Who WAS Ambrose Sieben??

Kathy4959

Ambrose Sieben is my great great grandfather who came out to South Australia and settled in Adelaide, working as a porter for the railways. He married Annie Martin in 1862 and his son Ambrose was born in 1863, followed by a daughter, Lavinia, who died at 6 months. Sadly, he died in 1865 due to a workplace accident. The newspaper account of his death said that he had been working with the railways for several years and was well respected.

His marriage certificate names 'Christian' as his father, and his death certificate gives his age as 47 years, so birth year around 1818. As 'sieben' is German for 'seven', my family has always assumed he was born in Germany. As my great grandfather, Ambrose Sieben (Jr) grew up with a step-father, no family stories were passed down.

I cannot find any record of his arrival. I can locate an 'Ambrosius Sieben' born on 19 Feb 1818 in Nachenheim, Hessen, Germany, but his father was Michaelis Sieben and his mother, Anna Maria Koch.

The plot thickens when this Ambrosius (Ambros) Sieben moved to Amsterdam and married a Cornelia Bekker on 15 Jan 1851. A child, Eduard, was born on 30 Nov 1851, and sadly died on 19 Dec 1852.

A record, entitled, 'Ambrosius Sieben in the Web: Amsterdam, Netherlands, Population Index, 1780-1865' states that he left Amsterdam on 1 Nov, 1852 (before his son died).

His profession was 'zeeman' - sailor. I'm wondering whether he came out as part of a ship's crew and decided to stay - forsaking his family back in Europe.

Or, is this the wrong Ambrose?

If anyone can help shed light on this puzzle, I would be extremely grateful!

Thanking you in anticipation,

Kathy Stringer (nee Sieben)

hehesani63

@Kathy4959

Hi,

This is a very interesting family story.

Have you had the opportunity to have the "South Australian deserters register, 1852-1890" checked?https://www.catalog.slsa.sa.gov.au/record=b1170209~S1%20

In registration record of Cornelia and Ambrosius is the remark that he deserted from his ship but I don't know whether that remark was entered at the time of the wedding or later.

https://www.openarchieven.nl/saa:d8d39420-f196-4afa-80a7-29379fe43cc2

Good luck for your search!

Ulrich Neitzel

Hello @Kathy4959

That's an exciting story and a great research project! And you have obviously done already a lot of progress. Considering that both Ambrosius and Sieben are not among the most common names in Germany and that you have found an Ambrosius Sieben with the correct year of birth the chances of this being the right person are quite high - although you will probably never get 100% certainty.

I assume the birth place of that Ambrosius Sieben is Nackenheim, correct?

hehesani63

@Kathy4959

Hi again,

Ambrosius Sieben's wife in Amsterdam passed away August 2nd, 1863 at Rotterdam, so around the time that the Ambrose at Australia started a new family. I think it says in the record that Cornelia was the abandoned wife of Ambrosius Sieber.

certificate no. 2602 https://stadsarchief.rotterdam.nl/zoek-en-ontdek/archieven/zoekresultaat-archieven/?mizig=236&miadt=184&miaet=54&micode=999-09.1863D&minr=18496429&miview=ldt

Kind regards

JohnsonGreg

The records that hehesani63 posted certainly support your proposition. I'm not familiar with Australian records but are there citizenship records available that might give his prior citizenship/place of birth? Also, can you find a birth date in Australian records for your Ambrose to match up with the Nackenheim Ambrose?

I'm seeing an Ambrose Sieben that was a postmaster in Australia (in Ancestry records). Is that your Ambrose? I wonder if you can find records for his appointment as postmaster that might give his place and date of birth?

Kathy4959

Many thanks, hehesani63, Ulrich Neitzel and JohnsonGreg for your prompt responses to the mystery surrounding my great great grandfather, Ambrose Sieben. I have replied to each of you, but it doesn't appear that you can see those posts in this forum.

The links provided are invaluable and I'm keen to check them out!

I'm now thinking that if he was indeed a deserter, it's understandable that he would have provided a false name for his father on his marriage certificate. Didn't want to be traced, most likely.

I'm not overly surprised, now that I know he left his wife and baby back in Amsterdam.

Many thanks again for your encouragement and assistance.

Kindest regards,

Kathy

Kathy4959

hehesani63, Ulrich Neitzel and JohnsonGreg,

Hello! Just an update. I received some great information from the Netherlands' group and the Dutch Genealogy FaceBook group I joined yesterday. People have been so generous with their time, answering questions and doing research on my behalf.

All the pieces have fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle, and one of the final pieces is the Naturalisation Certificate of Ambros Sieben, located on the National Archives of Australia website at Basic search | RecordSearch | National Archives of Australia (naa.gov.au) - if you'd like to have a look (hope the link works). The digital image is in the top right-hand corner.

The only thing I'd still like to know is the name of the ship he came out on, but I feel confident that this Ambros is my great great grandfather!

I'm now going to see what I can find out about the next generation up! Wish me luck!

Thanks again,

Kathy

hehesani63

@Kathy4959

That is great news! Thanks for sharing!

JohnsonGreg

That's great! With the naturalization record saying he was a boatman born in "Mayence, Duchy of Hessen Darmstadt" (=Mainz) I would say that you should be very confident that you have the right Ambrose Sieben.

You might want to get good, complete translations of the all the related Netherlands records that you can find (his son's birth and death, his wife's death). They may have more clues about his disappearance which might lead to the ship's name and circumstances.