By 1905, nineteen years after arriving at Orara, Amandus and Mary had prospered. Their eldest son, George, would have been 34 years old. Thus, their children were quite capable of looking after the farms while Amandus returned to Germany for a visit. There is a postcard sent to Amandus, from Germany, in 1898 so we know they were in contact.
A translation of the words is ‘Stettin, Dec. 22[23] 98 / Merry Christmas 1898! / together with the following small favour [something attached] / Kind regards / from your dear brother / Karl.’
Amongst some family history papers left by the late Fred Hoschke (1933-2020) there was this photo, dated 1906, the year after Amandus made the trip to Germany.
Hans, in the photo above, was to marry Dora and they had a son named Hans-Ulrich (1938-2020). The image below is of a young Hans Ulrich Hoschke.
At first, we were not sure of the first names however they are Lucie (1880 – 1945) and, her son, Hans Jurgen (1902-1979).
Lucie was the wife of Karl Wilhelm August Daniel Hoschke (1865-1941). We think it was the Karl who sent the postcard to Amandus.
Tree diagram below showing relationship between Karl and his grandson Hans Ulrich Hoschke.
Where it gets interesting is that the families remained in contact. After WW2 Hans attempted to move to the west from Stettin but did not make it and ended up living in East Germany (under a communist government until the reunification in 1990).
Times were very difficult so relatives in Australia sent parcels of food and clothing to Germany. Three of the daughters of Amandus and Mary were Jessie Davis, Annie and Minnie Ide. There were parcels sent by the Davis family, Annie Hoschke and the Ide family.
At the time of the family reunion in 2013 I was able to find a phone number for Hans-Ulrich and, a member of the Ide family, who was working in Germany at the time spoke to him. This confirmed that he was who we thought. I sent him a letter but there was no answer.
This year we tried again to contact the family in Germany and discovered the funeral notice for Hans-Ulrich which listed the names of his descendants. Contact was made with his children, and they sent to us copies of letters originally sent to Germany by Ralph (son of Minnie) and Joyce Ide from 1948 to 1949. The relatives in Germany are aware of this website. They confirm their lineage back to Karl Hoschke.
