Dietmar's profile is another in this series that investigates who our German cousin's are. He appears, as do Peter Nocken and Jürgen Schmidt, in MyHeritage's Cousin Finder. When I trace his ancestry we see that Carl Alve's (Junior) grandfather - Wilhelm Alfer - was brother of Anna Alfer (Dietmar's 3xgreat grandmother). When we trace downline we see Brochagens and Forsters before Dietmar and his father Oswald were surnamed ​Höller.

Recently I was able to access DNA matches from  my Uncle Ivan Alve's DNA sample. At age 94 he is a generation back from me and his matching is throwing up some new insights. In particular he is providing information about a new line of research; that into his and my Spahr=Witting ancestors in Germany.
As below, Heinz-Georg Selbach is a DNA match with NZ Alves. In particular his 3xgreat grandfather Gerhard Heinrich Spahr is brother to the Catharina Elisabeth Spahr who married Bernard Möllers - the parents of Maria Theresia Alve (nee Möllers) who travelled to A-New Zealand in 1876. Gerhard's and Elisabeth's parents Heinrich Spahr=Adelheid Witting are the most recent common ancestors between the Selbachs and the Alves.  Adelheid was born in 1891 (place unknown) and she and Heinrich married in Beckum 1814. Adelheid died 1842 in Beckum.

While to date we know nothing more about Heinrich Spahr other than he fathered (with Adelheid) several children between 1816-1829, Catharina Elisabeth being my, and maybe your, ancestor. This diagram summarises what we know...

So I turned to consider Arnold Witting as the possible MRCA. Arnold (b.1723) had at least four other sons than Wilhelm Antonius:

• Wilhelm Herman Franziskus Christianus Witting (b.1752-)
• Johannes Josephus Witting (b.1754-)
• Wilhelm Anton Christian Witting (b.1756-)
• Joannes  Fridericus Antonius Witting (b.1764-)

There were at least two daughters Gesina and Helena whom I discount because Adelheid's given name was Witting, not the surname of a husband of one of these girls.

For the moment this is where my search pauses until another DNA match with the Wittings, or some other helpful information, is found. As in the above diagram I have Adelheid temporarily attached as a daughter to Joannes F.A. Witting (red). If he is not her father I am reasonably confidant that one of his brothers marked yellow, green or blue is. Once more is known we may also discover the reason for Adelheid marrying in Beckum aged 22-23. A preliminary hunch is that Heinrich Spahr her husband came from Munster, which is about 40 km away....

You can help by:

1. Providing key contact info for representative descendants who are willing to promote this gathering to their whanau;
2. Providing further info about the life of these immigrant families after their arrival in New Zealand;
3. Indicating your willingness to be part of a planning group who will arrange the 22 March 2026 event.

Watch this space for further posts about this event and these people.

Thank you.
Terry Alve
027 600 1926
[email protected]
Or, use the Contact form on this website.

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).
​

In January this year I celebrated my 70th birthday with closer family and friends at our home in Tawa, Wellington. While I continue to minister as priest with Porirua Anglicans and assist with their food bank; I spend increasing amounts of time doing genealogical research and writing.

My primary assistant in all of this is the 'My Heritage' genealogical research programme I use. Currently I am having my DNA analysed to assist with verifying and extending family links. Please contact me if you would like to know more about this, or if you want confirmation or information about your branch of the family. My database currently records nearly 6,500 individuals. In addition to working with My Heritage, I also regularly refer to 'Ancestry.com' and 'Family Search' programmes to help extend my research.

This year I am focusing on my grandmother Theresa Wagner's ancestry. While several of her family visited Tasmania where she was born and met with relatives there in the 1970's and 80's, I have not had the privilege. I am currently planning to be there for two weeks in late October into November with Margaret my wife to meet descendants of her siblings and cousins - there are many of them. Both of Theresa's parents Philip Wagner and Caroline Hauke arrived in Hobart from Germany in 1855. Grandmother Theresa took the opportunity to visit her uncle William Hauke in Dunedin in 1915 and by the end of WW1 had married Henry Alve in the Manawatu, only returning to Tasmania for brief visits around the times of her parent's deaths in 1920 and 1931.

It is now less than two years before some of us will celebrate the sesqui-centennial (150 years) of the marriage of Carl and Maria Theresa Alve (nee Mollers) - our first New Zealand ancestors. They married on Valentines Day 1874 in St Augustine's Catholic church, Gelsenkirchen in the Ruhr Valley, Germany. We understand that theirs was part of a group marriage ceremony with several couples marrying at the same time - such was the life and busyness of the church and priest Father Schulte at the time. To mark the occasion I propose that we gather in Palmerston North during the weekend of 17-18 February 2024. Carl's and Maria's graves are in the Palmerston North cemetery and they spent their latter years in the Manawatu developing the Rangitane Alve farms. I propose to have written by then a fuller version of their lives than previously published.

Then in late March 1926 it will be time to celebrate 150years since the arrival of Carl and Maria Theresa with their daughter Anna Catherine who later married George Busch in 1898 near Featherston. I think it appropriate that we celebrate this anniversary in Wellington. More about that later.

Interest in Alve-related genealogical facts remains high as younger descendants give thought to their origins and whakapapa. I regularly field requests for information as I am sure some of you older also get. It is a privilege to know a bit about the family and to be able to share that. Occasional gatherings, like we had in both 1995 and 2015 in Palmerston North, keep the flame burning and us all at least a little connected....

We've taken a while to get this website to a stage where we feel it can be publicly promoted. I think we are there. Of course there is plenty more to add, including the biographies of the first three generations in NZ. That's all available digitally to load along with appropriate pictures - some from the 1994 Book and some new ones.

We have an email list of about 20 that we will send a website link to along with a password to the member only content. There's no cost for membership currently, but we have made it that you need to give us your email address to access the Book historical info and (in time) the biographical info that will be an edited version of the "Alve Road" book content.

Please do not give the member only password to others. Ask those interested to complete the signup form here: 
http://www.alve.org.nz/get-your-free-password.html 

As we launch we ask that you start promoting this website, especially to family, and to others who may be interested in knowing more about the family.

And, Christmas/New Year greetings to you. Marg and I have recently had the privilege of a kitchen upgrade. In the process Marg bought a wall decal that appears below. We offer this as our prayerful hope for you this Christmas and into the new year.

Terry Alve

With the deaths during 2012 of Phillip Alve (July 20) , Noeline King (July 4) and Marion Karipa (October 12), five of Carl and Maria Theresia Alve's thirty six grandchildren are living. We extend our condolences to the close family of these three esteemed relatives who have lived long and fruitful lives before their passing this year. And we prayerfully wish surviving grandchildren and their families health and happiness.

Those grandchildren living are:

• Thelma Avery (98) - Palmerston North
  
• Ivan Alve (81) - Palmerston North
  
• Hilton Alve (86) - Taupo 
  
• Billy Alve (57) - Manawatu
  
• Alve Purdom (87) - Ashhurst
  

We look forward with Thelma and her family to the celebration of her 99th birthday on the 20th January next. 

The Alve grandchildren were born from 1900 (Bill Busch) to 1955 (William Alve). 

With the launch of this website and news blog, it may be that you would like to provide information about descendants (or ancestors) of Carl and Maria Theresia. The kind of information we think will be relevant to the wider family includes: 

• news of births, marriages and deaths
  
• obituaries
  
• awards and achievements
  
• requests for family information
  
• notes of historical or genealogical interest
  
• etc. 
  

Written and photographic information is welcomed. When you provide information please ensure that you give us permission (electronic message is ok) to publish, if it is yours to give. Otherwise please indicate who "owns" the material so we may contact them. If your information is on the web please indicate where - again we will require your permission to copy it to this website. You may prefer that we just provide a web link to your material.

Finally, while Google will do its best to let relatives and others know that this website exists, we are somewhat dependent on word of mouth (so to speak). If you have a website or Facebook or Twitter accounts appropriate links are valued by us. In return we are open to linking to you.

Let's do what we can to keep in touch with one another.

Terry Alve

This is just one of several new pics and comments that have been added to the Alve Family History website in recent days. Anna was the fourth of Carl and Maria Alve's children.

Some of this material replicates content in the book, "Alve Road - How do you spell that?"  Available Here

There is also new material like information about Thomas Richard Elcox's WW1 service with the British army in France.

Photo's on this website have been labelled where info is available. If you notice that there is incorrect or missing info we would be delighted to hear from you. You can CONTACT US here.