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 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...

Amanuensis Monday  was started by John Newmark in his blog  Translyvanian Dutch  and encourages family historians to transcribe family letters, journals, audiotapes and other historical artifacts. An amanuensis is a person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. My husband's family are very fortunate. They have a series of letters written from Germany to Jacob Frederick Scheef who lived at Rocky River, near Armidale and later at Tilbuster and Puddledock. These letters date from 1859 until 1894. It's a shame we can't read German! There is also a diary Jacob kept and the letters he wrote home when he returned for a holiday to Germany in 1885. At least these are in English! Currently these documents are housed at the University of New England and Regional Archives , in Armidale, New South Wales. Letter sent from Stuttgart to the Rocky River diggings. It went around the world! Appears to have been writte...