Katharina HAUB 1840-1898
Born on 18th January 1840, Katharina was the third child and only daughter of Johann Jakob Haub and Katharina nee Fett. The first-born son died in infancy and, like many others in the village, the couple had a constant struggle to provide for the needs of the four surviving children on the inadequate wage of a seasonal farm-worker.
As law and order deteriorated, the parents became increasingly concerned for their daughter’s well being. After her confirmation at the age of 14 in June 1854, they made plans for Katharina to leave the village with one of the several groups booked to go to Victoria. This group travelled on “Marco Polo”, the latest and fleetest ship on the Liverpool to Melbourne run. She sailed from the Mersey on 5th December 1855 and delivered her 270 passengers to their destination on 27th February 1856. Katharina’s age was recorded as 11, which meant that she could be billeted in the family accommodation rather than in the single women’s quarters; this was commonly done. It is not clear who her chaperone was; none of the other Nieder-Weiselerns was a close family member.
Most of the newcomers remained in or close to the mining centre of Ballarat but Katharina found her way into Western Victoria. In the coastal town of Warrnambool she met Joel Trigg, an immigrant from Heydon in Essex. Joel had come out to Victoria on “Constance”, reaching Portland on 25th February 1855. He was married with a young daughter but his wife died in May 1856. Joel’s parents and their other children had also migrated and they lived nearby, so were able to help raise his daughter.
After her marriage on 15th June 1861 in the Wesleyan Church, Katharina and Joel settled on the land at Wangoom, 10 km north-east of Warrnambool. She gave birth to the first of their eleven children, George Christoph in 1862, then John William, 1863 and James Frederick 1865. The first daughter was named Rebecca Catherine for her two grandmothers. In June 1869 Mary Ann arrived, but Katharina lost her second son less than a year later when he was drowned in a water hole. Two more girls followed, Margaret Jane in 1871 and Susan Maria 1873. A son born in 1875 was named for his dead brother, John William. A fifth son, born in 1878, was baptised Joel Henry and the sixth, in 1883, Arthur Robert. Katharina was by then 43 years of age but she had one more daughter, Ada Christina, in 1885.
Joel had worked hard and productively on the farm he had named Heydon Grange in memory of his hometown in England and he tried to interest his sons in following his example. Four of them did remain in the district, while James Frederick moved away to Gippsland. Heydon Grange is still being worked by Joel and Katharina’s descendants, although the original homestead has been replaced.
Rebecca, John William and Ada chose not to marry, but eventually there were about thirty grandchildren who might pass the Trigg and Haub characteristics into another century. Katharina lived to see some of these descendants starting out on their life’s journeys before her death in 1898. She was buried in the Warrnambool cemetery where Joel joined her seven years later.
View Katharina's Family Chart
