The Tree of Me

My husband's family are very fortunate as his great grandfather, Jacob Scheef travelled on holiday to Germany from Armidale, NSW from May to September 1885. While visiting remaining members of his family he sent many letters back to Australia and kept a diary of his time away from home. John Elder Port Said the 22 June 1885 Dear Wife As I thought to get this letter away yesterday  and so concluded it I was disappointed as we only left  Ismalia about 2 o’clock on Sunday and we were the  sixth vessel in going so we did not get very far  when the vessel in front of us ran on sand and so we had to  stop till it got off again which was more than 1 hour  consequently we did only go about 10 miles on Sunday  today we will be in Port Said if we have luck as we  can only go very slowly about 4 miles an hour  We haven’t seen and passed the spot where the  accident was which was the consequence  of our delay of 6 days, There are various rumour...

My husband's family are very fortunate as his great grandfather, Jacob Scheef travelled on holiday to Germany from Armidale, NSW from May to September 1885. While visiting remaining members of his family he sent many letters back to Australia and kept a diary of his time away from home. Jacob Scheef - personal collection John Elder Aden the 8 June 1885 My Dear Wife and Children I am having the chance now to let you know how I am  getting on since I left Adelaide where I sent my last  letter from. First my health and appetite is very good  and in general I am well placed with the eating on the  ship board as we have always fresh meat and potatoes  the bread is even new and of first class quality Now I am going  to let you now about the progress we made and the sights  we have seen. Adelaide is a very nice Town but a good  deal smaller then Melbourne it has a splendid Botanical  Garden but the harbour where we laid on was the open sea  We ...

My husband's family are very fortunate as his great grandfather travelled back to Germany from Armidale, NSW from May to September 1885. While visiting family he sent many letters back to Australia and kept a diary of his time overseas. I'll post his letters on the day they were written. These letters can be seen at the University of New England (UNE) Archive in Armidale, NSW, Australia.   Biographical Entry John Elder Port Said the 22 June 1885 Dear Wife As I thought to get this letter away yesterday and so concluded it I was disappointed as we only left Ismalia about 2 o’clock on Sunday and we were the sixth vessel in going so we did not get very far when the vessel in front of us ran on sand and so we had to stop till it got off again which was more than 1 hour consequently we did only go about 10 miles on Sunday today we will be in Port Said if we have luck as we can only go very slowly about 4 miles an hour We haven’t seen and passed the spot where the accident was whic...

My husband's family are very fortunate as his great grandfather travelled back to Germany from Armidale, NSW from May to September 1885. While visiting family he sent many letters back to Australia and kept a diary of his time overseas. I'll post his letters on the day they were written. These letters can be seen at the University of New England (UNE) Archive in Armidale, NSW, Australia.   Biographical Entry Ismalie  John Elder the 20 June 1885 My Dear Wife and Children I am going to let you know how we are going on since I wrote first I must tell you that Aden is in Arabia and a more desolate country you can have no idea of nothing but high precipitous hills with not a vestige of vegetation neither trees grass or bushes could be seen anywhere only either bare rocky hills sand or black burnt soil it is impossible to describe it on paper it has to be seen to know what it is after we left we thought it would become better but it remained the same right through to Suez Suez yo...

My husband's family are very fortunate as his great grandfather travelled back to Germany from Armidale, NSW from May to September 1885. While visiting family he sent many letters back to Australia and kept a diary of his time overseas. I'll post his letters on the day they were written. This is his third letter home. These letters can be seen at the University of New England (UNE) Archive in Armidale, NSW, Australia.  Biographical Entry John Elder  Adelaide the 17 May 1885 My dear wife and children I wrote to you from Melbourne and also I received a letter from you of the same same content as the one I got in Sydney when I wrote last I was not yet in the city so could tell you nothing of it since I have seen a good deal of it Directly we were on the wharf I went and posted my letter and had one or two hours in the city the Sydney is a fine city but is not a patch to Melbourne because the street are all two chains wide and are all straight the next day I went again an...

My husband's family are very fortunate as his great grandfather travelled back to Germany from Armidale, NSW from May to September 1885. While visiting family he sent many letters back to Australia and kept a diary of his time overseas. I'll post his letters on the day they were written. This is his second letter home. These letters can be seen at the University of New England (UNE) Archive in Armidale, NSW, Australia. Biographical Entry John Elder Melbourne the 14 May 1885 Dear Wife and Children! I am in receipt of your letter which I received in Sydney just half an hour before we started from which I see that you are all well except David and I trust you will take good care of him with his cold and am glad that you had some rain the white bullock you can either kill or sell him if you can get £5 10s for him and break the Strawberry or roan bullock in with Glover. We left Sydney on the 12 this month at 1 1/2 o'clock and the Sydney Harbour I can give you no idea for his...