Christina HAUB 1839-1915
Born on 6th June 1839, Christina was the penultimate of the eight children of Anna Margaretha, nee Jost, and her husband Johann Georg Haub, a farmer of Nieder-Weisel. Their marriage in 1822 brought six daughters, one of whom failed to survive infancy, and two sons. Three of the younger girls were among those who fled from the village to avoid the dangers facing them in the 1850s. First to depart, late in 1855, was Katharina, followed several months later by Christina and Katharina Elisabetha in an organised group of emigrants, which included members of the Bill, Häuser, Kissler and Schimpf families.
Their ship “Red Jacket” left Liverpool on 20th May 1856 on a twelve week voyage through fine weather, which gave her passengers a pleasant start to their adventure. Christina must have been a small person as she was able to pass herself off as a 10 year old child, enabling her to travel at half fare. She turned 17 on their sixteenth day at sea.
From Melbourne the group went to Ballarat, whence the sisters then went north to Dunolly, where they and their elder sister worked as domestics. Early in 1857 Katharina married Lawrence Ellingsen, a Norwegian immigrant, and Christina went with the couple when Lawrence prospected on the goldfields at Stawell. No doubt Katharina was glad of Christina’s help as her babies began to arrive. In 1858, the group went back to Ballarat and Christina and Katharina Elisabetha joined others from Nieder-Weisel in Smythesdale. Here, they formed liaisons with two of the brothers Hauser. On 29th November 1859 Christina married Konrad, just twenty-one days after her sister married his brother Philipp, in the small Lutheran Church in Smythes Street. The celebrant in each case was the Lutheran pastor, John Niquet of Ballarat.
Christina and Konrad lived in Smythesdale for some time; sons Jacob and Philipp were born there. Then they went prospecting with their Ellingsen in-laws to the Springdallah goldfields. George was born there in 1865, after which Konrad returned to Ballarat with his family.
For the next six or seven years the Hausers lived just on the outskirts of the town, with Katharina and her family as close neighbours. A fourth son, Carl Frederick, arrived in 1867 and in 1869 Christina produced a baby girl, Anna Christina. Later they went back to Smythesdale, where Katharina Elisabetha was still living. Philipp Hauser’s correspondence with the eldest brother of the sisters kept them in touch with events in far-away Nieder-Weisel, where their mother had died in 1867.
Christina had two more daughters, Catherine Elizabeth in 1873 and Emma Julia in 1875. The next year saw the birth of Conrad Christoph – and the death of Katharina Elisabetha Hauser from cancer. Christina had two more children, Alice Bertha in 1880 and Gertrude Edith in 1882. Later that year Konrad was partly crippled when he tried to stop a runaway horse and suffered a shattered kneecap. Further misfortune overtook the family in 1883 when the youngest son died at the age of five.
Christina and Konrad lived in Ballarat during their declining years. Konrad died in their home at 307 Errard Street in 1909 and Christina lived alone for another six years. She took the unusual step of applying for letters of naturalisation – these were granted in 1913. Her surviving sons married and moved to other towns but three of her daughters stayed in Ballarat, so Christina was able to see some of her grandchildren grow up. She also had the company of her sister Katharina living close by. Her life came to its end on 30 March 1915. She was buried with her husband in the Old Cemetery in Ballarat.
View Christina's Family Chart
