Katharina WORNER 1833-1898
Katharina was born in Nieder-Weisel on 3rd February 1833. Her father was Martin Worner, a cooper; her mother was Anna Elisabetha born Hildebrand.
On 19th November 1854 Katharina married Johannes Adami, a son of Jakob and Katharina Adami of the village of Hausen. The ceremony took place in the Evangelical Church in Nieder-Weisel in which Katharina and her sister and two brothers had been baptised. A son, Gerhard, was born on 20th December 1855. He was left with relatives in Hausen when his parents immigrated to the Victorian goldfields in 1856, but he died on 3rd January 1858. Katharina and Johannes sailed from Liverpool on 5th November 1856; there were more than 30 other migrants with them from Nieder-Weisel and neighbouring villages. Their vessel “Sunshine” covered the 20,000 km to Melbourne in 86 days, arriving there on 29th January 1857.
The Adamis went to the Rocky Lead area, about 5 km from Daylesford. Katharina had two girls there, Catharina, in 1859, and Susannah, in 1863. Tragedy struck the family the following year: Johannes was critically injured when he fell down the mineshaft of the You Know mining company, where he worked as an engineer; he died on 8th December 1864.
Katharina was married again on 3rd April 1866 in a ceremony held in her Rocky Lead home. Her second husband was Philipp Landvogt, son of a caskmaker from Rockenberg, to the east of Nieder-Weisel. A daughter and two sons were born to the marriage: Mary in 1866, John in 1871 and George in 1874.
Philipp had limited success in mining, and in the early 1800s they took over the Dutch Harry hotel in Main Rd, Ballarat. Philipp continued with his mining activities, in partnership with a friend, whilst Katharina and her elder daughters did the work around the hotel. She was popular with the clientele, who referred to her affectionately as The Duchess. With backing from the brewery, they rebuilt the ramshackle weatherboard hotel into a substantial two-storeyed brick building.
They retired in the early 1890s to their home in Eyre Street, Ballarat. Katharina died there on 4th March 1898 and was buried in Ballarat cemetery.
View Katharina's Family Chart
