Year 2026 has arrived and it comes with our March opportunity to celebrate the arrival in 1876 of some of our forbears. Yes, the Gutenberg arrived in Wellington harbour with 165 immigrants aboard who had sailed from Bremerhaven after earlier journeys from their European home countries - Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Germany. The sea voyage took 96 days: from 18 December 1875 to arrival on 23 March 1876.
Several descendants and friends have indicated their interest in attending a sesqui-memorial day in Wellington on Sunday 22 March 2026. If you want to express your interest in attending this day please signup here:
https://www.alve.nz/gutenberg-reunion.html
Formal registrations and payment will be invited later in January 2026.
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Associated with this sesqui-gathering is the writing of a memorial history in which I have written about:

• the European and New Zealand backdrops to this migration;
• key people related to it;
• the 40+ year history of the ship Gutenberg;
• information about the immigrants and their immediate descendants;
• and, 200+ sources of information.

The publication is liberally illustrated with black and white imagery and will provide access to colour imagery.  It will be available at the Wellington gathering for $30.00. If you pre-order and pay before the Gathering on 22 March purchase price will be $25 if you collect it there. Delivery extra if not collected in Wellington on 22 March.

Terry Alve
​027 600 1926

The ship Gutenberg passenger list below contains the names of those who travelled from the port of Bremmerhaven, Germany leaving on the 18 December 1875. They arrived in Whanganui-a-tara (Wellington Harbour) on 23 March 1876. It will be 150 years to the day on Monday 23 March 2026 when these Vogel Scheme immigrants arrived in Wellington. Alve descendants are planning to mark the occasion with a gathering in Wellington (and possibly cruise on the harbour) on Sunday 22 March 2026. If you are a descendant of one of the immigrants who arrived in Wellington on this ship you might like to join us.

The Alves and the Schormanns knew each other in the Ruhr Valley, Germany, travelled together on the Gutenberg, worked on the construction of the Rimutaka railway line and subsequently building the line to Masterton before farming together on the Alfredton Road east from Eketahuna from 1880.

Heins Briesemann moved to Stratford and farmed. His grandson Trevor and his children live in Tawa, Wellington near where I live.

Tina White (a great grand daughter) wrote an interesting historical reflection about Clara Malgraff and her family who, within a  week of landing in Wellington, travelled on the s.s. Napier to Foxton, as did about 30 others early April 1876. She eloped (and married leter 1876 as a 15 year old) with Jan Iskierka, a Polish man who had arrived a short time before on the Terpsichore. Her family subsequently went to Whanganui. She (Clara Malgraff Iskierka) lived into the 1930's dying in Auckland. https://tinyurl.com/malgraff 

Perhaps you are a (Wellington) Gutenberg passenger descendant, or know someone who is. If so you may be interested in getting in touch. Perhaps marking this occasion is something that you would like to do. Get in touch: [email protected] or ​027 600 1926. 

Terry Alve
Alve Family Historian & Genealogist

We have recently obtained a picture of the ship Gutenberg taken when it was on an Adelaide, Australia slipway undergoing an annual inspection in 1868. At that time it was named the Edinburgh before it was sold to a German company to become the immigration ship Gutenberg Gutenburg).
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On Monday 23 March 1876 three Alves - Maria Theresia, Carl Wilhelm and Anna Maria Catharina (aged 1) - entered Whanganui-a-tara (Wellington harbour) aboard the Gutenburg ship as Vogel Scheme assisted immigrants from Germany.

To mark the occasion we envisage Alve descendants and friends, and perhaps some other descendants of Gutenburg immigrants will gather, cruise on the harbour and spend time together in and around central Wellington (Poneke). It is suggested that this gathering be on Sunday 22 March 2026.

Planning is at an early stage and we are forming an organising group to make this event happen. Please contact me if you would like to join the organising group for this gathering. Also, if you would like to offer some accommodation for out-of-towners during this weekend, we would be pleased to know.

​Contact: Terry Alve - 027 600 1926 or [email protected]