Ernistina August MacCandless - Byron

GEDCOM Note

<p>by Eric McCandless.</p> <p>The following accounts are largely from the Diebert family, as my father had very limited knowledge of the Diebert family, as his father had an estranged relationship with the Dieberts for some reason.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">My great grandmother was Ernistina Diebert born 16 Apr 1860 and died from colon cancer in 1897 at Narrandera, NSW. Her parents were Johannas Goergis Josif Diebert and Julianna Quantz who came from Prussia (now either Germany or present day Poland) in the 1860s and considered themselves and spoke German, I believe with their 4 children with Ernistina as the youngest. Originally Johannas and his wife and young children were to travel to America, but something went wrong with the ship and so they caught a ship bound for Australia instead and landed in South Australia. Perhaps Johannas whose occupation was listed as a butcher and tin smith must have had some money and or worked hard as eventually they came to the Albury region and Ganmain and the Dieberts eventually did very well. Within the family, they had lots of businesses including a winery, pub, blacksmith shop, bullock teams, and wheat and sheep farms.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Johannas, Julianna and young family were part of a pioneer German wagon train from South Australia to Albury looking for land to settle. They travelled overland in a convoy with about 10 other German families and settled around the Albury region where they selected land. I think it took them around 6 months to make the journey, as there were no roads back then. From the records, they were very successful at selecting land improving it, selling some, and selecting more land to build up their wealth. They did this several times over the course of the years.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">There are a few stories of involvement with the Ned Kelly gang, but I am not convinced of the authenticity of the stories. One story is that one of the Dieberts (August) made Ned Kelly’s armour in his blacksmith’s shop. However although Ned Kelly was known to frequent the area, there are plenty of similar claims from other people. Another story is that Ned borrowed a horse from the Diebert’s during one of his raids and the next morning, the horse was returned with a bag of gold tied around his neck as an apparent thank-you for the loan of the horse. Yet another story is that Ernistina had a fling with and fathered a child (Christine / Ernistine) to Ned Kelly, but which only lived for a short while. Although there is a strong belief in these stories from different sources within the Diebert family, I am not totally convinced of a close relationship with Ned Kelly, so I have not added a relationship to Ned Kelly to thefamily tree. A book has been written by Eugenie Navarre called “Ned Kelly – Knight in Aussie Armour” which repeats the Diebert story of Ned Kelly’s association with Ernistina.The book has received lots of criticism in the Ned Kelly researcher world.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Ernistina married William (John) McCandless, but he somehow disappeared from the scene around 1883-1884 and their only (surviving) child John William (Bill) was then raised with the Dieberts. Ernistina then lived with another man called Ambrose Bryan, Bryant, or Bryon (there seems to be some confusion about which name) who also may have had a shady existence as not a lot of details can be found on him either. Ernistina did not change her name from McCandless which indicates that she never married Ambrose Bryant perhaps because she was still married to William McCandless. It is a bit of a mystery even to the Bryant family still living around Albury who both Dad and I have met several times. Ernistina had several children to Ambrose Bryant and John (Bill) McCandless was then raised with the Bryant children. Ernistina worked in her father’s hotel for awhile. Ernistina died aged 36 from bowel cancer and was buried as Ernistina McCandless at Narrandera cemetery.</p> <p>Ernistina gave an account at an unrelated criminal trial saying that her husband had left her 18 months previously. There was also a story that shortly after John had left her, Ernistina went “up north” to try and find him, whether she found him or not in unknown. She never remarried although she had another partner and children, and was buried as a McCandless. This indicates they were not divorced and he may have been still living at the time. After his mother died, our grandfather Bill McCandless rode a bicycle to Wallumbilla near Roma Queensland. Perhaps he went in search of this father who may have changed his name at that stage.</p>