3 Johann Ehrenfried Arnold
Born: 9 April 1824 at Neundorf, Silesia.
Died: 15 June 1917 at Kapunda, South Australia.
Buried: Bethal Cemetery, S.A.
Married: Anna Mathilde Louise Reich 23 June 1858.
Buried: Bethal Cemetery, S.A.
Married: Anna Mathilde Louise Reich 23 June 1858.
Third son, Ehrenfried arrived in Australia on 19 December 1855, accompanied by his mother, Johanne Elizabeth Arnold and105 other passengers on
the barque ‘Steinwarder‘, which had sailed from Hamburg on 28 August. The voyage on the250-ton ship, commanded by H.E. Arens had taken 17 weeks.
Details of his first years in Australia are sketchy, but it is known that he engaged in carting goods between Kapunda and Burra using a German wagon and
horses instead of the then customary drays and mules. another means of making a living was the cutting of firewood and carting it to Kapunda. the story is
told that on one occasion, when the people to whom he was trying to sell wood apparently objected to the price he was asking, he become very cross and
told them ‘You go into the bush and hack it yourself.’
On 23 June 1858, Ehrenfried was married in the private house of a Mr. Arnold near Langmeil, by Pastor Carl Mueke to Anna Mathilde Louise Reich. Anna was
born on 11 October 1837 in Dambritsch, Neumarkt, Silesia. When she was 9 years old her mother died. After a year or so, her father remarried, but evidently
Anna and the other children were not happy. At the age of eleven or twelve, she left home and lived with another family with whom she was evidently very happy.
During this time, Anna was confirmed and then found employment until, in 1856 at the age of nineteen, she was asked by her father if she would accompany
him to Australia. Passenger records reveal that she arrived in which had sailed from on 5 May with 268 passengers under the command of Captain Joachim Meyer.
him to Australia. Passenger records reveal that she arrived in which had sailed from on 5 May with 268 passengers under the command of Captain Joachim Meyer.
Anna was accompanied by her Father Gottfried Reich, a carpenter aged 53, Christine Reich, aged 49 (presumably her Step Mother) and Friedrich Wilhelm Thomas Reich, a mason aged 23. (presumably her brother).
It is not known where Ehrenfried and Anna first lived after their marriage. Their first known property was at Stonewell on part section 82 of the Hundred of Nuriootpa which was purchased in April 1861.On 24 November 1864 Ehrenfried purchased Section 350 in the hundred of Light from his Father-in-Law. This property is situated approximately three Kilometers south west of the Bethel Lutheran Church and is where they built a stone and pug house with a straw roof which remained standing until a few years ago.
It is said that Anna helped with the construction of the building by treading the pug (Mud) with her bare feet and the man employed to build the house was paid two shillings and six pence (25 cents) per week with bonus of a flagon of wine when the job was finished.
This land remained in the Arnold Family for 114 years until 1978, when the last Arnold owners, Esther Irene and Edith Agnes, daughters of Ehrenfried’s sixth child Ernst Wilhelm, sold the property.
Anna died on 26 June 1907 and in his final years Ehrenfried lived with his daughter and son in law, Bertha and Albert Vogt, in Kapunda. It was here that he died on 15 June 1917 aged 93.