Johann Friederich August Kelling

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Johann Friederich August Kelling (1895)

Johann Friederich August Kelling (born February 11, 1820 in Klütz , Mecklenburg-Schwerin ; † October 24, 1909 in Nelson , New Zealand ) was an immigrant of German origin in New Zealand, co-founder of the German settlement Ranzau (near Nelson), community leader and later a member of the House of Representatives for Waimea District , an electoral district of the former Nelson Province.

Kelling was officially called John Fedor Augustus Kelling in New Zealand, or Fedor Kelling for short .

Live and act

Germany

Johann Friederich August Kelling was born on February 11, 1820 in Klütz in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin as the son of the registrar Johann Joachim Kelling and his wife Louise Catherine Margarethe Harms. Kelling's two years older brother was Carl Friederich Christian . Nothing is known about Kelling's school and professional training. Both brothers were known as farmers.

In 1842 Johann Kelling married Johanna Friederica Christiana Lampe in Rövershagen (near Rostock ). The marriage resulted in three children, the first of which was born in Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1843 and the other two children in Nelson, New Zealand in 1845 and 1848.

In 1844, Kelling and his brother Carl were won over by Count Kuno zu Rantzau-Breitenburg , lawyer and landlord from southern Schleswig-Holstein , as authorized representatives for a settlement project in New Zealand. At the time, Kuno zu Rantzau-Breitenburg, together with Charles Ami de Chapeaurouge , a Hamburg senator and businessman, had acquired seven shares in the settlement in the Nelson area from the New Zealand Company and was planning a kind of philanthropic investment to prefer families from the Mecklenburg region to New Zealand . Together with the Hamburg businessman Johann Ferdinand Benoit, who was the only one who spoke English at the time , the Kelling brothers were supposed to manage the settlement project.

New Zealand

On the Danish barque Skjold Kelling left with his family and his brother on April 21, 1844 Hamburg and reached Nelson on September 1, 1844. The Kelling brothers settled in Waimea East. In recognition of the financier of the settlement project, Johann Kelling named his homestead Ranzau without using the “t” in the name. Under Kelling's leadership, the settlement became a German settlement a few kilometers southwest of Nelson . But 150 acres of land wasn't enough for over 135 settlers. Kelling was only able to employ 75 settlers and could not prevent some settlers from emigrating to Adelaide , Australia .

Kelling's second child was born on October 11, 1845. His wife Johanna died when his third child was born on July 28, 1848. Kelling married again on February 10, 1855, but his second wife, Rose Mary Etty, died that same year on August 27, 1855. His third wife, Dorothea Wilhelmine Kuskop, whom he probably met on a trip to Germany and on February 2, 1864 in Klutz died on June 1, 1865 at the age of only 27.

In 1850, the Kellings expanded the settlement through land purchases and developed sheep farming alongside the existing cultivation of grain, hops, fruits, grapes and tobacco. Over the next 20 years the region developed and attracted more German settlers from overseas. In 1856, Kelling's brother Carl moved with some settlers to Sarau , a settlement founded by the first German settlers in the Nelson region , and became a community leader there. Johann Kelling himself stayed in Ranzau and looked after his community. In 1853 he became director of the Settlers Cattle Fair Association and a year later he helped set up the Nelson Agriculture Association , of which he was first secretary until 1862. He was for the Waimea district representative in the Central Board of Education for Nelson and took by election a seat in the provincial government of the Nelson Province from 1857 to 1863 and again from 1865 to 1876.

In recognition of his work as a community leader and following his commitment, Kelling was sworn in as Justice of the Peace on July 15, 1859 . Barely a year later, in January 1860, he was elected for the Waimea district for the House of Parliament . In 1866 he was appointed consul for the North German Confederation in New Zealand and after the establishment of the Empire in 1871 under Wilhelm I , he took over the office for the entire German Empire . For this he was of Wilhelm I to the Prussian Crown, excellent. Kelling was also a founding member of the Southern Cross Lodge of Freemasons .

Johann Friederich August Kelling died on October 24, 1909 after having had a seizure the day before.

literature

  • James N. Bade : The Nelson German Settlements . In: James N. Bade (Ed.): The German Connection - New Zealand and the German-speaking Europe in the Nineteenth Century . Chapter 6 . Oxford University Press , Auckland 1993, ISBN 0-19-558283-7 , pp. 52-59 (English).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Electoral Roll for the Province of Nelson. . In: Charles Elliott (Ed.): Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle . Volume XII, Issue 593 . Nelson July 16, 1853, p.  2 (English, online [accessed June 19, 2011]).
  2. ↑ a b c German Immigration to New Zealand . In: Robert Lucas and follower (Ed.): The Nelson Evening Mail . Volume XLII . Nelson June 3, 1907, p.  1 (English, online [accessed June 19, 2011]).
  3. ↑ a b KELLING, Johann Fedor Augusta. Ancestry.com Europe S.à rl, Luxembourg , accessed June 19, 2011 (English).
  4. ↑ Birth . In: Charles Elliott (Ed.): Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle . Volume IV, Issue 189 . Nelson October 18, 1845, p.  132 (English, online [accessed June 19, 2011]).
  5. ↑ Death . In: Charles Elliott (Ed.): Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle . Volume VII, Issue 334 . Nelson July 29, 1848, p.  88 (English, online [accessed June 19, 2011]).
  6. ↑ Died . In: Charles Elliott (Ed.): Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle . Volume XIV, Issue 45 . Nelson September 1, 1855, p.  2 (English, online [accessed June 19, 2011]).
  7. ↑ Death . In: William Nation (ed.): The Colonist . Volume VIII, Issue 793 . Nelson June 1, 1865, p.  2 (English, online [accessed June 19, 2011]).
  8. ↑ Supreme Court . In: William Nation (Ed.): The Colonist . Volume II, Issue 182 . Nelson July 19, 1859, p.  2 (English, online [accessed June 19, 2011]).
  9. ^ Elections . In: William Brown (Ed.): The Daily Southern Cross . Volume XVII, Issue 1298 . Auckland January 27, 1860, p.  2 (English, online [accessed June 19, 2011]).
  10. ↑ Mr. Fedor Kelling . In: William Nation (Ed.): The Colonist . Volume LII, Issue 12698 . Nelson November 17, 1909, p.  1 (English, online [accessed June 19, 2011]).
  11. ↑ a b Obituary . In: Robert Lucas and follower (Ed.): The Nelson Evening Mail . Volume XLIII . Nelson October 25, 1909, p.  2 (English, online [accessed June 19, 2011]).
personal data
SURNAME Kelling, Johann Friederich August
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kelling, Fedor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German immigrant in New Zealand, co-founder of the German settlement Ranzau and New Zealand politician
DATE OF BIRTH February 11, 1820
PLACE OF BIRTH Klütz , Mecklenburg-Schwerin
DATE OF DEATH October 24, 1909
Place of death Nelson , New Zealand