Welcome!

Welcome to our March 2025 newsletter, thanks to those who gave feedback on our first edition in February. We are continuing our On This Day posts in real time on our Hoschke Family Reunion Facebook page, so please head over and give us a like if you haven’t already! We’d love it if you would like to contribute a photo or story for your Hoschke ancestor too.

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Article of the Month

Mary Gertrude Isabel Hoschke

When Mary Gertrude Isabel Hoschke was born on 10 March 1889 in Upper Orara, New South Wales, her father, Amandus, was 45, and her mother, Mary, was 41. She was their 11th child, and the first born on the North Coast, they would go on to have two more children. This month, on the 136th anniversary of her birth we would like to tell Mary’s story.

As a child Mary would have attended Dunvegan School, which had opened in 1890. Many children walked long distances to school and some rode horses. It was a common sight to see ten or twelve horses in the schoolyard.

Mary’s teen years were filled with ill health and sadly it seemed that after some time, she moved to live with family elsewhere in the hopes of improving her health. Tragically in 1905, Mary aged 15, and her family would lose two family members to rheumatic fever, the youngest child Arthur and also her eldest brother George’s young wife Ruthetta, nee Maston.

There are multiple mentions of Mary’s ill health in the papers in the years afterwards, by which time she was in her early 20’s, including the one below, which was around the time Amandus was planning his trip back to his homeland.

Again the next year in 1910, it seems Mary (21) had been residing with her elder brother Frank and his family in Inverell. Frank had moved his family to Inverell in the interests of their children’s health, perhaps asthma.

The next we hear of Mary, is that she was residing in Wellington, NSW, we assume with her mother’s family. In November 1911 at the age of 22, Mary was bridesmaid for her cousin Ede Drew when she married William David Tait. Ede was the eldest daughter of George Drew and his wife Ellen Norbury, George was Mary’s maternal uncle, the brother of Mary Ann Hoschke, nee Drew. Ede was aged 33 when she married and William was only 24.

The excerpt below describes the bridesmaids beautifully and the image below shows the wedding party:

The bridesmaids were Miss Nellie Drew, sister of the bride, and Miss Mary Hoschke, cousin of the bride. The former wore a costume of cream crystal-line, trimmed with insertion and lace, and a Tuscan hat, with trails of pink roses and apricot ribbon. Miss Hoschke’s dress was of cream voile, trimmed with insertion and lace, Tuscan hat trimmed with forget-me-nots, lace, and ribbon. Both bridesmaids wore gold brooches, and carried shower bouquets, the gifts of the bridegroom.

1911 ‘WEDDING’, Wellington Times (NSW : 1899 – 1954), 9 November, p. 6 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article143508220

For reasons that will become obvious to Mary’s story shortly, let’s take a moment to introduce her cousin Ede’s new husband – William David Tait. William’s father had passed away the year before he married Ede. William was running a bakery business which was started by his late father, Tait’s Bakery. The bakery would go on to become a very successful. business as noted in the review below.

Ede and William’s married life appears to have been marred by her poor health, she was in poor health for quite some time and tragically passed away of pleurisy aged 35, leaving William a widower at the age of 26. Ede’s funeral was conducted in the same church that she had been confirmed and married in, by the same Minister who has known her since she was a child.

1913 ‘OBITUARY.’, Wellington Times (NSW : 1899 – 1954), 14 April, p. 2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137874998

Ede’s sister Florence, who passed away later in 1943 was buried with Ede, it may be that the time that had passed led to the mistake in recording her death date (1914 instead of 1913).

Within 12 months the young widower William had remarried, to our Mary Gertrude Isabel Hoschke, who had been a bridesmaid at his first wedding, in fact they were married in the same church. Their first child, a daughter was born in October 1914 was named Edith, perhaps in honour of Mary’s cousin and William’s first wife.

Mary and William would have five children:

1. Edith Elizabeth Mary,
2. Robert William (who served in the RAAF from 1941 to 1945),
3. May Ethel,
4. Edward Arthur (served in the army during WW2 for three and a half years) and
5. Jean Isabel.

Mary and William lived above the shop for many years and it is believed they raised their family there until at least 1948. Above the shop, there were three bedrooms, a lounge and bathroom. At the rear of the shop downstairs, there was another lounge area and an office. When the bakery was sold after William’s death in 1944, the family moved to Enmore in Sydney and then later to Concord.

Mr.William Tait had passed away suddenly at his home the previous night. Apparently in good health, he had been carrying out his usual work during the day, and those with whom he came in contact had no idea that his end was so near. He retired to bed early, and during the night he took a sudden turn, and before medical aid could be procured he had passed away.

1944 ‘OBITUARY’, Wellington Times (NSW : 1899 – 1954), 6 April, p. 4. , http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141306368

Mary reached the age of 72 before passing away in 1961. She outlived two of her daughters and considering how unwell she was as a child, she lived a full and healthy life. Only one of Mary’s children, her daughter Edith, had a child, and leading up to our 2013 reunion, we were very fortunate to be able to make contact through a kind and generous third party.

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This Month in History

During March, we remember these family members with love:

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Photo of the Month

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Family Timeline

Did you know we have timelines on our website? These timelines outline by year important events for the Hoschke family and also the communities they lived in. These timelines are living documents and will continue to be updated, so let us know if you have anything to add!

>>> Hoschke Family Timeline <<<

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