John Conrad Kraushaar, the author's great-great-great-great-grandfather was born in Germany in 1741 or 1742 and died in London in 1801 at age 59. (In Germany he would have been Johann, but there is reason to believe he was generally known as Conrad, it being common practice at that time to use the second Christian name.)
He was in the U.K. by 1763 (in his early 20s), but maybe not much earlier. JCK is shown as a godfather, in the baptismal records of the two German Lutheran churches in London, St. Marien and St. Georg, in May and June 1763, and again in 1766, 1771 and 1772. Thereafter, until 1785, he and his wife Catherina Elizabeth often appear as parents or godparents.
Mrs Clist states:
In an old book of Luther's sermons, once in the possession of John Leche Kraushaar, the following entry is recorded:
"John Conrad Kraushaar and Catherina Elizabeth Ninau entered into the state of Holy Matrimony in the year of our Lord 1772, April 29th."
These ... being earnest Lutherans, left their home in the Harz Mountains, Hanover, to escape from Roman Catholic persecution, and came to the shores of England, settling finally in London.
Contrary to what one might read into this, they were married after migrating to England, presumably in London, though we have no church record of the marriage. [The search is hampered by the effects of the Hardwicke Marriage Act of 1753. In order to ensure a legally accepted marriage, Nonconformists were obliged to use the Church of England between 1754 and 1837. Exceptions were made for Jews and Quakers.] JCK would have been about 30 years of age. Two weeks before his wedding, on 12 April 1772, he was a godparent, together with the wife of Dr Wachsel, to a Fesenmeyer child. Thereby hangs a tale (see Wachsel story below).
We know very little about JCK's bride, except that she was Catherina Elizabeth Ninau, the daughter of Caspar Andreus (elsewhere Casper Andrew) Ninau and his wife Elizabeth. These parents are shown in the burial records of St. Marienkirche, London, of 1788 and 1801 as "of Hamburg". [The German version of the name would presumably have been Catharina Elisabeth, but consistency of spelling did not seem to be of prime concern in those days. Catherina is used here, in accordance with the note regarding her marriage, though in probate of her husband's estate, where she appeared in person, she seems to have given her name as Catarina Elizabeth. A further note about spelling: in early St. Georg church documents, written in German, JCK appears as a deacon under the name Johann Conrad Kraußhaar, i.e. Krausshaar, and in one instance as Conrad Kraußhaar, so it is likely that he was known as Conrad.]
It seems probable, then, that Mrs Clist's reference to leaving "their" home in "the Harz Mountains, Hanover" refers only to JCK, and even then it is very unclear. The city of Hanover is some 80 km from the Harz Mountains, so one presumes the old Electorate of Hanover (Kurfürstentum Hannover) was intended. [For what it's worth, the name Kraushaar seems to be more typical of Hesse than of Lower Saxony where Hanover and most of the Harz Mountains are.]
The reasons for migrating to England may indeed have been religious, as there was still a good deal of tension (and persecution) in various parts of Germany.
[The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 had put an end to the Thirty Years' War, decreeing that each of the 300 or so princes could choose Catholicism or Protestantism as his State's religion. Certainly, many nonconformists - Radical Pietists, Anabaptists, Mennonites, "Brethren" etc. - found refuge as far away as Pennsylvania, right through the eighteenth century. But Hanover was Protestant, so the religious motivation seems unconvincing. It is also true that many Germans at this time were fleeing the poverty and famine created by the Seven Years War (1756-63) and PHK suggests that the "R.C. persecution" may have been that of the invading French armies. It seems more likely that Hanoverians might look for opportunities in the Britain ruled by Hanoverian Kings.]
It
seems that JCK and friends were devout but mainstream Lutherans. JCK may have
been accompanied in his migration by other Kraushaars of the same generation
who appear in London records; these may have been his siblings or other close
relatives:
- Jane (Johanetta?) born c. 1748; m. Samuel Wolfe 19/3/1769 St. Luke's Finsbury
- Caroline Elisabeth b. 1750/1; d. 1812 age 61; buried Bunhill Fields
- Georg Friedrich d. 1814; buried St. Georg; he could have been the same "George" reported as marrying Ann Johnson on 19 Aug 1788; and this Ann could have been the same "Anna Kraushaar" who died in 1834 aged 71 and was buried in the St. Georg churchyard.
- Anna d. 1776 aged 4, buried in the Children's
Churchyard at St. Marienkirche.
[On the other hand, one might speculate that Caroline is in fact a transcription error for Catherine, and that the person in question was none other than JCK's wife (though if Catherina died in 1812, she would not have been available to give spiritual guidance to her 5-year-old grandson JLK in 1824 as per G. E. Clist). Jane and Georg could have been JCK's sister and brother.]
It is interesting to note the circumstances of the migration of Germans with names like Müller, Fesenmeyer, Althauss, Ruppersberger, Sonnenschein, Braune, Erfis, Hagel. Indeed, the community of German expatriates was so numerous in the East End of London in the early 1760s that they were able in 1763 to build their own church (St. Georg German Lutheran Church in Alie St., Goodman's Fields, Aldgate E1 - 51°30'50.89"N, 0°04'13.67"W) where services were held in their native tongue. (JCK appears as godfather in the first entry in the Churchbook of Baptisms of the newly consecrated church.) St. Georg's was named for George III, the new king (from 1760) whose father had been born in Hanover and who was himself later to become King of Hanover (by which time he was quite mad). The first pastor of St. Georg's (from 1763 to 1799) was Dr G.A. Wachsel.
Pastor Dr Gustavus Anthony [Gustav Anton] Wachsel (born Halberstadt c. 1735; died London 3 May 1799 aged 64) received recognition from the Faculty of Theology of the Georg August University of Göttingen for helping German refugees arriving in London from war-torn German provinces in the 1760s (or even earlier): for this, he received an honorary doctorate in Divinity in 1765. Wachsel's father, a teacher in Frisia and partisan against the French invaders, had been shot by them in 1761. [See article written by PHK for the quarterly magazine Mitteilungsblatt of the Anglo-German Family History Society.] It is possible, even probable, that Wachsel helped JCK settle in on his arrival; it is beyond doubt that they were close acquaintances.
[Halberstadt is on the eastern edge of the Harz, in what used to be East Germany, while Göttingen is on the western side of the mountains, in Lower Saxony but close to the border with Hesse. The proximity of these locations to JCK's supposed place of origin may (or may not) be significant.]
The early Kraushaars had close connections with St. Georg's German Lutheran Church from 1763, well into the nineteenth century, though existing church registers show no Ks between 1785 and 1849, or after 1849. The church was closed in 1996 but still stands. A generation of five Kraushaar schoolboys, sons of John Matthew and Thomas Henry, attended the adjoining school from 1829 to 1847 - click on image at left for details. In 1849, a Thomas Kraushaar, together with the incumbent pastor, Dr Cappel, were godfathers to the son of the schoolmaster, Heinrich Winter. This would have been either our Thomas Henry Prenton K., then aged 29, or PHK's Thomas Henry John K., then aged 20. Jane Isabella, née Harrison (presumed childless), first wife of Thomas Henry K. (PHK's great-great-grandfather), was buried in the churchyard at St. Georg's in 1827. Another three Kraushaars were buried there in 1809, 1814 and 1834.
In the baptismal records from the period 1763 to 1785, the names Kraushaar, Fesenmeyer, Ruppersberger, Hagel, Johann Andreas Müller and John Gottlieb (and/or their wives) repeatedly appear as godparents to each other's children, often with the name of the first pastor, Dr G.A. Wachsel, or his wife Catherine.
In the Fesenmeyer family tree not only do we find the marriage of one of the "hatter Kraushaars" (see below), but JCK and Pastor Wachsel appear as witnesses to two Fesenmeyer marriages in Anglican churches in 1771 and 1786.
JCK, in addition to the John Matthew (JMK) cited by G. E. Clist, had at least another four children, and probably (many) more.
The first child born to JCK and Catherina was Martha Maria b. 13 June 1773;
she was followed by John Ninau b. 28 Jan 1775. These were both baptised at St. Georg's, but there is no further trace of them, so they may have died in infancy.
Next was William b. 1 Feb 1777, baptised St. Georg; probably m. Mary Farmer 13 Sep 1798 at St. Luke's Finsbury; d. 12 Oct 1800, aged 23; buried Bunhill Fields.
Then George Conrad b. 30 Nov. 1778; baptised St. Georg (one of the godparents was a Fesenmeyer); d. 14 Dec 1800, aged 22; buried Bunhill Fields (where he appears as "Conrad" in the Interment Order Book but as "George Conrad" on the Monumental Inscription).
Then, apart from some infants who may or may not have belonged to the same family, there is John Matthew b. 1795/6; m. Jane Charlotte Prenton at Christchurch, Newgate Street, Greyfriars on 18 April 1818; d. 2 April 1857, aged 61. This is the line followed in the Clist narrative. We have no certain news of JMK's birth or place of burial. Judging by the dates we have, his father would have been about 53 at the time of his birth; his mother could have been as much as 10-12 years younger, if she had been married at, say, 18.
Into this picture must be introduced the hat-making brothers of 26 Primrose Street who both died at age 28:
- Jacob Andrew b. 1782/3; m. Mary Barbara Fesenmeyer 12 May 1805 at St. Luke's, Old St., Finsbury; d. June 1811; buried Bunhill Fields.
- John Frederick b. 1786/7; m. Mary Carr 12 Feb 1809
in same church; d. Dec 1815; buried Bunhill Fields; also lived in Essex St.,
Hoxton
The marriages of these two were both witnessed by a Maria Catherine Kraushaar, presumably a sister [and note the second Christian name], who lived in Bow Lane, b. 1789/90; d. Oct 1813, aged 23; buried Bunhill Fields. We know nothing more about her.
[It is interesting to speculate that these three, Jacob Andrew, John Frederick and Maria Catherine, may have been children of JCK, since they were all buried in the same family plot as the old man. Otherwise, there is a long gap between the birth of George Conrad in 1778 and John Matthew in 1795. Their trade in silk and beaver hats would be consistent with JCK's silk weaving and John Matthew's subsequent occupation.]
The "hatter" brothers each had three children. In each case, there is a record of a daughter being married: one to a Rev. Wm Kelly (moved to Devon), the other to a Joseph Robinson, mariner. John Frederick's youngest child, Hannah, was buried at Bunhill Fields on 7 Oct 1820.
The early deaths of the hatters may be attributable to the hazards of their profession. It is said that the use of highly noxious mercurous nitrate in the process of felt-making often led to the degeneration of both body and mind. The expression "mad as a hatter" was apparently in common use long before Lewis Carroll popularized it in Alice in Wonderland (1865).
There are also:
- a mysterious John George, weaver (!) of Wilkes Street [previously Wood Street], born c. 1780, m. "Ann" c. 1800, and father of William Conrad (b. 30 June 1802 in Spitalfields); ["John and Ann K." were witnesses at the first marriage of Thomas Henry (see below) in 1811]; and
- a no less mysterious Elizabeth b. 1785/6; d. 18
June 1811, aged 25; buried Bunhill Fields, but not in JCK's family grave.
The other interesting figure in this early generation of Kraushaars is PHK's ancestor Thomas Henry b. 1790/1 and d. in Stepney, aged 55, on 16 Dec 1846. He was twice married at St. Dunstan's Stepney: on 3 Aug 1811 to Jane Isabella Harrison (presumed childless); and on 13 Feb 1828 to Ann Lazell, by whom he had nine children. He lived at various times in Oxford St., 42 Russell St., and 33 Jubilee Place, all in Stepney. Thomas Henry was the first recorded clerk of the Schröder Bros., merchant bankers in the City of London; the Lutheran Schröders are known to have done much to help immigrant Germans.
Between the birth of Thomas Henry in c. 1790 and that of John Matthew in c. 1795, there was John George b. 1792/3 and d. Dec 1809 at the age of 16. He was buried in St. Georg's churchyard in Alie St.
[It is probable that both Thomas Henry and John George were children of JCK and Catherina, further filling in the gap in Catherina's childbearing years. In the most likely case, Catherina bore about 12 children between 1773 and 1795, eight of whom lived to adulthood. If this is not so, one might surmise that JCK had a brother who fathered others of the first generation of Kraushaars to be born in England; or the hypothetical brother may even have remained in Germany. Given such alternatives, it seems much more likely that JCK had a large number of children born at fairly regular intervals over a period of 23 years.]
A summary follows of what may have been the offspring of Catherina and JCK. Only those marked with an asterisk are certainly of the family, being recorded as such in various documents. It seems unlikely that a second child would be named John George while the first was still living (nos. 5 and 11), but it is unclear which should be eliminated. (Perhaps both?) The fact that no. 5 was a weaver, like JCK himself, may be significant.
The early Kraushaars did not move far between 1763 and 1850/60, almost all living and worshipping in Parishes within two kilometres of Aldgate or Bishopsgate, the old eastern gates of the City of London.
"Proximity to the City coupled with immunity from parochial or manorial authority made the area [the Liberties of Norton Folgate and Old Artillery Ground] attractive to Roman Catholic recusants and other nonconformists." [Stow's Survey of London, 1923.]
Following the earlier immigration of thousands of French Huguenots, the silk industry of Spitalfields had become very important. By the 1830s, the industry was in decline, but there were still 17,000 looms in East London.
From 1773 till 1783, JCK resided in Gun Street, Spitalfields (51°31'07.23"N, 0°04'37.69"W), first at no. 28, then from 1781 at no. 33; from 1784 until his death in 1801 he appears at no. 4 Norton Falgate (51°31'14.58"N, 0°04'43.99"W). [Source: Land Tax Assessments, Guildhall Library. This explains why his death in 1801 was recorded "in the Liberty of Norton Falgate", later known as Norton Folgate, London E1. A "Liberty" is a District extending beyond the bounds of the City, but subject to its authority. Hence Probate was recorded under London, not Middlesex.]
Norton Folgate is a short stretch of street between the northern continuation of Bishopsgate and Shoreditch High Street, on the western side of Spital Square. This street is very close both to Wood/Wilkes Street where John George K. lived, and to the home and business address at 26 Primrose Street, Shoreditch (near Bishopsgate) of the brothers Jacob Andrew K. and John Frederick K., who were "silk and beaver" hatmakers. Primrose Street was in the Ward of St. Botolph Without Bishopsgate. At the Anglican church of this name, all six children of the "hatter" brothers were christened between 1806 and 1813. [Click on maps for more detail; "Back" to exit.]
Research by PHK in the London Trade Directories at the Guildhall Library reveals entries, under "Principal Tradesmen", for "KRAUSHAAR, John Conrad, WEAVER" (and in at least one case "silk weaver"), from 1773 to 1801. The regularity of entries under "Principal Tradesmen" over such an extended period may suggest that he was a Master Weaver. We still do not know his address from 1763 till 1772. From Probate records we know that he died intestate in East London on 23 March 1801 and left "under £600" to his widow, Catarina Elizabeth.
By the mid-19th century, the London City Graveyards were grossly overcrowded; the activities of dogs, grave-robbers, medical dissectors et al. and the precarious condition of many gravestones and monuments had rendered these places a menace to public health and safety. Bunhill Fields, the Nonconformist (Dissenters) Burial Ground in City Road, Finsbury EC2 (51°31'24.95"N, 0°05'19.92"W), in whose four acres 123,000 registered burials had taken place between 1665 and 1853, was no exception, and pursuant to the Burial Act of 1852 it was closed in 1853. The closure order stipulated that it should become a public open space after being put in good order, and that no part of it should be built upon.
During WWII, part of the ground was damaged by bombs, and in due course various improvements were made, the northern section being turned into a small public garden, and the rest being railed off, after a certain amount of tidying up, resiting of monuments etc. It may still be visited today. The inscription from JCK's headstone is recorded, though the headstone itself is long gone.
John Conrad Krausshar (sic) of Norton Falgate, aged 59 [from which we deduce the year of his birth], was buried at 3 p.m. on Sunday 27 March 1801 at a depth of 11 feet and at a cost of £1/4/6. For lack of space, these common graves were "dug to a depth of 12 or 13 feet and coffins were piled one on top of the other to a depth of five feet from the surface, so that as many as nine bodies may be in one grave..." Indeed, nine Kraushaars were buried one on top of the other between 1800 and 1818 in this same family plot.
London Guildhall Library - Manuscript Dept.
MS 1092 INTERMENT ORDER BOOKS (Chronological)
BUNHILL FIELDS BURIAL GROUND, Finsbury, London
[Research by Peter Kraushaar, October 1997]
JCK's widow, Catherina Elizabeth, disappears from view, unless it is she who is misrepresented as "Caroline Elizabeth Kraushaar" d. 1812, aged 61, and buried in the same plot as JCK.
[This would have made her approximately 21 at the time of her marriage, and about 44-45 at the time of the birth of John Matthew, her last child. She may have moved into the Primrose St. premises after her son Jacob Andrew died, John Frederick having moved to Hoxton. This is all pure speculation, but it would make sense for the "family grave" to contain father and mother and four of their children and three grandchildren. Given the slapdash orthographic standards of the day, and the fact that these are anyway only transcriptions, it does not seem outlandish to conjecture a slip between Catherine and Caroline, a name which does not appear elsewhere in the family tree.
One can imagine JCK, with a little foresight, acquiring a new plot upon the death of his son George Conrad in December 1800; since he himself was to die three months later, perhaps he was already feeling rather mortal. Mere speculation by JCC.]
John Matthew Kraushaar (JMK), son of JCK and Catherina, lived, according to the Clist document, in Walkers Terrace after his marriage to Jane Charlotte Prenton in 1818. At that time, the street name given in other records of the family was Cleveland Street, Stepney, MEOT [Mile End Old Town]. Later, by the time of the 1841 census, the family was living at 7 East Side of the Green, Bethnal Green, while two of their sons were at St. Georg's Lutheran school.
In the 1851 census, JMK is living at 2 Clifton Place, South Hackney (approx. 51°32'07.43"N, 0°03'20.72"W). The household is recorded as follows: John M. Kraushaar (head, widower, 53) Commercial Agent Ind Trade, born Trinity Parish, City of London; Jane Kraushaar (daur, unm, 25) born Stepney, Middlesex; William C. Kraushaar (son, unm, 24) Colonial Merchant's Clerk, born Stepney; Matthew Kraushaar (son, unm, 20) Colonial Merchant's Clerk, born Bethnal Green, Middlesex; Ann Hughes (servant, unm, 20) General Servant, born Hackney, Middlesex. (In both 1841 and 1851, Jane Charlotte is living separately from her husband and children.)
JMK was employed by John M. Oppenheim & Co., fur and skin traders, in the City.
(This Oppenheim [pace Mrs Clist] probably had nothing to do with the Barons Oppenheim in Germany. The 1861 census of 84/85 Cannon Street West shows John Moritz Oppenheim age 59 [+ Male Secretary + 4 Servants], Fur & Skin Merchant; born Hamburgh [sic]; Naturalised British Subject; Blind. It is at least conceivable that he knew the Ninau family in Hamburg.)
The
offices had several moves - Basing Lane - Bow Lane - probably associated with
the tremendous upheaval caused by the building of the extension of Cannon
Street westwards from Budge Row between 1848 and 1854. According to his death
certificate, JMK, "commercial agent", died on 2 April 1857, aged 61, of a
heart attack suffered at the Oppenheim premises at 84/85 Cannon Street West.
His 30-year-old son, William Conrad Kraushaar, also a "resident" of 84 Cannon
Street West, was present at his death. [Click on image to view death
certificate in greater detail: 249 KB.]
JMK, like other members of the staff, was named as a beneficiary in the 1853 will of his wealthy unmarried employer, John Moritz Oppenheim, to the tune of one year's salary (£300 - double that of a simple clerk). Unfortunately for JMK, he pre-deceased Oppenheim by seven years.
William Conrad Kraushaar carried on working for the company, which passed into the hands of Frederick Augustus Schroeter, nephew by marriage and heir of Oppenheim. In 1865, WCK appears as a Fur Agent on the birth certificate of his daughter Elizabeth Florence and is living in Stratford, West Ham. In the 1871 census, he is a "Clerk in Fur Merchant's" and is living in Stratford with his wife, three children and Aunt Mary Prenton. In the 1881 census, he appears as an "Accountant" and is living with the same persons in Footscray, Kent (Sidcup). In 1874/75, he was a witness to three codicils to Schroeter's will.
As for his siblings, at the 1861 census Matthew (27, Barrister's clerk) and Jane (36) were living at 3 Bentham Road, South Hackney.
JMK had six children, the eldest of whom was John Leche Kraushaar ("JLK"), 1819-1899, shown at left, the author's great-great-grandfather. For five years (1829-33), JLK attended St. Georg German Lutheran Church School, so he would have been fluent in German. Mrs Clist recounts how he worked in a German merchant's office (not Oppenheim). With a view to ordination, he studied Greek and Latin at London University where he was president of the debating society. He was the National School Master of Trinity District, St Giles, for 7 years, marrying Frances Jane ("Fanny") Thurtell-Murray on 27 Mar 1846 in St Giles, Cripplegate. They lived in Islington.
At the 1851 census, the JLK household at 30 Melton Crescent (formerly Euston Crescent) - 40.08"N, 00.80"W - is made up of John Kraushaar (head, 32) Schoolmaster, born Stepney; Frances Kraushaar (wife, 29) born Essex; Fanny [Adela] Kraushaar (daur, 2) born St Pancras; John Kraushaar (son, 8mo) born St Pancras; Katherine Hayes (servant, 14) born Cork.
JLK joined the London City Mission in January 1852 and resigned
on 31 Apr 1858, after serving six years. He joined the Plymouth Brethren and
moved to various parts of the country ministering to the flock. Mrs Clist
mentions "the eastern counties", then the Midlands, then Somersetshire.
From a note by JLK regarding the birth of his children, we learn that the family moved from London to the village of Ketton, Rutland ("in the country", says Mrs Clist) in April 1859. It was there that Alfred was born in 1861 and Tricie in 1864. The Plymouth Brethren Meeting House is at: 52°37'38.63"N, 0°33'05.70"W.
The 1861 census for Ketton, Ecclesiastical District of Peterborough, shows the 38-year-old Frances ("School Mistress", b. Bradfield, Essex) under a name that looks like Crawshaar, living in the High Street next door to the Stamford Arms with her children Adela F.J., 12, John J., 8, Frank, 5, Anne J. [Josephine], 2, (all b. Middlesex, London) and 6-month-old Alfred, b. Rutland. It is probable that Fanny was teaching the children of Ketton, since it is unlikely there was a school there at that time. Her husband (JLK) on the night of the census was staying in South Hackney with his younger brother William Conrad Kraushaar. JLK figures as a "travelling minister".
Some time between mid-1866 and mid-1867, the family moved to Northampton, apparently with the assistance of J. R. G. Roberts, future husband of the eldest daughter Adela ("Addy"). Here we know from Sarah Murray that John James (JJK) held a clerical job (perhaps as a brewer's clerk), but (from a letter of Fanny's dated 5 Sep 1867 and various comments by Sarah Murray) it seems the family was in pretty dire straits. On 27 Sep 1867, the day after Addy's wedding, they went to live in Stratford-on-Avon, leaving 19-year-old Addy and her new husband in Northampton.
From Sarah Murray's letters to her sons in America, it emerges that at the same time, JJK gave up his job in Northampton and got a job with a lawyer in London, but it didn't work out and by the beginning of 1869 he was back in Northampton working as a salesman, presumably for his brother-in-law Roberts, who had his own tailoring business there. By the end of the year JJ and Addy were both declared to be consumptive and Roberts had gone broke. JJ went off to Surrey to work for somebody there, but had to resign and return to his family in the spring of 1870 as he was now too ill to work.
In the 1871 census, the JLK family is to be found at Broom Cottage, Shipston Road, in the Parish of Old Stratford, Warwickshire (52°11'10.50"N, 1°41'58.39"W). This was a "nice little house & garden, orchard, stables etc." according to Fanny's sister Anne. The household consists of John Luke [sic] Kraushaar, 51, b. London, Travelling Preacher; his wife Frances Jane, 48, b. Danbury Farm, Essex; their 18-year-old son John James, b. London, an "unemployed clerk"; Alfred, 10, b. Ketton, Rutland, Scholar; Grace Beatrice, 6, b. Ketton, Scholar. Also present are 22-year-old married daughter Adela Fanny Roberts (b. London) and her two-month-old baby Fanny Ada Roberts, b. Stratford. Addy's husband had found a job in Wisbech. At this point, Addy had scarlet fever but was apparently no longer thought to be consumptive, although JJ clearly was. The Kraushaars' second son Frank, 15, b. London, is to be found instead as a "General Servant" in the household of Henry Coombs and his sister Ann at 21 Wood Street, Stratford-on-Avon.
At this point Alexander Murray died and we have no further letters from his mother Sarah with family news. Presumably the JLK family moved to the West Country some time between 1871 and 1874. John James died in Taunton in June 1874. In the census of 3 Apr 1881, JLK and his wife are living with their 20-year-old "chemist's apprentice" son Alfred and 16-year-old daughter Grace (i.e. Grace Beatrice or "Tricie") at Hunter's Lodge, Clayhidon, Devon. This is on the southern (Devon) slopes of the Black Down Hills, only a short distance (perhaps 4 km) from Chelmsine, where they later lived; Chelmsine is north of the Black Down Hills, in Somerset.
In the 1891 census, we find John Leach [sic] Kraushaar, 72, Minister and Author/Editor of paper, living at Rose Cottage, in the village or hamlet of Blackmoor, Wellington, West Buckland, with his 69-year-old wife and 26-year-old unmarried daughter, Grace Beatrice. Their neighbours are mostly (farm) labourers, though there is also a vet.
They later moved to Chelmsine chapel, where JLK wrote and printed books. He died in 1899 and is buried in the Chelmsine graveyard. His widow Fanny went to live with her daughter Tricie. In the 1901 census, the 79-year-old widow is to be found living at Bishopswood, Otterford (about 10 km from Chelmsine), with her 36-year-old daughter Grace Beatrice and her 28-year-old son-in-law Arthur Emmanuel Sumption, "poultry farmer". Fanny died here the following year (21 Apr 1902) and was buried in Chelmsine graveyard with her husband.
The life of John Leche Kraushaar is the central theme of the Clist narrative. A number of references are also made to the family in the Murray letters.
JLK and Fanny had seven children, the sixth of whom was Alfred (1860-1945). Alfred (right) had worked in a pharmacy in Wellington (near Taunton), Somerset. In the 1881 census, he was living with his parents in Clayhidon, Devon, but later that year emigrated to Australia.
The previous year, Alfred's elder brother Frank had migrated to Sydney, where he arrived in December 1880 aboard the Orient Line Royal Mail steamer Liguria (2,980 tons, out of London/Plymouth 18 Oct 1880 via Cape Verde, Cape of Good Hope, Adelaide and Melbourne). Shortly after the 1881 census, Alfred also set off for Sydney. He embarked on the Orient Line Royal Mail steamer Cotopaxi on Saturday, Oct 15, 1881. This ship followed the same routing and arrived in Adelaide 24 Nov 1881, then proceeded to Melbourne and Sydney.
Both the Liguria and the Cotopaxi belonged to the Pacific Steam Navigation Co. and, along with another eight ships, offered a fortnightly service to Australia under the Orient Steam Navigation Co. banner. The Liguria carried 160 saloon and 270 steerage passengers and a full general cargo.[The Suez Canal had opened in 1869 but perhaps the Royal Mail steamers had business to transact in South Africa.]
In Australia, Alfred initially worked on the wharves, where the pay (at £5 per week) was good, and as a window dresser for Anthony Hordern's store, then sent back to England for his bride, Rosa Ellen Downton, whom he married in Sydney on 14 Aug 1884. On his marriage certificate, he is identified as a "crockery salesman", she as a milliner/mantle maker born in "Somersetshire".
Alfred subsequently started or bought a confectionery business (A. Kraushaar & Sons) in Newtown in about 1894 and had up to 9 shops in Sydney, the main one being in Oxford Street. The business name was changed to Crawshaw because of anti-German sentiment in WW I. Apparently Alfred, unlike his sons, delayed using Crawshaw as his own surname till about WW II.
In the early years, Alfred and Rosa moved house frequently (their son Con reported living in 15 different houses before his marriage). Sands directories carry many entries from 1888 to 1916.
In retirement, Alfred tended goats at his property in Mowbray Road, Lane Cove West, originally (recalls MALC) because his daughter Hazel had asthma and Jessie had excema, and they were allergic to cow's milk. Then he started breeding goats, even importing some special type from Switzerland. He became known as the "goat king". According to his death certificate, Alfred died of "Gastroenteritis 1 day, Senility 2 years". He and his wife are buried in Gore Hill cemetery (33°49'27.81"S, 151°11'20.52"E) in Sydney's northern suburbs (see photo at right - click to enlarge).
Alfred begat ten children (see photo below and table on link), nine of whom survived to adulthood. The eldest was Conrad (1885-1966, the author's grandfather), standing behind his father in the photo, who styled himself Crawshaw from the time of WW I (though the name was never changed by deed poll). Con married "Dot" Lister in Orange in 1910.
The Alfred Kraushaar Family
For the continuation of the family history into the twentieth century, see Twentieth Century Crawshaws.
The early Kraushaars had close connections with St. Georg's German Lutheran Church from 1763, well into the nineteenth century, though existing church registers show no Ks between 1785 and 1849, or after 1849. The church was closed in 1996 but still stands. A generation of five Kraushaar schoolboys, sons of John Matthew and Thomas Henry, attended the adjoining school from 1829 to 1847 - click on image at left for details. In 1849, a Thomas Kraushaar, together with the incumbent pastor, Dr Cappel, were godfathers to the son of the schoolmaster, Heinrich Winter. This would have been either our Thomas Henry Prenton K., then aged 29, or PHK's Thomas Henry John K., then aged 20. Jane Isabella, née Harrison (presumed childless), first wife of Thomas Henry K. (PHK's great-great-grandfather), was buried in the churchyard at St. Georg's in 1827. Another three Kraushaars were buried there in 1809, 1814 and 1834.
