Post by wendishkiwi on Sept 15, 2013 21:44:36 GMT -5
As of Sept 2013, research has only found one family of Wends who settled in New Zealand - the Kossatz/Kaina family who arrived in 1864. Georg Kaina, a tenant farmer from Preilack had married Anna, the widow of Johann Kossatz of Drehnow in 1853. Johann had died in 1850 leaving Anna (maiden name Schlodder) with 4 daughters - Maria 14, Anna 8, Elisabeth 5, and Christiana 3 (Christiana's twin brother had died age 8mths). The girls were all born in Drehnow, and all retained their Kossatz surname.
Georg and Anna had a son, Freidrich, born in Preilack in 1854.
After a series of catastrophic crop failures, and the promise of land of their own in the colonies, they decided to emigrate, and in 1859 they boarded the sailing ship 'Peter Godeffroy' in Hamburg and set sail - to South Africa, arriving in Capetown Nov 19, 1859.
Their allocation of land was next to the Waddoups family from England who had arrived a year earlier. John and Ann Waddoups taught them basic English, but after 5 years of trying to make a living off the poor and arid land they'd been settled on, John and Georg decided pack up their families and try again - this time in New Zealand. They sailed on the barque 'Alfred', arriving at the settlement of Waipipi on the Manukau harbour, west of Auckland, Nov 18, 1864, where again they established adjacent farms. The Kossatz sisters took jobs in Auckland to support the families until the farms became profitable.
Life was hard and with no contact with other Wends, there was little incentive to foster their language, culture, religion and traditions, although there is no doubt they did, in their own way.
Georg and Anna had a son, Freidrich, born in Preilack in 1854.
After a series of catastrophic crop failures, and the promise of land of their own in the colonies, they decided to emigrate, and in 1859 they boarded the sailing ship 'Peter Godeffroy' in Hamburg and set sail - to South Africa, arriving in Capetown Nov 19, 1859.
Their allocation of land was next to the Waddoups family from England who had arrived a year earlier. John and Ann Waddoups taught them basic English, but after 5 years of trying to make a living off the poor and arid land they'd been settled on, John and Georg decided pack up their families and try again - this time in New Zealand. They sailed on the barque 'Alfred', arriving at the settlement of Waipipi on the Manukau harbour, west of Auckland, Nov 18, 1864, where again they established adjacent farms. The Kossatz sisters took jobs in Auckland to support the families until the farms became profitable.
Life was hard and with no contact with other Wends, there was little incentive to foster their language, culture, religion and traditions, although there is no doubt they did, in their own way.