Ordemann Family

Only one Ordemann family appears within the South Australian Birth, Marriage and Death records of more than a century ago. Despite the availability of detailed information on that extended family, it has not been possible to identify the Mr and Mrs Ordemann who travelled first-class on the 1869 City of Adelaide voyage from London to Port Adelaide.

The Heloise (476 tons) under Captain Jan Beckmann - a ship chartered by Eduard Delius (the emigration agent for South Australia in Bremen) - left Bremen on 12 October 1846, and arrived in Port Adelaide, South Australia on 17 March 1847. It carried five passengers in the cabin, and 62 male adults, 38 married women, six female servants and 103 children in steerage.

The South Australian newspaper reported “The Bremen ship Heloise brings a large number of the better class of the German peasantry. They have all paid their own passage, and they bring, we are informed, more money than the emigrant ship has for years imported. They are healthy, and respectable people, and we doubt not they will do well".

One of the single men in steerage was Mr Ordemann, - butcher and sausage-maker.

................................................................................................... Diane Cummings at www.slsa.sa.gov.au/fh/passengerlists/adelaide.htm

Conrad Ordemann was born on 19 February 1819 in Bremen, Germany. A Protestant, he was working as a master butcher in Bremen in 1846 when he decided to migrate to South Australia and try his luck there.

He set up as a butcher in Freeman Street, Adelaide, and on 25 April 1849 married 18 years old Maria Auguste Sophie Caroline Hartig at the Holy Trinity Church in Adelaide. Caroline had been born out of wedlock on 14 June 1831 in Stuttgart, Germany, and her parents are not known. She was brought up within the family of Friedrich and Anna Rüger, and was later adopted by Elard Hartig.

Caroline became the mother of four sons and three daughters, and the first five children were born in Adelaide.

- - Maria Margaretha Ordemann was born on 21 July 1850 in Black Forest SA. She died on 14 August 1919 in Bremen, and was buried in the Riensberg Cemetery there.

- - Hermann Gerhard Ordemann was born in Adelaide on 3 May 1852. He died on 25 January 1922 in King William's Town, South Africa. Hermann was a dealer.

- - Caroline Ordemann ("Cerlein") was born on 7 July 1854 in North Adelaide. She married August Hille. Caroline died in 1888.

- - Conrad Ordemann junior was born 20 July 1856 in Adelaide. (see below)

- - Johanna Magdalene Ordemann was born on 10 November 1858 in Adelaide.

During his stay in Australia, Conrad had worked as a gold prospector – presumably at the Victorian goldfields in the early 1850s - and he was so successful that subsequently he was able to describe his occupation on documents as "private citizen".

In 1864 Conrad returned to live in Bremen with his family, and two more children were born there.

- - Johann Anton Ordemann was born on 16 February 1864 in Bremen. He died on 3 July 1926 in Bremen, and was buried in Riensberg Cemetery.

- - Elard Ordemann was born on 14 May 1866 in Bremen. Elard became a pastor in Bremen. He died on 26 December 1945 in Bielefeld.

From 1864 Conrad set up as a grain dealer in Bremen, and his son Johann Anton later carried on th business.

Conrad’s wife Caroline née Hartig died on 22 May 1866 in Bremen.

Conrad remarried on 6 April 1867 to Adelaide Lucie Behrens. She had been born on 20 January 1829 in Bremen, the daughter of Philip Behrens and Magdalene Müller, and was the last of 15 children (including two who died in infancy).

Conrad and Adelaide had the following children :

- - Friedrich Ordemann was born in Bremen in April 1868, and baptized on the 13th April.

- - Friedrich Eduard Ordemann was born on 13 August 1869 in Bremen. He died there on 26 December 1869 at four months old.

These last two events indicate that the Mr & Mrs Ordemann, first-class passengers on the 13 May 1869 – 31 July 1869 voyage from London to Port Adelaide, could not have been the affluent Conrad bringing his second wife on a visit to show her where he had lived for 17 years. Conrad junior did return to live in South Australia, but he was only 13 years old at this time. Were the two 1869 passengers relatives of this Ordemann family?

Adelaide died on 2 August 1900 in Bremen, and was buried in the Riensberg Cemetery there. Conrad died on 17 December 1902 in Bremen at the age of 83 years and 9 months, Bremen and was also buried in the Riensberg Cemetery.

Conrad Ordemann junior returned to live in South Australia. On 25 December 1882 in Angaston SA, he married Henrietta Amalie Windscheid, born on 27 June 1856 in Angaston, a daughter of Frederick O. Windscheid.

They had the following children :

- - Adeline Amalia Ordemann, born 29 December 1883 at Lyndoch SA.

- - Conrad Gerhard Ordemann, born 27 January 1886 at Lyndoch.

- - Dora Kerlein Ordemann, born 15 April 1888 at Riverton. SA

Amelia died on 7 October 1902 in Parkside, and was buried in Adelaide’s West Terrace Cemetery

Conrad remarried on 26 July 1905 in Plympton SA to Louisa (“Lonie”) Washington, 35, daughter of Thomas Washington. They had one child :

- - Leslie Thomas Ordemann, born 22 November 1906 at Glenelg SA.

“Lonie” died on 1 February 1912 in Adelaide, and was buried in the West Terrace Cemetery.

........................................................................................................................................................www2.genealogy.net/privat/ordemann