[ Home | Select new family | Select Weidenhofer family member ]

Georg Weidenhofer

Parents

Birth/death

Marriage/Children

Residence

Qualifications/Education

The second son of Johann and Wilhelmine was named Georg, who was born on 3 January 1844 at Vegesack, near Bremen, in Germany. As a child of two years, he travelled to South Australia with his parents, an older sister Anna, an older brother, Johann, plus a baby sister, Adelheid. The family was looking forward to a new life in South Australia.

No records have been found to indicate any of Georg's activities in his younger days, but it would be fair to assume that he would have assisted his father on their farm near Woodside, South Australia. At some stage before his marriage, he changed the spelling of his name, to "George", the English version of the name.

On 28 February 1875, he married Lydia Elizabeth Jacobs, daughter of Henry Jacobs and Harriett Kavanagh.

Lydia's correct birth date

The uncertainty of the true birth date of Lydia led to much prolonged and intriguing research. A birth registration showed that Lydia Elizabeth Jacobs was born in 1859, but this seemed unlikely as her first child was born in 1869! Delving further, it was discovered that Lydia's father, Henry Jacobs, had married twice, and both of his wives were named Harriett. More confusion for researchers!

Officially, birth registrations began in South Australia in 1842 (the Colony officially coming into being, in 1836). Henry Jacobs and his first wife, Harriett Kavanagh, had 4 children, born in 1842,1844,1845 and 1847, all born at Hay Valley, a small district north of Mt Barker in South Australia. These children's births were never registered, but they were BAPTISED. This information was obtained from a record made in St Patrick's Catholic Church in Mt Barker in 1847, indicating that these four children were all baptised on 14 October 1847, by the priest, Father Mick J. Ryan. At this ceremony, Lydia's birth date was recorded as 6 July, 1844.

Some years later, Harriett died, and Henry married Harriett Ovens, and their third child was baptised Lydia Elizabeth, born on 12 June, 1859. So, two wives named Harriett, and two daughters named Lydia Elizabeth! No wonder the researchers were confused. Later records show that the second "Lydia Elizabeth" should have been recorded as "Louisa Catherine". This was revealed on her marriage certificate when she married Frederich Preiss.

Before her marriage to George, Lydia had a daughter, born on 21 August 1869, who was known as Jessie and was accepted by George Weidenhofer into his family.

George, like his father, was a farmer, living at first near Woodside, where six of his and Lydia's children were born, the other three being born at Mannum.

By 1900, George, Lydia and family were living at Bow Hill on the River Murray. It is recorded that C. Weidenhofer, almost certainly their fourth son, Charles, known as Charlie, was part of the Bow Hill cricket team, which travelled to Swan Reach where the host team was victorious over the visitors. However, Charlie took three wickets for four runs.

Early in 1906, the Government sank a bore in the County of Price, west of the town of Lameroo. The bore became a meeting place for travellers. When the Government surveyed the land in that area later in 1906, a railway siding was also established. It was noticed that after the sinking of the bore, wild geraniums began to flourish in the damp soil, and so it soon began to be known as Geranium Bore. As land around the area began to be settled, the small township which developed became known as Geranium. George Weidenhofer was amongst the first to lease land in the area, choosing Section 12, an area of 227 acres. It is recorded that the land was mostly low sandy ridges with flats of red sandy and clayey soil. There was ironstone rubble in patches and the main vegetation was low mallee, broom bushes and other small low shrubs.

By 1908, one of George's daughters, Wilhelmine, known as Minna, set up a Eudunda Farmers' store on part of her father's land, and she also became the first postmistress of Geranium. Later in 1908, an enthusiastic group of settlers held a meeting to discuss the setting up of an Agricultural Bureau of which Charlie Weidenhofer was one of the founding members. This proved to be a great success as Geranium developed into an important centre of this farming district. In 1909, George donated a portion of his land, on which was built a small galvanised iron and wooden church. It only had an earthen floor, but served the community well for two years after which it was completely destroyed by a savage storm.

A bank was built on a quarter acre of land bought from George, who was one of the bank's first customers. The bank was an agency of the Lameroo branch of the Bank of Adelaide.

By about 1911, George's health began to deteriorate, and so he and Lydia and their four sons sold their leases and moved to Rugby also known as Evandale (now Payneham), a suburb of Adelaide. They bought a house in Harcourt Street and two small villas in an adjoining street, Cecil Street. Charlie and his brother Bert lived with their parents, as did Harriet, who was a great support for Lydia in the household duties and caring for George. The family lived in the Harcourt Street house, which was a substantial dwelling in good condition. The villas were reported to be "in a bad state with outer and inner walls badly cracked and in urgent need of repair - to be bolted up by iron girders". When these repairs were effected, the two villas were variously lived in by Lydia's daughters, Jessie, Minna and Harriet, who wrote regularly to her two older brothers, John in Pinnaroo, and George Henry (Heiney) at Loxton, to keep them informed about their father's health.

George died in December, 1915 at his home in Payneham and was buried at the nearby Payneham Cemetery. He was never to know that three of his sons, Charlie, Herbert and Fred (William Frederick) quite early in 1916, enlisted in the A.I.F. serving overseas. They all returned safely in 1919. During this time, Lydia continued to live in Harcourt Street with her daughter, Harriet, known as Tot, who, once again acted as letter writer, sending news and photos to her brothers overseas. In 1920, Harriet married Alf Brabham and they occupied one of the villas near Lydia. When Alf and Harriet moved to live at Ponde, near Mannum, Lydia lived with them, but by early 1928, it was recorded that she was living at the home of her daughter, Jessie, at Bishop's Place, Kensington when she died on 6 October 1928 aged 84. She was buried with George at the Payneham Cemetery.

From Weidenhofer Families in Australia 1846 - 2004

© 2000 - 2009 Send E-mail to Chris Barlow