GERMANY: Wilhelm Robert Hermann Fricke

[redrock]

I am researching Wilhelm Robert Hermann Fricke (born 1846 in Prussia) who appeared in the 1881 census at 189 Horton Road, Bradford as a "Merchants Clerk foreign correspondent" - probably in the wool trade - and married Maria Elizabeth Head in York in 1883. He then emigrated to New Zealand about 1884 where he had three children - Doris, Otto and Alma. he later returned to live in Sheffield where he appeared in the 1901 census as a "foreign correspondent in the steel trade". He died in Sheffield in 1904. Does anyone have any more information about him, especially where he came from in Prussia and his ancestry there?

[jorose]

Do you have all the info from his marriage certificate? Father's name and occupation, address, witness names.

It seems from the 1901 census that he did not become a British citizen, so no help there, but you could try to find an obituary - you'd need the exact date of death from the death certificate preferably.

Do you know where they were in NZ? I checked the Auckland passenger arrivals on the library site but no luck.

[redrock]

No. I only know he was in New Zealand because of the birth places of his three children. I assume he went there because of some connection with his job before 1883, which was as a merchant's clerk / foreign correspondent in the wool (Worsted) trade. New Zealand was an important producer of wool.

I have one good possibility for his christening (from the IGI) in Bochum, Prussia (Westfalia) on 2nd January 1847 - parents Gustav Adolph Fricke and Caroline Amalie Brass. However I don't have any positive link apart from the fact that Bochum was a centre for the steel industry, as was Sheffield.

The marriage and death certificates are my next step, but I usually  try to get as much background information as I can and eliminate false options before I pay out money to the GRO. Each GRO certificate is really excellent value but it adds up to thousands with a full family tree.

Thanks for looking in the Auckland passenger arrivals and good tip about the obituary. He was of sufficient social standing to merit one.

[redrock]

I now have the death certificate, but apart from the actual date of death (29th February 1904 at Sheffield Royal Infirmary) it doesn't provide much new information.

I also have the marriage certificate dated 6th September 1883. It shows that Robert's father was Christian Fricke, a schoolmaster and the witnesses were Joseph Webster and Edith Head (Bride's uncle and sister - but I already knew about them). So it moves me on a bit, but only to the next stumbling block.

I have also had a look at other New Zealand ports of arrival, but still no luck.

[Rena]

Hi Redrock,

I've had a look on the German archive website .. http://aidaonline.niedersachsen.de/ to see if your migrant family is there, unfortunately not. It's a shame because it would have given town of origin.  I then looked to see if there was mention of Christian Fricke the schoolmaster.  Although there were over 40 pages of the name there was no schoolmaster but it was interesting to see appendages such as "Dr" and an 18th century scribe amongst the farmers.

You mentioned the steel town of Bochum so I looked in the German phone book:::   

http://www.infobel.com/en/world/Teldir.aspx?url=http://www.dastelefonbuch.de

and found there are only 17 "Fricke"(s) listed in Bochum of over 8,000 Fricke(s) in the phone book.

Coincidentally I had come across that surname before when I was researching the Salzgitter area - this is another steel town and coincidentally (again!) at that time I had seen some of the family had gone to Australia (plus America).   In the current phone book there are 74 listings in Salzgitter for the surname Fricke.

If you've got access to  Morman church of the Latter Day Saints FHS it would be cheaper to hire the Bochum film(s) which are listed in the www.familysearch.org online Library catalogue.   

Good Luck
Rena in Lancashire