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Anders Gustaf Anderson, from Åland to the Darling Downs

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My great grandfather, Anders Gustaf Anderson, was born on the 17th December 1837,  to Anders Andreasson Rosenberg and Christina, ‘Hanna’ Johansdotter Sundberg.  Anders grew up in  Mariehamn, in the K ökar archipelago , part of the Åland  Islands ( 6,700 large and 20,000 small islands).  In 1809 the  Åland Islands were ceded by Sweden to Russia, along with Finland, under the Treaty of Fredrikshamn. However, in 1920 the League of Nations degreed it an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland.  Although part of Finland, the official language  is Swedish.   'Hanna's house where Anders was born, is now a museum. (Photo courtesy of Tessie Anderson). St Anne's church  K ökar where Anders was baptised, sits on the site of  St Anne’s 15 th century Franciscan monastery. It is believed that there was an even older church there before the Franciscans.  ( https://www.kyrkor.ax/churches/kokar-church/  ). Anders...

Darling Downs pioneers Johann Georg Ludwig Kuhn and Eva Maria Wohlfahrt

My great grandparents, Johann George Ludwig (George) Kuhn and Eva Maria Wohlfahrt,  travelling on the Johann Caesar, arrived in Moreton Bay (Brisbane) Australia on January 14th 1853.  Both were born in  Baden, Preussen (later Prussia):  George in about 1823 to John Kuhn and Barbara Lorn;  and Eva in about 1824 to Peter Wohlfahrt and Margaret Geiner (as recorded on the ship's manifest). Soon after their marriage, they had travelled to Hamburg with their six month old son Valentine, and there boarded the Johann Caesar, as a NSW government sponsored 'vinedresser' family. The Johann Caesar was one of a number of vessels bringing NSW government  sponsored immigrant vinedresser families to NSW (as Queensland was then known) between 1849 and 1856. As Peter Ludlow (2020) ( https://peterlud.wordpress.com/ctegary/Germany) in his Moreton Bay History explains, in the 1850's the Darling Downs region was a burgeoning agricultural area with large areas of ...