Hermann HARTMANN
is Joyce Bryant's maternal Great Great Grandfather

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Hermann & Louisa had the following children:

1 Gustav Christopher HARTMANN (1859 - 1930)
2 Wilhelmine Augusta Hermine HARTMANN (1862 - 1892)
3 Hermann HARTMANN (1864 - 1955)
4 Richard Albert HARTMANN (1867 - 1943)
5 Olga Louisa HARTMANN (1869 - 1962)
6 Meta Lena (1871 - 1969)
7 Hedwig HARTMANN (1874 - 1965)
8 Rudolph August "Gus" HARTMANN* (1876 - 1949
9 William Arnold "Willie" HARTMANN (1881 - 1969)
10 Arnold HARTMANN (1883 - 1958)

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Hermann was the 3rd child and 1st son born to Christian HARTMANN & Carlena "Caroline" DAMEIER . He was born 10th April, 1834, Oathfrasen, Hannover, Preussen (Germany)

Hermann was taught by his father the art of harness making, which was later to be his mainstay occupation in a new country. Hermann had a son Gustav Christopher, with Wilhelmina HOLTZ. It is presumed they were married, but no record has been found to substansiate this. What became of Wilhelmina is equally intriguing, as no death can be found, but it is assumed this was the case as young Gustav was reared by his grandparents. It may have also been that she was the sister of Frederick HOLTZ, who later married W ilhelmina HARTMANN, Hermann's sister.

Hermann later met and married, on the 11th Novevember, 1862 to Johanna Louise Sophie KIEHNE, (photo left taken in Germany) who was born 14th February, 1842, Beinum, Germany.

They had their first child, a daughter, Wilhelmine Augusta Hermine HARTMANN on 19th December , 1862 at Oathfrasen, Hannover, Preussen (Germany).

Hermann's parents Christian and Caroline HARTMANN, along with their two children August and Caroline and grandson Gustav, migrated to Australia in 1862 on board the baque "Sophie". They boarded the 278 ton "Sophie" at Hamburg and arrived in Sydney on 10th March, 1863.

Hermann, Louisa and their daughter Hermine, followed Christian & Caroline in 1862 on board the sailing ship the "Marco Polo",which set sail for the Colony on the 7th July 1864. They however, decided to sail to the Colony in an English ship so that they could become familiar with the English language during the voyage. This was to be very beneficial to them when they arrived in the Colony.
During the voyage Louisa gave birth to a son, Hermann on the 15th September, 1864. He was to become my grandfather.
They arrived in Melbourne on the 6th October, 1864 and decided to stay there, and not to proceed onto Sydney where they intended to go, however work for Christian was not easy to obtain, and so they continued onto Sydney and then later overland to Gunnedah in Northern New South Wales where they had a joyful mmeeting with Hermann's parents, sister & brother and his son. (Photo below right: Louisa {Kiehne} Hartmann)

Hermann obtained work at "Gurley" station in 1866, as a shepherd. This was a different type of occupation to what Hermann had been trained for, as he was a tradesmen in harness making, and was not at all used to the rough country life. His first abode was a sheperds hut, and on arriving there found that the door had been left open or blown open , and the station stock had been camping in it. This must have been a terrible time for them all, but they set about and layed new soil onto the bare floor so that it was clean enough to live in. Hermann and Louisa's third child, a son Richard was born at Gurley in 1867.

They proceeded onto Dundee, in the New England area of New south Wales, where Louisa's brother had settled some years earlier. They lived in the Dundee village, in a small hut made from wooden slabs and bark. It was here that Olga, their second daughter was born in 1870. By this time Hermann was employed as a harness maker for all the nearby stations and was able to promote his trade and by the way of bartering with employers, was able to achieve his goal of owning his own land. Hermann selected his first block of land consisting of 80 acres in 1870. It was in the area known as the "Six Mile", being 6 miles from the village presumably, and he named his selection "Othfresen", after his home town in Germany.

The property remained in the Hartmann family name until 2002, when, the then present owner Bill Hartmann died (He was a grandson of Hermann & Louisa). It is still, however, in the family , being purchased by the grandsons of Olga (Hartmann) Kneipp.

Christian Hartmann and his son Hermann took the oath of allegiance in 1875. Five more children were born to Hermann and Louisa at "Othfresen" Dundee, namely Meta Lena, 1871; Hedwig, 1874; Rudolph August, 1876; William Arnold , 1881 and Arnold in 1883.

Hermann's father Christian lived with his son and family in his declining years at "Othfresen", Dundee. This meant that 6 generations of Hartmanns have resided at Dundee up until 2003.

In 1922 Herman & Louisa celebrated their Diamond Wedding Anniversary with a huge party held at the old family home, "Othfresen". This proved to be a most successful day with many family photographs being taken, including one of Hermann & Louisa with their children. Many of the original family group photos are still around today. The attractive dinner table was set up in the woolshed two huge cakes graced the centre table.

Louisa passed away in 11th April, 1923 having attained the grand age of 81 years. This was only a few short months after the happy celebration of their Diamond Wedding . Hermann died on the 23rd of August, 1923 and they are both laid to rest in the Dundee cemetery. An obituary of Hermann's life and also an obituary to Louisa was recorded in the Glen Innes Examiner.

(Parts of the story have been taken from the publication entitled "Dundee, the Land and its People" by Eileen Hartmann ) with permission.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has any information or photographs on any of these families. You can write to me at <jvbryant at halenet dot com dot au>

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