Z zzzzs through Zöller and Zurich

I am participating in the A to Z 2012 blog challenge throughout April. My theme is a genealogical travelogue or a travel genealogue (I’m not sure which). This is the final post in the series.

Z is for zzzzzz

After a solid month of posting from A to Z, I reckon it might be time for a short nap. I’m pleased to have achieved my goal of documenting some of the important places in our distant family history, as well as more recent ones. Thank you to everyone who has followed along on this journey. I’ve appreciated your support and comments throughout.

Z is for Zöller, Zoller, Zeller, Ziller

This Bavarian family name has so many mis-recordings and spelling variations that they’re known in my household as the Ziller, Zeller, Zollers. Throw in Tiller, Seller, Sellar, Sellars and you can see the research dilemma. Thank heavens for wildcards!

I have an interest in this name because three of the Dorfprozelten families I research were named Zöller. They were:

Joseph Zöller and his wife Anna Rosina (nee Neubeck) and children Oswald 12 and Carl 8 arrived in Melbourne on the Boomerang on 11 May 1855, and from there were transshipped to Moreton Bay. The family settled in Toowoomba.

Franz Ignaz Zöller and his wife Catherine (nee Beutel) arrived in Sydney on the Peru on 23 May 1855, with “their” children Joseph 10, Caroline 7, Michael 4, and Maria 1. They too were transshiped to Moreton Bay to take up their employment there. Further research and collaboration with family historians, and assistance from the Dorfprozelten local historian, has now established that Joseph and Caroline were in fact the Ignaz’s nephew and niece, children of his deceased brother. Ignaz and his family first lived south of Brisbane near Beaudesert and later on the Darling Downs.

Franz Michael Zöller arrived in Sydney on the Commodore Perry on 26 April 1855. Franz Michael’s wife, Maria (nee Krebs) had died on the voyage so he had the care of their children Oswald 11 and Maria 3. Eldest son John, 19, appears to have been contracted out independently in Newcastle soon after arrival. Michael and the other children remained in Sydney.

In addition a single woman who arrived independently was Maria Rosalia Günzer aka Mary Rosalie Zöller, the illegitimate daughter of Franz Ignaz’s brother and sister to Joseph and Caroline mentioned above.

I’ve written about the ones who came to Queensland in Queensland Family History Society’s Q150 publication and presented a paper on the Dorfprozelten immigrants at the 2006 Australasian Congress of Genealogy and Heraldry in Darwin. The paper is published in the proceedings for those with an interest in these families.

Z is for Zurich and the end of winter (Switzerland)

When we first travelled to Europe all those years ago, one of the most exciting events we happened upon was the end of winter festival in Zurich. Pure beginners’ luck! I don’t know if it still occurs but it involved the members of the ancient guilds parading through the streets, women throwing flowers to them or racing out to give them a kiss, and culminated in the burning of a snowman’s effigy to symbolise the end of winter. Somehow we found some new mates who shared their beer steins and toasted the end of winter with us.

Turns out this festival still exists (logically why would it not-it’s been going for nearly 200 years) and is called the Sechseläuten festival, (normally held on the third Sunday and Monday in April) and and the snowman is called the Böögg. Isn’t the internet a wonderful place!

Today I thought I’d share some of those images with you in this slideshow.

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