If you ever meet a Gersbach, you're related to them!"

Our earliest photo of "Pargie" aged 24
Sydney, 1885

I grew up hearing my father’s stories about Anton and Margaretha Gersbach, my second great-grandparents, and their son Francis (Frank), my great-grandfather. We all knew Frank as “Pargie.” He died seven years before I was born, yet he was spoken of with such love that I’ve always felt close to him.

One of my childhood treasures was his Bible—beautifully illustrated, with faded photographs of Anton and Margaretha, who had left Germany for a new life in Australia. It hinted at a large, close family, and years later it inspired me to start researching our Gersbach roots.

The trail begins on the Rhine River, in the towns of Eltville and Oestrich-Winkel, just 8 km apart and near Frankfurt. In the 1850s, many from this region migrated to Australia as vinedressers, shepherds or farm labourers. Among them were four Gersbach men - two sets of brothers:

Johann (John) and Anton 

Johann Valentine (Valentine) and Joseph

Valentine arrived first in November 1853, unmarried and never to wed. John followed in March 1855 with his wife Clara and five young children. That September, Anton and Joseph arrived together, both newly married in Eltville - each to a woman named Margaretha. Anton’s wife was pregnant during most of the voyage. Their first child, Phillip, was born in Kempsey that December. (You can read more about their migration HERE.)

Then, in 2019, I visited Eltville. The parish priest told me there were no 19th-century records - so I was astonished when, a year later, dozens of Gersbach baptisms, marriages, and burials from the area appeared on FamilySearch. Hours of record-hunting revealed the truth: John and Anton were second cousins once removed from Valentine and Joseph - indeed more “kinsmen” than close cousins.

I’ve traced our Gersbach line back to the Rhine in the 1700s, and so far I’ve found no other Gersbach migration to Australia in 175 years. So, if you’re a Gersbach in Australia, chances are we’re related.