1. Johann Dickfos and Dorothea Runge - From Germany to Australia in 1865 Their lives in Germany

Generational Lineage of Ethel Margaret Herron

Ethel was the daughter of Margaret Ann Dickfos and her husband Frederick Schossow.

The Maternal lineage

The Dickfoss Lineage

One aspect of my mother in law, Ethel’s life was the number of cousins she had.  I never knew how, when meeting yet another,  she could work them all out.

Now I am unravelling her family history, and even with the help of a computer, and modern technology, the puzzle is quite difficult at times, to resolve.

For Ethel, her maternal lineage begins in Germany, in the Prussian region.  Her forebears travelled to Australia, and in particular to the Fassifern region.

Paternal lineage of Margaret Ann Dickfos     Mother of Ethel Margaret Schossow

Mother                                  Margaret Ann Dickfos.  6/10/1897 

Her Parents                                  Hermann Wilhelm Christian Dickfos   29/5/1858  Brandenburg                                                            Germany  M.  8/4/1879    Fassifern                

                                                       Died  at Aratula Queensland  12/6/1928 

                                                   Anna Fischer  born 15/4/1858 Ziemkendorf  Brandenburg 

Their life in Germany

                                         

G grandparents     F              Johann Christian Friederick Dickfos 15/7/1816  Gerswalde                                                                              Templin Germany  

                                         He m 1842 at Gerswalde Templin to Johanne (Anna) Friedrike Reick. 

                                         He m 1844  Dorothea Runge  Born 28 Jan 1819 Herzfelde Templin 

                                                           Died 30/8/1898 Coleyville    Aust

                                               

2grandparents      F               Friedrich Dickfoss            Brandenburg  Germany     

                                          Anna Luise Bechly  Born         7/11/1785       Germany

                                               

                                           David Runge                                                          1780

                                           Anna Catherina Cronow                                     9/3/1787

                                              

3Gparents             F                Johann Carl Dieckfoss   m 23rd October 1791 in Berlin        

                                             Johanna E. Engelerin

                                       

An expanded look at the family of Johann Christian Friedrich Dickfos (trade labourer) was born on the 15th July 1816 at Gerswalde,Templin Prussia, and christened on 28th July 1816 at the Gerswalde Parish Church.

He was the son of Friedrich Dickfoss (carpenter - journeyman/zimmermannsgesell) and his wife Louisa, nee Bechley.

It is possible that Friedrich Dickfos was the son of Johann Carl Dieckfoss who married Johanna Eleonora Engelerin on the 23d October 1791 in Berlin (Parish Jerusalem).

Johann Christian Friedrich Dickfoss was married in 1842 at Gerswalde, Templin to Johanna (Anna) Friedrika Maria Christiana Rieck. As per the Germany Parish Registers she was christened on 6th December 1877 at Woserin, in Mecklenburg-Schwerin Germany

 They had one child a son, Johann Friedrich August Dickfos who was born at Gerswalde on the 28th December 1842 and christened on the 22nd January 1843. 

Johanna Friedrike Dickfos apparently died soon after her son was born.

At Gerswalde, Templin, Prussia in 1844 Johann Christian Friedrich Dickfoss remarried to Dorethea Runge, daughter of David Runge, labourer and Annie Catherine Cronow.

Dorothea was born at Herzfelde, Templin, Prussia January 28th 1819 and died August 30th 1896 from inflammation of the lungs. 

 (This, the date on the Death Certificate varies significantly from that on the tombstone).

Johann Dickfos died on the 24th September 1894 from influenza.  Both are buried at Coleyville Cemetery.

They lived in the Templin area, known as Prussia.  Full of small hamlets and towns.  Some of the villages are probably as they were in the mid 1865s.  Some are no more than a sign on a map, in a rather beautiful part of Eastern Germany.

Together they had the following children:

1.   Wilhelmine  (called Minnie) born Germany in 1846/47

2.   Carl Gotlieb, born at Ferwitz, Templin, Prussia April 5th 1850

3.   Caroline, born Stalov, Prussia March 4th 1854.  She died at Mount Walker in 1946, and married          at Ipswich, Queensland to Friedrich Gottfried Schneider who was born in Germany in 1841 

4.   Hermann, born Germany 1858.  Married on 8th May 1879 to Anna Fischer.  Both buried at                 Kalbar Cemetery

Johann and Dorothea left Hamburg Germany in  1865 and travelled on the Cesear Godeffrey to Queensland.  The ship left Cuxhaven, Germany and arrived in Moreton Bay on 15th February 1866.

The shipping record reads:

Johann              aged 49 years

Dorethea           aged 46 years

August              aged 23 years

Wilhelmine       aged 18 years

Carl                  aged 15 years

Caroline            aged 10 years

Hermann           aged 7 years.

Their life in a new country was to begin!

But a  little tour of their homeland - Gerswalde

Some surrounding towns,  Ueckermunde   - the rivers were used to take the crops to Berlin for sale

      

The towns are walled, and the churches locked up but made of stone

Town of Templin, it is an extremely old town, surrounded by a stone wall, and one can imagine nothing much has changed in the old town since the Dickfoss ancestors lived there.

 Then Herzfelde

Perfect meal in Germany Swinefillet and a stein!