All Together Now

The Hinrichsens

In 1865, at the age of 24, Johann Joachim Friedrich Hinrichsen, a baker from Lebatz, a small village near Ahrensbök in Holstein in the far north of Germany, migrated to Queensland on a ship called "Sophie".

About Holstein

At that time, Holstein, which had previously been the northernmost state of the Holy Roman Empire, was then part of the German Confederation, yet was under Danish rule just like its neighbours, Schleswig to the north and Lauenburg to the south. Holstein was still suffering from the recent German-Danish War (Feb 1864 to Oct 1864) whereby Denmark lost, and was again bankrupt, thereby placing even heftier taxes upon the people and property in a last ditch effort to regain resources and capital.

The winners of the war were Prussia and Austria who, although previously arch-enemies, banded together to take Schleswig, the state on the northern border of Holstein (those two nowadays forming the modern German state of Schleswig-Holstein). As a result of the win, the Austrian-Prussian Condominium was formed to rule over Holstein, Schleswig and Lauenburg from 1864 to 1866, until the Austro-Prussian War broke out.

Migration

Also on board the Sophie were most of the family members of Johann Georg Schneider and his wife Heinricke, nee Lauer. One year after their arrival in the new colony, J.J.F. Hinrichsen, later known as John or Friedrich, married the eldest daughter of the Schneider family, Friederike Sophie, known as Heinricke. The couple had a daughter named Emma and three sons named August, Friedrich and Albert but Heinricke died just two months after Albert was born.

On the 11th of November, 1871, J.J.F. Hinrichsen selected 93 acres for a homestead in the Parish of Forbes close to the land of his wife's brother, Fred Schneider.

In 1878, three years after Heinricke passed away, Friedrich remarried, his new wife being the widow, Charlotte Catharina Dorothea Boettcher, whose first husband, Johann Wilhelm Heinrich Knees had died the year before. Charlotte already had three daughters, Emma, Elizabeth and Sophie whom she brought with her into her marriage with Friedrich.

Catherine and her three daughters came from Garbeck in Holstein about 10 km west of Lebatz, the origin of her new husband. The couple were married just two weeks after her arrival in Graham Arthur Hinrichsen, so it is likely they either knew each other before JJF's migration, or had mutual connections in both countries who arranged their intended union.

A Devoted Family

Although JJF Hinrichsen was raised as a Lutheran, in 1860 he was baptised by a Baptist Minister near Berlin, five years before his migration to Queensland. After spending just one day at the Church of Christ of Ipswich in Bundamba, he invited D A Ewers, who was ministering in Warwick at that time, to visit Mt Walker with the aim of establishing a church there. At a crowded meeting at the Jenner family home, a group of seven Baptists decided to form a new Church of Christ.

Several meetings were conducted by Bro. Carl Fischer during which three persons confessed Christ as Lord and Saviour. They were Mr W. H. Stokes, Mary Jenner and the son of JJF Hinrichsen, August Hinrichsen who became the father of the world famed Church of Christ Evangelist E.C. Hinrichsen. On the 4th of May, 1884, at the second visit of D. A. Ewers, the new church was formally initiated with nine members. These were JJF and his wife, the Jenners, W. Lobegeiger, J.W. Wiffler, Mrs J. Nielson, Mrs J.P.W. Green and JJF's daughter, Miss Emma Hinrichsen, who later married Herbert Tilcock (changed to Tilock) who was the first convert under Stephen Cheek's preaching at Zillman's Waterholes in the previous year.

At the meeting, six more persons confessed, these being JJF's other two sons, Fred and Albert Hinrichsen, JJF's step-daughter Sophia, the brother and sister Tom and Emma Jenner, and Mr T. Murray. A few years later, the Jenners disposed of their property in which the meetings had been held and built a new house large enough to accommodate the growing community. After the death of Bro. Jenner around 1890, JJF Hinrichsen and his wife held meetings at their home in the northern foothills of Mt Walker. Sometime after 1897, when Frederick Hinrichsen married Ethel Brewer, the meetings were then held at their new home.

Spreading the Word

Yet JJF Hinrichsen didn't stop there, for in 1891, he travelled from his home in Mt Walker to Rosevale in order to start Church of Christ meetings to be held in the home of Mr Christian Christensen. As a result of these meetings, the first baptism for the newly formed group was that of Mrs Christensen undertaken in the Bremer River, which flows through the district towards Ipswich. Eight years later, Karen Maria Christensen, daughter of Christian and Anna Christensen, married August Hinrichsen, eldest son of JJF Hinrichsen.

His enthusiasm was passed on through the generations which followed him. Son Fred also set up a church having supplied both the land and the timber for it to be built at Rosewood. As well as that, six Hinrichsen grandsons attended the College of the Bible in Melbourne, starting with Will Hinrichsen in 1912 and ending with Arthur Norman Hinrichsen in 1927. The most famous of these was E.C. Hinrichsen (Ernest Christian) who was only 16 when he started studying and went on to become an evangelistic legend around the world. At least 35,000 people made public decisions under his ministry. JJF's daughter Emma also married a preacher, the Reverend Herbert Henry Tilock. Their son, Frederick Herbert Tilock also became a preacher.

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» Emma Hinrichsen
and Rev. Herbert Henry Tilock

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» August Hinrichsen
and Maria Christensen

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» Frederick Ernest Hinrichsen
and Mary Ethel Brewer

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The younger three Hinrichsen siblings, Herb, Cliff and Ette are all grandchildren of Heinrike (Friederike Sophie) Schneider and they married the Drager siblings, Doris, Mabel and Leonard who were the grandchildren of Heinrike's sister, Christina Schneider, wife of Johann Carl Dickfos.

There are more of the Drager siblings on » the Dickfos family page.

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» Albert Hinrichsen
and Bessie Olive Brewer

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