Christoph REUTER 1825/6-?
Among the group of 23 migrants from Nieder-Weisel who sailed from Hamburg on 11th October 1954 on the barque “Luise” was a Christoph Reuter age 28. There is no further record of Christoph’s time in the colony – probably he was one of the 30-40 per cent of Nieder-Weisel immigrants who went back to the village after several years in Victoria. From the parish church records it is certain that this man was either:
(a) Christoph Reuter, born 30th July 1825 to Johann Georg Reuter and Anna Elisabetha nee Bill; sponsored at his baptism on 31st July by a son of Johannes Feiling the millwright; confirmed on Whitmonday 1839; married to Eva Margaretha Fleischhauer of Langenhain on 17th January 1847 in Edinburgh, at New-friars Church; died in Nieder-Weisel on 12th December 1868, apparently without issue, or
(b) Christoph Reuter, born on 5th August 1826 to Johann Jakob Reuter & Anna Juliana Marx; sponsored at his baptism on 6th August by his uncle, Christoph Reuter; confirmed on 8th June 1840; married on 26th December 1852 to Susanna Bill; father of Jakob, born 12th November 1853; date of death not known.
A Christoph Reuter was one of witnesses at the marriage of Peter Stumpf and Anna Elisabetha Jung in Gateshead, 1845; this suggests that the Christoph Reuter who emigrated to Australia was (a) above, as many of the immigrants seemed to have moved from Gateshead to Edinburgh.
Two younger sisters of Christoph born 30th July 1825 emigrated to Victoria two years after the “Luise” group; they may have done so on the suggestion of their brother. The two girls, Margaretha and Katharina, married and settled in Victoria.
There was also a Elisabetha Reuter, age 18, on “Luise”. She was a first cousin to Christoph, born 1825 – adding more weight to the supposition that he was (a) above.