Charles Wilhelm Thesen

Born in Stavanger, Norway on the 14th November 1856 and died on 1st February 1940 in Knysna, ship-owner and timber-merchant, was the fifth son of Arnt Leonard Thesen (born 26th October 1816 died 24th June 1875, a well-known ship-owner and town councillor of Stavanger, and his wife Anne Cathrine Margreta Brandt, who, having suffered financially through the Danish-German War of 1864, decided to emigrate to New Zealand. Charles set sail on 14 August 1869 with his parents, five brothers, two sisters, an uncle who had arranged the migration from Norway, and a cousin, in the family-owned Albatros, a 117-ton schooner which was their sole asset.Another brother, Ragnvald, was picked up at Plymouth. The ship arrived at Cape Town on 16th November, and left again on 24th November, but heavy weather off Cape Agulhas forced her back to Cape Town. It was decided not to go to New Zealand but to settle at Knysna, a densely forested estuarine port 400 miles east of Cape Town. Thesen’s uncle, Mathias Theodore Thesen (born 26th October 1813; died 18th June 1884), together with his son, Hans Thesen, had examined the possibilities of trading at Knysna, considering both freight-earning for the ship and trading in indigenous wood and general merchandise.

At Knysna Charles’s father and uncle established themselves as Thesen and Co. in 1870, basing their economic future on the embryonic timber and shipping industry and having a noticeable influence on the thinly populated village and district, while the Albatros formed the nucleus of a future fleet of coastal-trading steamships. After five months in the company Thesen’s uncle left to establish his own business at Plettenberg Bay, where he died in 1884. From February 1872 Charles Thesen worked as a clerk for William Anderson & Co. at Port Elizabeth. On his father’s death in 1875 he joined his brothers in the family business. His dynamic personality soon brought him to the front so that, at twenty-five, he became a member of the first municipal council of Knysna and mayor of the town (1890-1893 and 1921-1924). In 1889 he became a divisional councillor, serving on both bodies concurrently for many years and being elected chairman of the divisional council from 1925 to 1928.

During fifty years of public service Charles dominated almost every facet of Knysna’s life. Chairman of the local chamber of commerce, justice of the peace, member of the Cape Provincial Council, general manager of a privately-owned narrow-gauge railway in the main forest, he was the chief instrument in persuading the South African Railways to extend the line from George to Knysna, thus replacing with rail transport Thesen’s now uneconomical sea transport. The Thesen ships were then sold.

Before the close of the century Charles had taken out British citizenship and had become accustomed to the South African way of life, speaking English fluently though with a strong Norwegian accent. He had a commanding presence and was tall and spare. He had shrewd mastery of detail and money and at times an almost prophetic vision in acquiring large tracts of land for farming and tree-planting, carrying out afterwards the many activities resulting from his interests. His patriarchal hold on the family business was retained to the very end.

Charles Thesen’s first wife was Bessie Harison, daughter of Capt. Christopher Harison (see footnote), government conservator of forests. There were five sons and three daughters. Charles’s second wife was Hannah Thesen, daughter of his cousin, Capt. Hans Thesen (born 17th October 1843 and died 5th March 1909); there were one son and two daughters. Thesen’s sister, Blanka Thesen, married F. W. Reitz, the younger (see footnote), in 1874. His elder brothers were: Hjalmar (born 14th February 1846 died in1923), Rolf (born 9th August 1850 died 18th October 1883), Ragnvald (born 9th August 1850 died 8th July 1936) and Nils (born 24th April 1853 died 23rd November 1929).

Thesens’s portrait appears (infra) in Hartmann and in S.A.W.W., and there are portraits in the possession of the family.

http://ancestry24.com/charles-wilhelm-thesen/

Charles Wilhelm Thesen (14 November 1856 Stavanger - 1 February 1940 Knysna), was a Norwegian-born shipowner and timber merchant who played a leading role in Knysna's public affairs. Charles was the fifth son of Arndt Leonard Thesen (26 October 1816 - 24 June 1875), a wealthy and respected man in Stavanger. The German-Danish War of 1864-67 caused a downturn in trade and shipping, and in 1868 caused the collapse of several companies in Stavanger, among which was A.L. Thesen & Co. Arndt, together with his wife, Anne Cathrine Margreta Brandt, seven sons, two daughters, his brother Mathias Theodore Thesen (26 October 1813 - 18 June 1884), and his son, Hans Adolf (17 October 1843 - 5 March 1909), and a crew of seven, left Norway for New Zealand 14 August 1869 in his 117-ton schooner Albatros. The ship was loaded with timber to be sold on their arrival. They reached Cape Town on 16 November 1869 and after a week’s stay for repairs and provisioning, the voyage to New Zealand was resumed. Storms at the Cape forced them to put about and return to Table Bay. In Cape Town, the Swedish-Norwegian consul, Carl Gustaf Åkerberg, told the Thesens about the shortage of cargo ships plying the South African coast. The plan to sail to New Zealand was at first postponed and later set aside.[1] After several coastal cargo voyages, the Thesen family settled in Knysna. They started with shipping timber, a business they knew well from Norway, but soon ventured into saw-milling and acquiring forested land. From February 1872 Charles worked as a clerk for William Anderson & Co in Port Elizabeth, but on his father's death in 1875, he joined and managed the family firm, adding new vessels to their fleet, buying more land and trying oyster farming. They also diversified into hardware stores, supermarkets, whaling, gold prospecting and mining, railway construction and road transport. Thesen did not forget his Norwegian roots and commissioned his freight ships such as “Outeniqua” in 1915 from “Porsgrund Mekaniske Værksted” in Porsgrund.[2][3] He married Eliza Bessie Georgiana Harison (5 March 1863 - 6 August 1901), daughter of the first conservator of forests, Christopher Harison, an opportune joining of the two families. They produced ten children, 5 sons and 3 daughters surviving. After Bessie's death of pregnancy complications in 1901, he married Lucia Johanna Christine Thesen (1875–1963), the daughter of his cousin Hans Adolf, and she bore one son and two daughters. Charles was active in local politics, serving on the divisional and municipal councils, filling the offices of mayor, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Cape Provincial Council. In 1904 he bought Paarden Island, part of the Melkhoutkraal Estate of George Rex. Here the Thesens processed cut timber from 1922 and the island later became known as Thesen Island.[4] One of Charles' sisters, Blanka Thesen, married Francis William Reitz, president of the Orange Free State. Charles's other brothers were Hjalmar (14 February 1846 - 1923), Rolf (9 August 1850 - 18 October 1883), Ragnvald (9 August 1850 - 8 July 1936) and Nils (24 April 1853 - 23 November 1929). The vessel Albatros traded along the Southern African coast, sailing to Mauritius on one occasion, taking two months and ten days for the round trip. In March 1874, en route from Knysna to Cape Town and under captain Knud Thomasen, she struck a reef off Cape Agulhas and went down. The passengers and crew were stranded for three days on Dyer Island before being rescued by local fishermen and then travelling by wagon to Caledon. The Thesens' next vessel was the 191-ton brig Ambulant which, in 1883, was the first ship to take on cargo at the new Government Wharf off Thesen’s Island, the cargo consisting of 3 000 railway sleepers to Cape Town. Competition from the Castle and Union Lines forced Thesen's to shut down this route and Ambulant was sold off in 1884. This was followed in 1895 by the 427-ton mail packet Agnar, a steamship nicknamed ‘Agony’ by the local school children she regularly carried to boarding schools in Cape Town. She stayed in service for some 40 years, as troop carrier for the British colonial government in the Boer War (1899–1902) and for the German government in the ‘Herero War’ in German South West Africa (1904–1907). She was taken over by a business in Madagascar in 1934 and was lost in a cyclone off Mauritius in 1938. The 706-ton Ingerid was taken into service in 1901 and the 600-ton Karatara in 1913. The 1019-ton Outeniqua joined the fleet in 1915, the 139-ton Clara converted from a sand barge and suction dredger and the 216-ton Nautilus in 1917.

The Outeniqua was the company’s flagship, could accommodate fifty passengers and remained in service until 1945. In 1916 the Thesen Line became the Thesen’s Steamship Company, but the coastal shipping trade was languishing. Vessels which had been conscripted during World War I were free to ply commercial routes after the War, leading to keen competition. Improvements in the road and rail infrastructure, particularly the opening of the George-Knysna railway line in 1928, led to cheaper tariffs for travel by land. The Thesen family sold off four of its eight vessels, and in 1921 the entire company with the remaining Agnar, Ingerid, Outeniqua and Clara. The buyer was the English-based Houston Line, which continued to use Thesen’s red swallowtail with white star.[5]

Charles Wilhelm Thesen (14 November 1856 – 1 February 1940)

He was a Norwegian-born shipowner and timber merchant who played a leading role in the public affairs of the South African town of Knysna. He was actively involved in the timber and shipbuilding industry of the region, and acquired Paarden Island in the Knysna Lagoon, on which he built a sawmill and shipyard. The island was later renamed Thesen Island, after him and his family.

Biography

Charles was born in Stavanger, the fifth son of Arndt Leonard Thesen (26 October 1816 – 24 June 1875), a wealthy and respected man in the town. The German-Danish War of 1864–67 caused a downturn in trade and shipping, and in 1868 caused the collapse of several companies in Stavanger, among which was A.L. Thesen & Co. Arndt, together with his wife, Anne Cathrine Margreta Brandt, seven sons, two daughters, his brother Mathias Theodore Thesen (26 October 1813 – 18 June 1884), and his son, Hans Adolf (17 October 1843 – 5 March 1909), and a crew of seven, left Norway for New Zealand on 14 August 1869 in his 117-ton schooner, Albatros. The ship was loaded with timber to be sold on their arrival.

They reached Cape Town on 16 November 1869 and after a week's stay for repairs and provisioning, the voyage to New Zealand was resumed. Storms at the Cape forced them to put about and return to Table Bay. In Cape Town, the Swedish-Norwegian consul, Carl Gustaf Åkerberg, told the Thesens about the shortage of cargo ships plying the South African coast. The plan to sail to New Zealand was at first postponed and later set aside.[1] After several coastal cargo voyages, the Thesen family settled in Knysna. They started with shipping timber, a business they knew well from Norway, but soon ventured into saw-milling and acquiring forested land. From February 1872 Charles worked as a clerk for William Anderson & Co in Port Elizabeth, but on his father's death in 1875, he joined and managed the family firm, adding new vessels to their fleet, buying more land and trying oyster farming. They also diversified into hardware stores, supermarkets, whaling, gold prospecting and mining, railway construction and road transport. Thesen did not forget his Norwegian roots and commissioned his freight ships such as "Outeniqua" in 1915 from "Porsgrund Mekaniske Værksted" in Porsgrund.[2][3] He married Eliza Bessie Georgiana Harison (5 March 1863 – 6 August 1901), daughter of the first conservator of forests, Christopher Harison, an opportune joining of the two families. They produced ten children, 5 sons and 3 daughters surviving. After Bessie's death of pregnancy complications in 1901, he married Lucia Johanna Christine Thesen (1875–1963), the daughter of his cousin Hans Adolf, and she bore one son and two daughters. Charles was active in local politics, serving on the divisional and municipal councils, filling the offices of mayor, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Cape Provincial Council. In 1904 he bought Paarden Island, part of the Melkhoutkraal Estate of George Rex. Here the Thesens processed cut timber from 1922 and the island later became known as Thesen Island.[4] Charles died in Knysna, aged 83. One of Charles' sisters, Blanka Thesen, married Francis William Reitz, president of the Orange Free State. Charles's other brothers were Hjalmar (14 February 1846 – 1923), Rolf (9 August 1850 – 18 October 1883), Ragnvald (9 August 1850 – 8 July 1936) and Nils (24 April 1853 – 23 November 1929).

Vessels owned by the Thesen family

The vessel Albatros traded along the Southern African coast, sailing to Mauritius on one occasion, taking two months and ten days for the round trip. In March 1874, en route from Knysna to Cape Town and under captain Knud Thomasen, she struck a reef off Cape Agulhas and went down. The passengers and crew were stranded for three days on Dyer Island before being rescued by local fishermen and then travelling by wagon to Caledon. The Thesens' next vessel was the 191-ton brig Ambulant which, in 1883, was the first ship to take on cargo at the new Government Wharf off Thesen's Island, the cargo consisting of 3 000 railway sleepers to Cape Town. Competition from the Castle and Union Lines forced Thesen's to shut down this route and Ambulant was sold off in 1884. This was followed in 1895 by the 427-ton mail packet Agnar, a steamship nicknamed 'Agony' by the local school children she regularly carried to boarding schools in Cape Town. She stayed in service for some 40 years, as troop carrier for the British colonial government in the Boer War (1899–1902) and for the German government in the 'Herero War' in German South West Africa (1904–1907). She was taken over by a business in Madagascar in 1934 and was lost in a cyclone off Mauritius in 1938. The 706-ton Ingerid was taken into service in 1901 and the 600-ton Karatara in 1913. The 1019-ton Outeniqua joined the fleet in 1915, the 139-ton Clara converted from a sand barge and suction dredger and the 216-ton Nautilus in 1917.

Thesen's Steamship Co.
The Outeniqua was the company's flagship, could accommodate fifty passengers and remained in service until 1945. In 1916 the Thesen Line became the Thesen's Steamship Company, but the coastal shipping trade was languishing. Vessels which had been conscripted during World War I were free to ply commercial routes after the War, leading to keen competition. Improvements in the road and rail infrastructure, particularly the opening of the George-Knysna railway line in 1928, led to cheaper tariffs for travel by land. The Thesen family sold off four of its eight vessels, and in 1921 the entire company with the remaining Agnar, Ingerid, Outeniqua and Clara. The buyer was the English-based Houston Line, which continued to use Thesen's red swallowtail with white star

• Updated from MyHeritage Family Trees via son Charles Eric Thesen by SmartCopy: Jun 11 2015, 15:50:49 UTC