| Notater |
- Apenrade is now Aabenraa Denmark. Family departed London England 25 May 1876 in the "City Of Adelaide" 920 ton sailing ship. Ship is now (2005) in drydock CARRICK Scotland. Arrived Semaphore Sth Australia 19 Aug 1876. Passengers Contract Ticket lists the family & amount of food & water allocated to each person. Hans was Naturalised on 29 Aug 1883 in Adelaide S Aus. If tradition followed Hans fathers name would have been Nis (surname unknown)Hans being the son of Nis. Fathers surname depends on his father's first name.
- Hans Christian NISSEN, who was born on 22 August 1830 in Apenrade, (also known as Åbenrå or Aabenraa) Denmark, was christened on 5 September 1830 in Hjordkaer, Aabenraa-Sonderborg, Denmark. Hans had at least two sisters, Anna NISDATTER, born 15 October 1824, christened 24 October 1824 in Hjordkaer, Aabenraa, Denmark and Maria NISSEN, born 21 December 1826, christened 26 December 1826 in Hjordkaer, Aabenraa-Sonderborg, Denmark. Apenrade, in the district of Schleswig, where Hans Christian NISSEN was born, is now the port of Åbenrå or Aabenraa, Denmark. It was first mentioned in the 12th century and grew from a fishing village into a thriving port in the 17th and 18th centuries. Apenrade was in Denmark at the time of Han's birth but was in Germany by the time he left for Australia.
- Hans Christian NISSEN, the son of Nis NISSEN and Dorothea MATTHIASDATTER, married Christine Frederikke BOISEN, the daughter of Johannes BOISEN and Magdalene JUHL, on 4 September 1863, Den Danske Folkekirke, Bevtoft, Haderslev, Denmark. Hans J T Nissen used to tell his family that his father, Hans Christian, was the mayor of a town in Denmark. (In English he would have been called THE Nissen, and his oldest daughter, for example, would have been THE Miss Nissen.) They had five children born in Schleswig – when Dora was born this was part of Denmark, but in October 1864 it became part of Prussia. The youngest was just over one year of age when the family decided to migrate to Australia. Harry used to claim that the family left hurriedly, escaping through the windows of their house. The reason for the escape was never explained. They also had property which they could never reclaim.
Hans, Christine and family probably sailed from the port of Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany heading for England. They departed London, England, on 25 May 1876 aboard the City Of Adelaide, a 920 ton (934t) sailing vessel. They arrived at Semaphore, the port of Adelaide, South Australia, on 18 August 1876, a voyage of eighty-four days. Most of the passengers were listed as German migrants. Adelaide had been settled for less than forty years at this stage but it was becoming a prosperous city.
The eventual settlement of South Australia by Europeans was the result of an experiment in social engineering. In the early part of the nineteenth century, with people pouring into the overcrowded cities of England, social reform became increasingly important. Against this background the tireless social reformer, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, developed a theory of systematic colonisation. He rejected the notion of colonies being a dumping ground for Britain's prison overflow and advanced a scheme where the money raised from the sale of crown land could be invested in the cost of shipping labourers to work on the newly privatised land. Here was a plan for the development of Australia which did not rely on convict labour. So Adelaide welcomed free immigrants from Europe and the Nissens would have found it reasonably easy to settle there.
[The City of Adelaide was a clipper ship on the UK - Australia run. She was built by W. Pile, Hay & Co. at Sunderland, launched on 7 May 1864, and employed carrying general cargo and emigrants to Australia and wool home. It was built of teak planking over iron framework, with pitch-pine work about her, and was originally a ship rigged sailing vessel. Her hull was sheathed in copper: length - 176'8" (5385 cm), beam - 33'2" (1011 cm), draft - 18'8" (569 cm). In 1888 she was sold to Dixons of London, converted to barque rig and used in the North American timber trade and in 1894 cut down to a hulk and employed by Southampton Corporation as a plague ship during an outbreak of cholera. Bought by the Admiralty in 1922 she was converted and renamed "Carrick" and used as a naval drill ship and headquarters of the Clyde Division, RNVR at Greenock. Used as a naval accommodation ship during the Second World War and given to the RNVR after the war for conversion to a RNVR club headquarters at Glasgow.
Captain Alexander Bruce was at the helm of the City of Adelaide in 1876. He was the son of her first master, Captain David Bruce, and brother of Captain John Bruce who was also master of 'City' for a time, and served as a junior officer under both his father and as an Officer under his brother before taking on the 'City' himself. After serving his time at sea, he took up the position of wharfinger at Port Adelaide in about 1881. He settled in South Australia and built a home on Military Road at Semaphore.]
The Passengers’ Contract Ticket lists the family and amount of food and water allocated to each person. Hans (listed as 46 years), Christine (32), and Dorothea (12) were entitled to adult rations, while Magdalene (10), Nis (7, listed as Jensen, his second name), Hans (4), and Maren's (2) entitlements were half the adult rations. Ages seem to have been calculated as at their next birthday (some of which would have occurred during the voyage). The diet as shown on the ticket consisted of mutton, pork, preserved meat, suet, butter, cheese, jams and marmalades, biscuit, flour, oatmeal, peas, rice, potatoes, carrots, onions, compressed vegetables, raisins, tea, coffee, sugar, West India molasses, water. Rationed out strictly per passenger the food was to be issued in a cooked state. There was also mixed pickles, lime juice, mustard, salt and pepper. Preserved milk and eggs were available for children. The water, as far as possible, was to be distilled. In the tropics the surgeon could issue a larger allowance provided the supply would admit of it. It would not have been a real pleasant journey as the married emigrants, who were aft in the between-decks, had to put up with the sulphurous smells of the heating stoves.
The family lived in North Adelaide and Stepney. Hans had the occupation of cabinet-maker. In June 1878 he and Christine added to their five children with the birth of twins though one of the babies died aged two weeks. Other children followed in 1880, 1882 (she died aged one and a half) and 1886. Between 1887 and 1892 (and possibly earlier) Christine had a fruit shop and refreshment room business at 286 Rundle St East, Adelaide. This building was divided on the ground floor into three shops, the Nissen's shop being in the centre. Hans, Christine and family lived above the shop which was opposite the East End Market. A photograph of their restored shop is on the cover of 1998 Adelaide telephone directory. It is a reddish brown building with a gable and cream feature windows, similar to church windows of that period. The shop at 287, on the opposite side of Rundle St, next to the market buildings, housed their son Nis's fishmonger business in 1893. After 1892 the family moved to Louis St, Stepney. Hans senior had been naturalised on 29 August 1883 in Adelaide, SA.
A person listed as J. Nissen in the Adelaide business directories lived in the same house in Louis St, Stepney, for some years while Hans & Christine were still living above the shop in Rundle Street. Could the house have belonged to a relative of the same name? Was the existence of such a relative the reason the Nissens migrated to Australia? There is no record of when this other Nissen arrived in Australia.
So, Hans and Christine had ten children, five born in Denmark, and five born in Adelaide - two of whom died as babies. There was one set of twins. Their oldest daughter, Dora, died aged 37 predeceasing both her parents. Christine died, aged 61, on 10 January 1906 at her residence, Louis St, Stepney, SA, of tuberculosis. She was buried in Payneham Cemetery, SA, Lot 289 East Extension. Hans died, aged 84, on 16 July 1915 of bronchitis and dilation of the heart at his son's residence, Louis St, Stepney, SA. He was buried in the same grave in Payneham Cemetery as his wife. Their children produced fifty-four grand-children.
We now have the stories of their children.
|
1830 - 1915 (84 år)
[1] 
: Adresse
: Beliggenhed
: By
: Sogn
: Amt/Region
: Land
: Ikke indstillet