From the Rhine to New South Wales – The Gersbach Story

This post marks the 110th anniversary of the death of our matriarch,   Margaret Gersbach , who, with her husband   Anton , helped lay the foundations for our family’s Australian story. City and Harbour of Sydney New South Wales from the height above Vaucluse, ca. 1855 [painted by G. E. Peacock] The Journey from the Rhine to New South Wales On   1 May 1855 , Anton and Margaretha (Margaret) Gersbach departed Hamburg aboard the   Wilhelmsburg . Travelling with them were Anton’s second cousins once removed, Joseph Gersbach and his wife, Margaret, along with her mother, Anna Maria Jacoby. Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934 Staatsarchiv Hamburg; Hamburg, Deutschland; Hamburger Passagierlisten; Microfilm No.: K_1704 The Hamburg passenger list records Anton as 31, Margaret as 24, and their home as   Eltville, Nassau . Anton’s occupation was given as   vine dresser . Anton’s older brother,   John , had arrived in Sydney earlier that year on the   Catteaux ...