Henrich REUSS 1828-1905
Johann Jakob Reuss and Anna Margaretha Hildebrand lost their only daughter to a childhood fever and all four of their sons to the lure of gold in the New World. The eldest son Reinhard was confirmed in Nieder-Weisel in 1831; there are no records of the confirmations of the next two, Johann Georg born in 1822 or Henrich on 18th September 1828, but Christoph, born 1831, did make his first communion there in 1845. This suggests that the family was elsewhere during the period 1835-44. It is known that Reinhard emigrated permanently and that Johann Georg was married in England in 1845 and lived there until he took his family to Victoria in 1855. It may be that Henrich also stayed in England – probably to avoid the military service he would have faced in 1848 – after his parents returned to the village. Christoph may have joined him later, because both of them were in Victoria in the late 185Os.
On his naturalisation papers, dated 15th October 1869, Henrich stated that he arrived at Melbourne on 23rd July 1854 on “Miles Barton”, out of Liverpool on 4th May 1854. In the shipping papers, the infant that is attributed to Henrich was probably Konrad Stumpf, the son of Peter Stumpf and Anna Elisabetha Jung.
Henrich married Katharina Yung on 3Oth June 1857 in Christ Church, Sydney, giving his occupation as a shoemaker. His 18 year old bride was the daughter of Georg and Maria Yung from Berlin. Georg gave a written consent to the bride’s marriage and, with John Winter, was the official witness. Both bride and groom gave Swan Street, Sydney as their place of residence. Katharina gave birth to a daughter, Elisabetha, later that year and the next year the family moved down into Victoria to join the gold-rushes which were going on there – brother Christoph may have been with them.
Johann Georg Reuss was on the Spring Creek diggings near Beechworth in northern Victoria and the other brothers joined him. On 25th September 1859, Katharina produced another daughter and the next day Johann Georg’s wife, Margaretha, did the same. Each sister-in-law stood as god-mother for the other’s child. Johann Georg and his wife decided to move into New South Wales, and they settled in the township of Young. Henrich and Katharina went them but did not stay in Young; they eventually settled in the border town of Albury.
During the next six years Katharina produced five more children – Christopher in 1861, Katharina in 1863; George in 1866 (he died that year); Maddelena in 1867, and another girl who also failed to live, probably in 187O. Henrich went onto the land after years of digging for gold and then retired to a property in Atkins Street, Albury. It was here that Katharina’s life ended on 21st August 1894 after a bad fall shattered a thigh. She lies buried in the Albury cemetery. Henrich lived on for another eleven years to see many of his grandchildren starting off in life. He was interred with Katharina on 19th October 19O5.
View Henrich's Family Chart
