Gaspard Weiss and J.C. Bach

In an article on my 4x great grandfather Gaspard Weiss (1739-1815) in Sortir à Mulhouse (which appears to be a newsletter on some sort of cultural program for Mulhouse - its in French so I'm not completely sure!), number 36, a reference is made to him being one of the musicians who interpreted Amor Vincitore before King George III. I tried to find information on this a while back but was unsuccessful.

I've just come across a new reference to this in "Clarinet in the Classical Period" by Albert R. Rice (2008). Amor Vincitore was a cantata by Johann Christian Bach - youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. Rice writes that two movements of the piece have solo parts which were written for four virtuosos - Karl Weiss (flute), Johann Christian Fischer (oboe), Josef Beer (clarinet) and Georg Wenzel Ritter (bassoon). "Karl" was a German form of the French name "Gaspard", and there are other references to Gaspard Weiss as "Karl Weiss". Gaspard Weiss often worked with the oboist Fischer. Rice also says that in 1774 Amor Vincitore was performed in Carlisle House in London (on April 15), at a benefit concert for Fischer, and at a private performance for the royal family. Obviously if you were having your new cantata performed for the royal family you would make sure it was being performed by the musicians it was written for - hence we know that Weiss almost undoubtably did play for King George III.

I still have no definitive proof that Gaspard Weiss was the principal flautist for King George III as claimed by his son Charles Nicholas Weiss, in his letter to the music dictionary publisher John Sainsbury. Perhaps if the claim was an embellishment of the truth, this may have been the event Charles was referring to.

A little more information on Willoughby Gaspard Weiss

Trawling through Google Books today I discovered some new information on Willoughby Gaspard Weiss, son of (Jean) Gaspard Weiss, brother of Charles Nicholas Weiss, and my 4x great uncle.

The Gentleman's Magazine of 1867, volume 223, page 828, notes the following information regarding Willoughby Gaspard's son Willoughby Hunter Weiss, famous opera singer: "He was the eldest son of the late Gaspard Weiss, esq., of Liverpool and Manheim (sic)..." This is the first time I have definitely seen Willoughby Gaspard Weiss referred to as Gaspard Weiss i.e. without the "Willoughby", which Tobias Bonz and I have previously had discussions over - he believes there are references to Gaspard Weiss which refer to Willoughby Gaspard Weiss, but this is the first time I have seen it without a doubt.

The other new bit of information is the connection to Mannheim, Germany. Previously I have found references to a W G Weiss importing goods into Liverpool from Germany:
Liverpool Mercury, 7 May 1830: "1 case merchandise".
Liverpool Mercury, 15 October 1830: "1 ch [chest?] musical instruments".
Liverpool Mercury, 15 May 1835: "1 [something - I can't work out exactly what!]"
Liverpool Mercury, 7 September 1838: "1 case musical instruments".

All of the imports came through the port of Hamburg, however Mannheim could have been where he was importing them from. There were flute makers in Mannheim in the 19th century, so it is quite possible that there were flutes amongst the musical instruments that Weiss was importing. I have searched and searched but can't find anything else relating to Weiss and Mannheim. If only there was a search engine for German historical newspapers!

The Beringer Bros Winery family

Once again, I will state right here that I have no evidence currently that I am related to the Beringer Bros Winery Beringer family. However, I am interested in them because their German background has been very hazy until now, so here I am to set the record straight.

As I wrote recently, Jacob and Frederick Beringer of the Beringer Bros Winery in Napa Valley were reputed to have been born in Mainz, Germany. I tracked down baptism records for them in St Quintin's Catholic Church, Mainz, and as I had some of my own Beringers baptised in the same church (Valtin and Dorothea Beringer, my 3x great grandfather and his sister), I ordered the microfilm of the records in to my local LDS Family History Centre.

Of the six known children in Jacob and Frederick's family, three of their baptism records were in the St Quintin's register - Jacob F, Frederick and Conrad's. I think the other three - Carl, Jacob H and Werner - were baptised at the Catholic Cathedral in Mainz.

Published information about the family has always suggested that Jacob and Frederick's father Conrad Ludovic Beringer was in the wine trade, but the baptism records state that he was a bookbinder. He must have been a reasonably well-off bookbinder to be able to send Frederick to school in Paris...

Further searching revealed that Conrad Ludovic's father was named Friderick and his mother Elisabetha Bergern/Bergin. Conrad had at least one brother, Werner (born about 1798, baptised at St Quintin's on 12 December 1798). Although I have seen Werner's baptism record, unfortunately it does not note what his father Friderick's occupation was. I have found some references to Werner possibly being a bookbinder as well, with an advertisement in Rheinische Blätter on 5 October 1816 announcing a Werner Beringer as a book and paper handler in the Schustergasse (now known as Schusterstraße) Mainz. It does suggest to me that if potentially two of his sons were in the book trade, Friderick may also have been.

So that's a little more about the family of Jacob and Frederick Beringer, who founded the Beringer Bros Winery in Napa Valley, California. And I still haven't found any connection to my Beringers.

Thomas Ball

Thomas Ball was my great great great great grandfather. He is something of an enigma.

Thomas Ball was born about 1790, apparently in Highgate, Middlesex (according to his details in the 1871 Census). His parents are unknown.

On May 25 1812 at the age of 22 Thomas married Sarah Preston by banns at St Mary church, Hornsey, in the borough of Islington. They both signed their names. Thomas and Sarah were both living in the parish of Hornsey at the time of their marriage. There are two children who are definitely known from the marriage: James and Eleanor. James and Eleanor were both baptised on 23 November 1817 at St Mary Mounthaw. There are two parish records available for that parish, one of which gives the birth dates of the children. James' birthday was 12 December 1812. A very short gestation?! (Interestingly, the family records said he was born in 1814 - this would have been much more acceptable, except that it was wrong!) Eleanor was born 17 June 1817. At the date of the children's baptisms the family was living at Old Fish Street Hill, London, and Thomas, aged 27, was working as a corn porter. A corn porter worked on the docks, usually shifting sacks of corn onto or off ships. It would have been hard, menial work.

In 1837 Thomas' daughter Eleanor was married. In the marriage register Thomas was noted as a greengrocer.

The next definite record I have for Thomas is from his son James' immigration record in 1857 - he and Sarah were noted as living in Fenchurch St, London.

In the 1871 Census Thomas was widowed and living at Francis Cottage, Highgate. There was no rank, profession or occupation listed.

Thomas Ball died on 12 January 1873 at his residence, Francis Cottage. According to a death notice his son James placed in the Sydney Morning Herald (15 Mar 1873) Thomas worked "for nearly twenty-five years in the establishment of Charles Rivington Esq., Fenchurch St, London, solicitor, to the Hon. E.I.C." I had originally assumed that this meant that he had been employed by Charles Rivington until his death, but looking at his places of residence, I suspect that he may have retired some time prior to his death. To live in Highgate and work in Fenchurch St, London would have been quite a hike! I wonder what Thomas did for Charles Rivington - that he worked in "the establishment of Charles Rivington Esq." suggests that he was employed in the business in some way, but that he and Sarah lived on the premises (in 1857) suggests alternately that he might have been household staff. He certainly wasn't still hauling sacks of corn around!

It is interesting that although Charles Rivington was a solicitor, he came from a family of book publishers who were well connected with the Stationers' Company. Thomas' son James became a bookbinder, and was supposedly made a City Freeman, which was in some cases closely related to livery companies such as the Stationers' Company. One wonders if this was (a) how James got into the book trade, and (b) a connection that made his becoming a City Freeman possible. Also, Thomas' daughter Eleanor married a solicitor's clerk, John Bache Downing. Did they meet through Thomas' work?

I have tried to find records for Thomas (and Sarah) in the 1841, 1851 and 1861 Censuses, but have no definite records for them. I wish I knew where they were hiding!

Kissing Cousins

William Rich (c1832-1927) was my great great grandfather. I am descended from his daughter Christina (1889-1971), who was born to his second wife Lavinia Huxley (1847-1929). Previously, William was married to his first cousin Mary Jane Bindon (1838-1872). In Australia it is legal to marry your first cousin, though whether it is a good idea to have children is another thing, considering the limited gene pool. However, the genetic implications of having children with your first cousin were unknown in those days and so William and Mary Jane had a number of children. I'm not sure of the exact number as the records do not really agree with each other on the names. The one thing I do know is that none of the children survived childhood.

William H Rich was their firstborn, and was born on July 22 1861 in Peel River, NSW. He died sometime in 1862 - I haven't gotten around to getting a transcript of his death certificate. Until the other day I had not found any concrete evidence of William and Mary Jane having any more children and assumed that they had not. I have wondered whether William H's short life span was just related to the type of illness which took many people's lives in those days before the advent of antibiotics, or whether there had been a congenital condition which had led to his death.

The other day a distant relative contacted me and pointed me in the direction of some children born to William and Mary Jane in Victoria, and further research revealed more, born in (surprisingly) New Zealand. I was completely unaware the family had spent time in New Zealand.

Other children believed to have been born to William and Mary Jane Rich:
Emma (born ?, died 1868 in New Zealand)
Sampson (born ? and died pre-1872)
Henry Bindon (born 1865, New Zealand - died 1865, New Zealand)
Sydney (born 1865, New Zealand - died 1866, New Zealand)
Alfred (born 1868, New Zealand - died 7 Dec 1872, Melbourne)
Cornelia (born 1870, New Zealand - died 21 Nov 1872, Melbourne)
Avice (1872, Melbourne - 2 Jul 1872, Melbourne)

Avice's death certificate says she was born in Hokitika, New Zealand. This is actually incorrect - there is a record of her birth in Victoria, however, as both her parents were not with her when she died it's not surprising that there was a mistake. However, it does suggest where the family were in New Zealand. William Rich was working on the gold fields at Peel River, NSW, before they went to NZ. Hokitika was settled in the 1860s after gold was found there. A huge number of Australians went there for the ensuing gold rush, apparently William Rich and his family included. Exactly when they arrived in NZ is unknown, but they returned to Australia, to Melbourne, in 1872. Had William made his fortune? Who knows.

The story of the children who died in Melbourne is terribly sad. Their mother Mary Jane died in Melbourne on 8 April 1872. William was left with three children, Alfred, aged 4, Cornelia, 1 3/4 and Avice, aged only 21 days old. William apparently was unable to care for the three of them, presumably because he needed to work, and fathers didn't do that sort of thing in those days anyway, so they were put into care. All three of them were sent to Industrial Schools, which were for the care of neglected children. Albert died in the industrial school on December 7, 1872 of bronchitis and whooping cough. Cornelia died November 21, 1872 of debility and marasmus (extreme malnutrition), and Avice on July 2, 1872 of marasmus and apoplexy. The industrial schools cannot have been happy places to live, especially considering the two girls died of extreme malnutrition. Were these children destined to die young anyway because of congenital conditions? We'll never know, because there was no knowledge of those things then, but it is a possibility, particularly in the case of Cornelia, who died of debility and marasmus.

It is interesting to note that from William's second marriage, to Lavinia Huxley (who was not a blood relation of his), of their eight children, none of them died in childhood.

The issue of the court case over Thomas Macindoe's will

It has long been assumed by living members of the Macindoe family that the court case over Thomas Macindoe's (1841-1901) will - being about the appointment of the executors - frittered away most of the money in the estate, and this was why the mysterious death bed message, that Thomas set aside £100 for the publication of, was apparently never published. Although the court case made the papers, it did not appear to be a long and protracted affair which might have sucked up all the money. Was it only the absence of the publication of the death bed message that made us all think that?

The other day I was looking through the probate records for Thomas' daughter Margaret Kirkwood (Maggie) Macindoe (1883-1929), and now I'm really wondering if all the money did disappear into legal coffers. Because when Maggie died she owned one of the properties that her father Thomas had in his estate i.e. it was most likely part of her share of the inheritance. So now I wonder, did any of Maggie's siblings own properties listed in their father's estate as well? I haven't seen the probate records for any of Maggie's siblings, but State Records holds a number of them: Thomas Macindoe jnr (1870-1947), Walter Walker Macindoe (1866-1955), Andrew Paterson Macindoe (1868-1956), and Norman Macindoe (1874-1956). As well as that, though Stewart Macindoe's (1872-1944) probate records are not held, his wife Mattie Carr Macindoe's (1875-1962) are, and considering she died after him, any property in his name may have been willed to her.

So that's another trip to State Records required. It will be interesting to see if any of the other children owned properties listed in their father's estate as well. Perhaps it was just that none of his children wanted his death bed message published, even if there was enough money there for it. I wonder what it said!!

Latin help?

I don't know Latin and the vast majority of the German parish records I am looking at currently for the Beringers are in Latin. Most of the time I can get the gist of it from Google Translator, but this one is long, the writing gets quite small in places, and I am generally struggling with the latter section of the record. If I knew Latin it might be easier to guess what the words were - can anyone help?

The following is my guess so far:
1769 Junii 18
Beringer
Baptizabatur Laurentius Josephus, Honesti Civis et molitoris Caspari Josephi Beringer ac Maria Josepha conjugum filius legitimus; Patrinus fuit Plusimium Reverend us ac Eximius Duis Laurentius Hochheimer Parochus in Lorch in Rhino gava; vicarias egit vices Per honoratus Duis Adamus Josephus Hochheimer Sub prator in Florsheim ........ ......... ........ genitor ux licentia Parochi Baptizavit him zafaulen Adus Pater Josephus Hochheimer Franciscan Guardians .........

I'm quite sure there are mistakes there, so feel free to help me out. And if anyone wants to translate it as well I won't knock that back!

A new book on Gaspard Weiss

Yesterday in the mail I received a new edition to my family history library: the autobiography of Gaspard Weiss. I was terribly excited to have in my hands the autobiography of my great great great great grandfather! Pity it is in German and French and I can't read either! However, Tobias Bonz, one of the editors, has acknowledged my small assistance to his research in a couple of footnotes to the text and I could certainly find my name!

Should you be interested in obtaining a copy it is published by Ortus Musikverlag and the ISBN is 978-3-937788-23-4, retailing for about €25.

The Great White Train

I have been going through my Uncle Les' photo album which I've borrowed from my dad. Uncle Les (Leslie Alfred Davis) was married to my grandfather's sister. He is said to have entertained the troops during the war, which I think he did through working with the YMCA, and he also worked for Bebarfalds, a now-gone department store which sold home furnishings and furniture, located where Woolworths is now, across the road from the Sydney Town Hall. I have an old sewing machine from Bebarfalds which was originally my great aunt's.

Uncle Les' album is huge and has hundreds of photos. Looking through it, I started to wonder if Uncle Les had worked on the railways as well as for Bebarfalds, because there were lots of photos of "train representatives" in various places around country New South Wales (NSW). Then I noticed the photos of the train, and on it was written "Great White Train". Googling revealed that the Great White Train was an endeavour by Sydney-based industrialists through the Australian Made Preference League to encourage people to buy Australian-made products. The train was a travelling exhibition of 15 carriages in which about 30 companies (including Bebarfalds) displayed their wares, hoping to entice rural customers to buy from them. There were two journeys through NSW, the first from 11 November 1925 until 20 May 1926, covering roughly the western half of NSW, and the second from 25 August to 22 November 1926, focusing on the eastern half of NSW.

Uncle Les, as a representative of Bebarfalds, travelled on both journeys. They obviously went to so many places on the trips that he lost track of which place was on which journey because the photos are all mixed in together.

Former Western Australian Labor politician and journalist Wallace Nelson was an official lecturer on the tours.

The then Australian Governor General, Lord Stonehaven, toured the Great White Train during a visit to Albury on 14 April 1926.

In this photo Uncle Les is standing, near the centre of the photo, wearing a "grey" tweed jacket.

The Beringer Brothers - of the winery fame

I will say at the very outset here that I currently have NO EVIDENCE that Jacob and Frederick Beringer, of the Beringer Brothers Winery from the Napa Valley in California are related to me. However, I am interested to see if I can find a link, as they are the most well-known Beringers I have come across, and were reputed to have been born in Mainz, Germany, which is not really very far from where my Beringers came from.

I came across this excellent article the other day, so I contacted the author, on the off chance he would be interested in the research I had done on other Beringers from the Rhine Valley region. In corresponding with him, I decided it was time to do some research on why my relatives Valtin and Dorothea Beringer were christened at the Saint Quintin Catholic Cathedral in Mainz, when the family later lived in Rauenthal, and at least one of Valtin and Dorothea's siblings was born in Rauenthal. I still haven't worked out what Lorenz and Eva Maria, their parents, were doing in Mainz. And I wondered if there might be a link between my Beringers and the Napa Valley Beringers because of the born-in-Mainz "coincidence".

FamilySearch seems to have much of the parish records for St Quintin's already transcribed, so I've been trawling through them today. It turns out that there were oodles and oodles of Beringers christened at St Quintin's. Would I find the births of the Napa Valley Beringers?

Of the Napa Valley Beringers this is what was known: Their parents were Louis and Marie Beringer née Gruber. Jacob had a middle name beginning with L, and his date of birth was 4 May 1845. Frederick was apparently born in January 1840. Not a lot to go on. "Louis" didn't sound like a terribly German name to me so I looked up the German equivalents of the French sounding Louis: Alois, Aloysius, Lutz and Ludwig. However, the parish records for St Quintin at this time were written in Latin, so a Latinised variation is Ludovici or Ludovicus. I have nothing to confirm that the wife of Louis Beringer was actually named Marie Gruber - she is rarely mentioned in information about the Beringer Brothers. And I also had nothing to suggest that they were christened at St Quintin's, as there were other Catholic churches in Mainz, but it was a place to start.

And I think I've found them!
Jacobus Fridericus Beringer was born 4 May 1845, and christened at St Quintin's on 10 May 1845. His parents were Conradi Ludovici Beringer and Catharinae Schuckardt.
Fridericus Ludovicus Beringer was born 28 January 1840, and christened at St Quintin's on 6 February 1840. His parents were Conradi Ludovici Beringer and Annae Catharinae Schuckard.
There were also siblings: Wernerus Beringer (c 31 Oct 1830), Jacobus Henricus Beringer (c 24 Jun 1834), Carolus Gottfriedus Beringer (c 30 Dec 1836) and Conradus Ludovicus Beringer (b 4 Oct 1841, c 13 Oct 1841, d 16 Jan 1842), and there may even be more.

So, its interesting that history records Jacob's middle name as being "L." when it was really Frederick's. And their mother wasn't Marie Gruber at all, but Anna Catharina Schuckardt.

I've ordered the microfilm for St Quintin's from FamilySearch to see what else I can find. It should have an occupation for their father at the very least. Plus it may give me a reason for why Valtin and Dorothea Beringer's family was in Mainz at the time of their births as well. Stay tuned!