Immigration > South Africa
Immigration to South Africa
On 23 November 1877, a group of families left Nieder-Monjou intending to immigrate to North America or perhaps Brazil. They packed their belongings and loaded them into horse-drawn carts for the journey to Kosackenstadt (now Engels). The following were included in this group:
Maria Elisabeth Binedel, widow (67)
(son 1) Kaspar Binedel (45) his wife: Katharina Maria (44)
their children:
(son 2) Johann Peter Bindel (34)(a)Johann Heinrich (23) his wife: Anna Marie (23)
their children:
(b)Catherina Sophie(age 21)Engelbrecht (3) Johann Christ. (1) her husband Georg Konrad Rueb (age 24)
their children:
(c) Catherina Elisa. (16)Kaspar (1-died and buried at sea) Johann Heinrich (born 13 January 1878 at sea in route to South Africa) (d) Johann Friedrich (13) (e) Anna Elisa. (10) (f) Johann Peter (8) (g) Johann Christofer (under 1) his wife: Catherina Sophie (36)
their children:
(son 3) Johann Jacob (32)(a) Marie Sophie (10) (b) Marie Elisabeth (8) (c) Johannes (3) (d) Johann Peter (under 1) his wife: Marie Elisabeth (32)
their children:
The following traveled as single people:
(a) Gottfried (10) (b) Johann Conrad (9) (c) Johann Christian (5) (d) Anna (4) (e) Catherine (2) (f) Johann Carl (under 1)
Johann Christian Binedel (21)
Carl Anschütz (29)Johannes Binedel (18) Marie Binedel (15) his wife Marie Catherina [née Herber] (26)
their children:
Johann Heinrich (8) Dorothea (5) Johann David (3) Anna Elisabeth (under 1)
The intended destination of this group was North America or perhaps the state of Paraná in southern Brazil. After taking a ferry from Kosakenstadt across the Volga River to Saratov, they traveled by train from there for 8 days and nights to the port of Hamburg in present-day Germany. The member of the group who was responsible for the fiscal resources of the group claimed to have been robbed in Hamburg, and the group therefore had no money to continue the trip. Whether this robbery was truthful was cast into doubt when the self-same family member came under suspicion of dishonesty later, when after only a few years in Cape Town, he had sufficient funds to return to Russia. - - - - - - - - Another family that immigrated originally to Cape Town in 1877 or 1878 was that of Johann Christian Friebus and his wife Agnes née Lichtner from Fischer. They immigrated on to Wilson, Kansas, in 1892. The Johann Carl Friebus family, also immigrated to Cape Town and in 1885 moved on to Lincoln, Nebraska, and then on to Wilson, Kansas. The Johann Jakob (Dominic) Hertling (Hertlein) family also immigrated to South Africa and then on to Hays, Kansas.
Sources:
- Rootsweb (Vera Beljakova, 2003) - Ruppenthal, Jacob C. "The German Element in Central Kansas," Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society v. 13: pp. 513-535. Last updated 19 August 2010.
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