Ernest Benjamin Bernhardt Aurisch, Free Settler “Helene” 1855

Being the start of this chain in the Aurisch Family in Australia, Ernest has a large number of trees leading back to him.

This is the boat he arrived on: http://mariners.records.nsw.gov.au/1855/01/039hel.htm

http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2977284&id=I28075

Finally this is a great story - Tells the arrival of the family in Australia:

http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/AUS-NSW-Hunter-Valley/2004-11/...

to continue the story of James Lanesbury of Scone..........................

James and his young wife Sarah Lanesbury (nee Worley), settled down in the village of Scone to raise their family and over the years they had nine children, William 1848, Jane, 1851, George 1854, Sarah 1856, Susan 1858, Francis 1861, Anne 1863, Mary 1869 and James Burnett Lanesbury 1872, all were born in Scone and all were christened at the Church of England Church, St Lukes.

In 1869 at the age of 18, young Jane Lanesbury the daughter of a convict, married 23 year old Bernard Robert Reinhold AURISCH, born in Gughwitz near Berlin in Germany in 1846. Young Bernard was the son of Ernest B and Caroline Jane Aurisch (nee Hahn). Ernest was born in Breslau in Germany in 1804 and Caroline Johanna Hahn was born in 1813 also in Breslau, Germany, which is now in Poland. The couple married in 1833 in Prussia and between the years 1833 bad 1846 they had seven children, at this time Bernard Robert Aurisch was their second youngest child.

Ernest Aurisch, had accepted an agreement to work on the property of Henry Dangar, near Scone in the Colony of Australia. So the Aurischs began to make plans to leave their homeland and sail to the southern land far across the sea to make a new life for themselves. Ernest's employer, Henry Dangar had been appointed the Assistance Surveyor of the Hunter Valley Region and it was he who had discovered a route through to what is now know as Aberdeen and Scone.

The Aurisch family, plus 220 other immigrants, sailed from Hamburg in Germany on 5th September, 1854 on board the Barque "Helene". The Aurisch were unassisted passengers as they had paid their own passage. The "Helen", arrived in Port Jackson on 11th January and the passengers were disembarked at Cockle Bay on 13th January, 1855. They then made their way to Scone, again it was either by coastal sailing ship to Newcastle, or overland from Sydney Town. However, by December 1855 the family had settled in the village Thornwaite near Scone as this is where Ernest's wife, Caroline gave birth to their last child, a daughter, Caroline Ellen Aurisch on 27th December, 1855.

Back in 1826 as the village of Scone began to expand, more than three square miles was allocated as a Crown reserve on the east bank of Kingdom Ponds. This was when the first land grants were being measured and part of this reserve became the village of Scone, which was gazetted on 6th September in 1837. The remainder was sold to William Dumaresq of St.Aubins and this was the property that John Worley had worked on when he had arrived from England in 1838 with his family. William Dumaresq's estate enclosed the town of Scone and continued to do so for many years.

Bernard and Jane Aurisch (nee Lanesbury), over the years had 11 children, Amy, Rhinehold, Walter, Jane, Bernard, Nita, Hilda, Stanley, Tom, Bernece and Eveline. Bernard was a storekeeper in Kelly Street in Scone and was also an Alderman in the first Scone Council in 1888. He became eligible to be on the council as on 20th May 1881 he had been naturalised, on his application of citizenship he state his country of origin as Prussia. Bernard Aurisch was also listed as a landholder with stock in 1885.

It is their fourth child, daughter Jane who we are interested in and is the line my friend, Barb descends through. Jane Aurisch was born on 27th of March in 1877 at Scone and at the age of 18 married, George Plumber Watkins in 1898 at St Luke's Church of England at Scone. Over the years they produced nine children; the youngest was Jean Marjorie Watkins and this is Barb's mother.

So the grave my friend Barb visited with her mother at Scone, so many, many years ago, with the funny looking German name on the headstone, was her g grandfather Bernard Robert Rhinehold AURISCH. Bernard died in Scone in 1896, Bernard's wife Jane, after the death of her beloved husband Bernard went to live with her daughter Jane, in Annandale and that is where she died in 1935.

It all began so long ago, when a young lad, a Draper from London, a convict by the name of James Langbery (in the Colony Langsbury), began a long sea voyage to a new land so far, far away................

Sources for this story:-

Trial records held at the PRO, Kew, England. The SAG Website, Settler or Felon Website, BDM - NSW Website. Many Listers on this List. History of Scone, Websites regarding William Dumaresq and Henry Dangar, stories of the German Immigrants on the "Helene". "The Convict Ships 1788-1868" by Charles Bateson. Also, much appreciated assistance with information regarding these families, from descendants of the Lanesbury, Worley and Aurisch families.

• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Aurisch-64
• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Aug 15 2021, 10:34:49 UTC