Konrad WORNER 1835-?
From a township outside the State of Hessen, Adam Worner brought to Nieder-Weisel, late in the 17th century, the rare skills of the cooper, needed in the expanding industry of winemaking and brewing. His son Johannes, grandson Hanss Georg and great-grandson Konrad continued this lucrative business and, in time, it should have passed to his great-great-grandson Martin Worner. However the changes which followed the Wars of Napoleon prevented him from carrying on the family tradition, and he had to accept work as a farmhand to support his wife, Anna Elisabetha Hildebrand, and the two girls and two boys who made up their small family.
Konrad’s older brother, Johannes, went out to the Victorian goldfields when his second marriage did not work out well; their sister Katharina and her husband left at about the same time. Perhaps as a result of their experiences, Konrad decided to do the same; he left Nieder-Weisel three years later and took passage on the “P C Kench”, sailing from Hamburg on 12th July 1859. The tiny barque made heavy weather of the long voyage to Port Philipp; it was a relieved group of passengers who stepped ashore in Melbourne four months later. Konrad no doubt headed for Ballarat looking for news of his brother and sister.
Katharina at this time was in the Rocky Lead area and Johannes also moved there from Ballarat about two years after Konrad’s arrival in the colony. Whether or not Konrad met up with his siblings is not known; there is no further record of the time he spent in the colony nor of his departure.
View Konrad's Family Chart
