Johannes KRAUSGRILL 1842-? & Konrad KRAUSGRILL 1845-?
Martin Krausgrill, a Nieder-Weisel farmer, and his wife, Katharina nee Hauser, had six children over the period 1842 to 1855. The first five were sons, although one was stillborn: Johannes 1842; Konrad 1845; Peter 1848; male 1850; Jakob 1851. Doubtless her brothers, as well as her parents, were pleased when a daughter, Juliana, arrived in 1855.
In 1856, Martin decided to try mining in Victoria, leaving Katharina to cope with the aid of their 14 year old son Johannes. Martin’s travel permit was for only two years but he worked on the goldfields around Ballarat for several years more and the two eldest boys eventually went out to join him.
There is no record of Johannes’s outward voyage, but Konrad appears on the passenger list of “Empire of Peace” which left Liverpool on 27th June 1861. He was with two other teenagers from Nieder-Weisel, going out to join their families.
Konrad reached Melbourne on 4th October 1861 and went to Ballarat where his father and probably his brother welcomed him. Neither Konrad nor Johannes left any trace of his movements around the colony but, like most of the other villagers, they no doubt tried a number of diggings – Smythesdale, Rocky Lead etc – in the search for their lucky strike.
Their father returned to Nieder-Weisel in October 1868 but the boys remained for several more years, perhaps hoping to avoid military service. In March 1872 they left for Europe aboard “Great Britain”.
The 1909 directory shows a Johannes Krausgrill and a Konrad Krausgrill farming in the village, but it is not possible to tell if they were the brothers.