Member-only story
Passages InTime and A Life
Travels of a young man with big ideas!
My great grandfather Carl Hansen, was born in Germany in 1840. I was born in New Zealand approximately 103 years later during World War II. How this came about is an intriguing story.
My grandfather grew up in the small town of Kellinghusen in Northern Germany. His family business was house painting and wallpaper hanging.
Little is known about his early life but around the age of 12, he was apprenticed to a similar business in another town about 100 kilometers away. Why he left his family and family business and became an apprentice in the same type of business in another town is a mystery. In the mid-1800s, traveling 100 kms took around 10 hours by horse and buggy or cart. From records I have come up with, it seems my great grandfather never did return to Kellinghusen. After completing his apprenticeship and I assume working for a few years to save some money, he traveled to Hamburg and signed on as a deckhand on a ship to Australia. Any emigrants to Australia in the 19th century traveled by sailing ship. They were very vulnerable to the vagaries of weather and the trip could take as long as four months. The top of the line clipper ships sometimes managed the trip in two months, dependent upon the weather and prevailing winds.
