"They came from The Rhine"

Held in The Watts Family Collection

What a priceless photo from about 1905 of my great-great-grandparents, Anton Gersbach and Margaretha Söngen, at Aldavilla, their farm on the banks of the Macleay River. They'd arrived in Sydney Harbour fifty years earlier when Anton was thirty two and Margareta was twenty five.

The farm was named after Anton's hometown, Eltville, which sits on the northern side of The Rhine fifty kilometre west of Frankfurt. Eight kilometres further along The Rhine is Winkel, the home town of Margaretha and many Gersbach relatives.

Anton chose the land because it reminded him of his homeland. Anti-clockwise from top left is Aldavilla, Eltville, en route to Winkel and Winkel. Vineyards and wine production have been the main industry for centuries with many established by Catholic religious orders. The area is famous for Rheingau Riesling. It's not surprising that Anton and his brother, Johann, listed their calling as "vinedresser" when they arrived in New South Wales. They were also skilled carpenters.

Vineyards hug the northern banks of The Rhine for kilometres. The beautiful St Giles Catholic Church, where Anton and Margaretha married, shows the typical landscape of the area. The 1850s were a time of political unrest with the movement for German unification. We're told that Anton was opposed to unification. He served in the Duchy of Nassau's army in the unrest in the late 1840s.

By Arch - File:Herzogswappen_Nassau.PNG, SVG = Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17225562

The winds of political change were a driver for Anton's move. Just ten weeks after marrying Margaretha, they boarded the Wilhelmsburg in Hamburg with Joseph and Margaretha Gersbach heading for a new life in New South Wales. Joseph had married Margaretha Jacoby in St Giles just seven weeks before their departure. Anton and Joseph were second cousins once removed.

Eltville Castle c1832
By William Tombleson - scan by User:Manfred Heyde, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2465711

Visiting Eltville and Winkel should be on the post-COVID "bucket list" for Gersbach descendants. Many have already visited and relish walking in the footsteps of our ancestors. Although there's no evidence of where they lived, surely they walked along The Rhine past the Electoral Castle with the spire of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in the background.

(This post has been written as part of a challenge for a blogging group I've joined.)