Katharina ADAMI 1828-?
Katharina Adami, born 13th March 1828, was the third child of Johann Georg Adami and Anna Katharina nee Haub. She married the widower Konrad Marx II on 17th April 1854. A daughter, Katharina Elisabetha, born on 30th March 1856, was fostered out when the couple left with a party of 30 villagers for Australia.
They left Liverpool on 27th May 1857 aboard the “Sir W F Williams” when she sailed for Hobart Town with 20,000 kilometres of stormy weather ahead of them. Konrad and Katharina showed on the passengers list as Conrad and Cath Marks.
Konrad and Katharina, then three months pregnant, reached Melbourne on the coastal steamer “City of Hobart” on 31st August 1857. They went to Ballarat and their child was born there early in 1858. He was given the name Christopher. This boy died when he 15 months old and Katharina gave birth to another son in February 1860, whom she named for his dead brother. This was not a lucky choice as this child lived for only a few weeks.
When Katharina had recovered from this distressing trauma, her husband moved to the Smythesdale gold fields, west of Ballarat. They had two children in this region – Henry in 1861 and Catharine in 1863; to the parents’ relief, both thrived.
In 1864 they shifted again, this time to the Rocky Lead fields on the other side of Ballarat. Several of their Nieder-Weisel compatriots were among the diggers who had rushed to the area from the Fryers diggings south of Castlemaine and they renewed old friendships. In 1864 Katharina produced her sixth son, Carl Henry; once again, it was a healthy baby and he survived.
By 1867, Katharina Elisabetha and Konrad had lived in the colony for a decade, and they decided to go back to Nieder-Weisel. They had two more children in their home in Weisgang, Anna Margaretha in 1868 and a son in 1872 who lived for only a few weeks.