The Arnold Family Tour in the Barossa Valley
Lorraine Powers (2.9.1.8.3) is an inaugural member of the Arnold Family History Committee and has significantly contributed to organising the Arnold Family Reunions and the Arnold Family History Tours of the Barossa Valley.
The Tour
The dispersal of the early generations of the Arnold family in Australia can be found in the Barossa Valley. This is an opportunity for you to explore the familiar places of our ancestors whose daily lives were interwoven with their Lutheran faith. Their presence remains today as you wander through the Lutheran cemeteries scattered throughout the Valley and look around the countryside and hamlets and realise the footprints, they have left for us today.
(MAP of Barossa Valley with ‘sign posts’ linked to number below)
1 Tanunda
The earliest settlers of the Barossa Valley were Germanic Lutheran immigrants. Bethany on Tanunda Creek and, later. Langmeil on the North Para River. These were the two earliest villages of settlement. They were farmlet-villages with long strip sections of land, side by side.
Tanunda was to overshadow these two villages and became the commercial centre to service them.
Langmeil Lutheran Church and Cemetery (off Maria St.) is one of the most historically important Lutheran Churches in the Barossa Valley, because of its associations with Pastor Kavel, the first Lutheran pastor to arrive in the colony in 1838. The first Langmeil church, built of mud and stone, with a thatched roof, was dedicated in 1846 and demolished in 1888. It is in this church on the 21 October 1851 that Johann Gottlob Arnold married Johanna Sophia Michel. Their nine children were all baptised there between the years 1852 and 1869.
Arnold graves are to found in the cemetery. Those of Carl Friedrich and Johanne Karoline Arnold (Carl Friedrich Branch) are to be found close to the church. Other Arnolds are pertaining to the Ehrenfried Branch of the Arnold Family.
Tabor Lutheran Church and Cemetery (off Murray St.)
A number of pioneer Lutheran families, with little in common with those belonging to Bethany and Langmeil congregations, established the Free Evangelical Lutheran (now Tabor) congregation in 1849, under Pastor Adelbert Kappler. The original church was dedicated on 27 July 1850, and used during the week as a school. Ehrenfried Arnold went to this church before he went to live at Bethel. His first two children were baptised at this church.
There are some graves pertaining to the Carl Friedrich Branch to be found in the cemetery.
From Tanunda travel along the Tanunda-Nuriootpa Road till you get to Seppetsfield Road and turn left. On the right hand corner you will find Dorrien.
It was in this vicinity that Gottlieb Arnold (Gottlieb Branch) was struck by a horse and died in November 1884.
The cemetery at Dorrien (on the right hand side of the road) contains the graves of several members of the Hoffmann branch (Gottlob Branch) of the Arnold family including :-
Gottlob Emmanuel Hoffman & Emilie Anna Hoffmann nee Arnold
Johann Ewald Hoffmann
Herman Oscar Hoffmann & Florence Annie Hoffmann nee Plane
The land on the right as the road crosses the North Para River was the first land owned by Gottlieb in Australia. The river runs through the property.
The second purchase of land by Gottlob was 80 acres or 32 hectares in 1854 at the south west corner of Seppeltsfield & Stonewell Roads. This was where Gottlob built his mud and stone thatched roof house and where the family lived until 1887. This land (Section 79) is now the site of the Hermitage of Marananga, a five star bed and breakfast.
Further along Stonewell Road heading west on the left is part Section 82 being 16 acres or
6 1/2 hectares which Gottlob purchased on 19 May 1853 for thirty two pounds (sixty four dollars). In 1856 this land was recorded as cultivated and fenced with no buildings. Gottlob’s brother Ehrenfried also purchased his first land in Australia in this area. – it being a similar sized portion of this same Section 82 in April 1861.
Turn right into Jenke Road and then right into Neidner Road
Heading east on Neldner Road are the sites of two houses built by Carl Friedrich Arnold, first son of Gottlieb Arnold (Gottlieb Branch) Two Hands Wines has restored the house and separate kitchen and bakeoven which was the home of Carl Friedrich Arnold and his family.
The other, a two roomed mud brick house with a thatched roof has since been demolished but appears on the cover of Changing Pastures. A photograph of this house is on page 59 of Changing Pastures. Carl & Bertha Arnold lived in this house following their marriage then later built the brick house which is now Two Hands Wines.
Further along Neidner Road next to the school property on the right is a house built by Friedrich Wilhelm Arnold, the seventh child of Carl Friedrich and Bertha Arnold. (Gottlieb Branch)
At the corner of Seppeltsfield and Neldner Roads is the site of the Marananga School which was built on land originally owned by Gottlieb. (Section 80) This land adjoins Section 79 owned by Gottlob that we saw at the corner of Stonewell Road.
The land on the left is Section 87 which was owned by Gottlieb form 1876 and transferred to his son Carl Friedrich in 1911 then to his son Friedrich Wilhelm in 1940 and remained in the Arnold family until shortly after Friedrich Wilhelms’s death in 1961.
Turn left into Seppeltsfield Road
St Michael’s Lutheran Church and Cemetery, Marananga (Gnadenfrie)
The first church to be built on this site was erected between 1859 and ai1853 and was used until 1873 and then demolished in 1880. Gottlob Arnold was a foundation member of this church. In 1873 the present church was built, and the bell tower was added in 1913.
Johann Gottlieb (Gottlieb Branch) and Johann Gottlob (Gottlob Branch) the two eldest sons of the five sons of Johanne Elisabeth Arnold and their families worshipped at Gnadenfrei.
There are 19 members of the Arnold family buried at this cemetery including Gottlieb and his wife Johanne Christiane (nee Bachmann). Other member of Gottlieb and Christiane’s family buried here are –
Carl Friedrich & Johanna Luise Bertha Arnold nee Boehm
Johanna Clara Arnold
Johanna Auguste Bertha Arnold
Friedrich Wilhelm & Agnes Friedericke Arnold nee Kilian
Carl Berhard Arnold
Alwine Alma Arnold
Christiane Ernestine Arnold
Ernestine Auguste Bachmann nee Arnold
Wilhelm Alfred Bachmann
The land surrounding the Church and Band Hall is Section 201 which was purchased by Gottlieb Arnold the son of Gottlob in 1910 and sold in 1920.
Proceed through Seppeltsfield to Greenock, turn left at Koncke Street and right at Bevan Street
This cemetery contains graves of 12 members of the Arnold family including Johann Wilhelm Arnold. (Wilhelm Branch) Wilhelm died at Siegersdorf/Dorrien in March 1868 after being struck by a horse. His wife Maria was pregnant at the time and Maria Ernstine was born on 19 June 1868. The baby died on 31 August 1868 and is also buried here.
Other members of the Arnold family buried here include :-
Ernst Wilhelm & Caroline Louise Arnold nee Wenks
Wilhelm Rudolph Arnold
Gloria Grace Arnold
Wilhelm Adolph & Antonia Meta Bachmann
Return down Koncke Street, turn left into Kapunda Road
5.Greenock
Carl Friedrich Arnold (Carl Friedrich Branch) worked as an ostler at the Greenock Arms Hotel for a number of years and purchased his first land – a town block in the proposed township of Brunskill which is part of the town of Greenock today. The Greenock Arms Hotel (since demolished) was at the corner of Kapunda and Murray Roads where the War Memorial stands today.
Proceed along Kapunda Road for three kilometres to St Johns Road corner
Opposite St Johns Road is the farm (Section 5597) 141 acres that was purchased by Ernst Friedrich Kruger in 1856. Wilhelm (Wilhelm Branch)owned it from 1863 until his death in 1868. Ehrenfried purchased it at auction in 1871 and sold it in 1878 to Carl Friedrich Arnold (Carl Friedrich Branch) In 1883 Ernst Wilhelm (son of Gottlieb) (Gottlieb Branch) purchased the property. It was transferred to his son Bernard Alfred in 1940 and to his son Rodney Arnold in 1965. Rodney & Margaret Arnold sold it in 1973.
Continue along Kapunda Road to the outskirts of Kapunda where *Map Kernow the Miner” statue is located and turn left into Bethel Road. Follow signs 11 kilometres to Bethel.
Bethel was originally a Moravian Brethren settlement and church services commenced in 1856. The present church was built in 1885 and joined officially with the Lutheran Church in 1906. It was at this church that Ehrefried and his family worshipped.
It is at this cemetery that our matriarch, Johanne Elisabeth Arnold is buried and it was here in 1993 that a commemorative plaque was dedicated as part of our reunion at that time.
Burials of another 11 members of the Ehrenfried Branch of the Arnold family in the cemetery are:-
Johann Ehrenfried Arnold & Anna Marhilde Louise Arnold nee Reich
Ernst Wilhelm Arnold & Albertine Bertha Louise Arnold nee Wehr
Arthur Alwin Arnold
Benno Heinrich Arnold
Berhard Wilhelm Arnold
Carl Ehrefried Arnold
Emma Clara Arnold
Esther Irene Arnold
Edith Agens Arnold
Return to Kapunda and travel into the town center along South Terrace and Elizabeth Street following signs towards Truro and then Nuriootpa. Turn into Belvidere Road following the signs to Nuriootpa. On the right-hand side of Belvidere Road is Neukirch.
7. Neukirch
Pilgrim Evangelical Lutheran Church, Neukirch
This church was first dedicated on 3 October 1859. Johann Wilhelm & Maria Sophia Dorothea Arnold (Wilhelm Branch) worshipped here. In 1865 this church was flourishing with about 300 members. Neukirch is the third oldest building in Australia dedicated as a Lutheran Church still in use today.
Maria Elisabeth Arnold, eldest daughter of Wilhelm and Maria, who died at the age of 6 years is buried here.
It is in this area and nearby Ebenezer, as well as at Bethel, that many members of the Wendish community lived and worshipped.
Further along Belvidere Road turn left into Ebenezer Road
8. Ebenezer
This is the commencement point of the trek which began on 13 October 1868 to the Walla Walla district of New South Wales. To be accurate the trek left from the house of Johann Mickan about ¾ mile east of the church.
The trek was led by J G Klemke and included Andreas Mickan (Gottlob Branch)and his family with a group of 56 people. J G Klemke’s twin daughters were to marry two Arnold brothers (sons of Gottlob) and Andreas Mickan junior married Johanne Christiane Arnold the daughter of Gottlob.
Of the eight families involved in the trek to Walla Walla, four were Wends and were founding members of Ebenezer – one of these families was the Mickans.
Created by Lorraine Power