Konrad HAUSER 1834-?
The first large organised group of emigrants from Nieder-Weisel to Victoria arrived at Melbourne on 14th February 1855 aboard the 1,300 ton vessel “Glenmanna”. The 30 villagers included 10 people with the name Hauser. Three of these were children of the late day-worker Johann Jakob Hauser XI and Elisabetha nee Haub – Johann Jakob, Margaretha and Konrad. Their father died in November 1848. Konrad, born 2nd December 1834, made his first communion in June 1848, and confirmed in 1848. With seven children in his family, Johann Jakob had been unable to leave them any significant assets and migration was the best option left open to them. There is no record that any of them were married by 1854.
The journey was arranged by travel agents and the group made its way along the Rhine by river barge to the Channel and thence to England on the first leg of their 20,000 kilometre journey. “Glenmanna” left Liverpool on 28th October 1854 on her first voyage to Victoria, under the command of Captain Rogers.
Hauser was the most commonly occurring name among the 350 people who arrived from Nieder-Weisel and no less than six of the men were named Konrad. A seventh Konrad Hauser was from the nearby town of Steinfurt. The proliferation of the name makes it very hard to trace the movements in the colony of any particular Konrad Hauser. However it seems to be quite certain that Konrad born 1824 was one of the 30 percent of migrants from Nieder-Weisel who did not remain in the colony. His brother, Johann Jakob, was another who did not settle in Victoria and their sister, Margaretha, returned to Nieder-Weisel to marry in 1861, before going on to North America to settle. Konrad (and Johann Jakob) may have returned with her.