Konrad (1839-?) & Maria Katharina (1843-?) & Christina (1847-1907) JUNG
Of 1O children born to Elisabetha nee Hildebrand, wife of day-labourer Christoph Jung, one was born in Victoria and three others lived in this colony for part of their lives. The oldest of the four, Konrad, was born in the English town of Gateshead in Durham on 1Oth July 1839. Maria Katharina arrived on 25th February 1843 after her parents had gone back to Nieder-Weisel temporarily. Christina was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 28th April 1847.
Christoph and Elisabetha went back to the village again in 1855, but after their baby son died they decided to join the goldrush to Victoria. Konrad was then 16, and capable of helping his father at prospecting. At 12, Maria Katharina could assist her mother with household chores. Understandably, they left 5 year-old Elisabetha and 3 year-old Peter with relatives in Nieder-Weisel but the 8 year-old Christina went with them. They sailed from Liverpool on board “Red Jacket” on 2Oth September 1855 and this vessel, designed for fast return journeys to Australia, disembarked her 244 passengers at Melbourne on 6th December.
Christoph arranged transport for his family to Ballarat and went in search of his fortune. His brother Konrad joined them with his wife, daughter, and two sons from a prior marriage, went to the goldfields at Beechworth in northern Victoria. Konrad had been in England, and later Scotland, when Christoph and his family were there, so the older children were well known to one another
In 1859, Konrad’s wife Margaretha gave birth to a son, and later that year Elisabetha, now almost 43 years of age, did likewise. The baby was baptised Heinrich and his sister Christina became a nurse-maid to the little boy. Two years later Christina was 14 years of age, and custom demanded that she be confirmed. In Germany this would have happened on Whitmonday but the Lutheran Church in Ballarat carried out this ceremony at Easter. It must have been soon after this that Christoph decided to go back to the village. This did not end their years of wandering though as, in about 1862, he set off for North America. Konrad and Maria Katharina, then 23 and 19, made their own plans, but it is not known where they went. The younger girls, Christina and Elisabeth, went with their parents, as did Peter, 1O and, it must be assumed, Heinrich – although no further record of the latter child has been found.
The voyage to California was via the Horn, involving a perilous passage through the Straits of Magellan; the calm waters of the Pacific must have offered a welcome relief to the children after this ordeal. Christoph established himself as a showman in San Francisco and his family at last found themselves in a permanent home. Elisabetha was confirmed on 27th March 1864 and Peter on 24th March 1866. Elisabetha married but had no family. Christina also married and her descendants still live in California. She died in 19O7.
View the Jung Family Chart
