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).
​

Margaret and I want to share with you our personal Christmas greetings and news for 2012.

The year has ended with Margaret sitting on two new job offers and Terry employed on a five month contract with Statistics NZ helping to conduct the 2013 Census which will be held on 5 March.

The two week break over Christmas - New Year will have us redecorating our downstairs back bedroom as we convert it into a counselling - mentoring space. Yes, both of us increasingly have clients coming to our home as we operate our respective businesses: counselling and professional supervision (Margaret) & spiritual direction and ministry supervision (Terry).

Early in the new year Margaret developed her counselling businesses by taking a contract for ten hours weekly with the Wellington Cancer Society and launching her "Because U Matter" counselling business in March. During the year Terry has further developing his spiritual mentoring business (iCare Resources) by engaging a number of new clients and continuing to work with others. He continues to offer retreats with Spiritual Growth Ministries teams and he now manages the SGM Wellington-Kapiti website and email database.

The year began with Terry turning 60. Margaret's gift was a couple of nights in central Auckland before travelling on the Overlander daylight train south to Tawa - an all day (12 hour) trip.

An early web project for Terry was a feasibility study and a subsequent website development for NALAG - the National Association for Loss & Grief. The other biggie this year has been a redevelopment of the Shadz Hair Art website for friends Steve & Sovann Dowall. Talking about websites, the site you are on www.alve.org.nz has also been developed recently. More about that in a moment.

On the family front there have also been significant developments. After a long gestation Jono & Jenn moved into their new Tawa home in March. Jono continues as southern North Island BDM with Dominion Breweries and Jen works with the Ministry for the Environment. David & Ingrid have settled into their Grenada Village home and David joined the permanent staff at Park Road Post in movie post production. He had the privilege of working on the "Hobbit" and so appears in the movie credits if you look closely. Ingrid has gained primary teacher registration. Caleb has a new friend - Emma - whom he lives with in Khandallah but they are soon to move to Johnsonville. He has joined the staff of Kiwibank after finishing with Countdown butchery management. Emma works with an employment recruiting company. Sarah and Simon now have three children with Olive being born on 30th June at Kenepuru Hospital. She joins Elijah (3) and Holly (just 2) in their new home in Lupin Terrace in Tawa's eastern hills. After some choosing between employment options, Simon has taken a permanent lectureship in Classics at Victoria University. Sarah is a busy mum who finds time to meaningfully contribute to the running the local Playcentre.

Two other significant developments this year have been:

1. Planning for and renovating our kitchen, dining and living area. This involved engaging an architectural draughtsman, gaining council consents and a host of tradesmen who removed two walls, installed beams and posts to support them, relined portions of the walls and roof, and plastered, painted, electrified, plumbed, polished floors, repaired carpet, etc. In additon to the study DYI mentioned above we continue to work on the laundry and deck.
   
2. Loosing Dad's older brother Uncle Phil who died mid July. While he died in a nursing home in Palmerston North, he had property in Kelburn, Wellington that Margaret and I had a major part in clearing for sale for six weeks during October/November. Uncle Phil was a bachelor who had lived in his Kelburn home since the early 1950's. He was a hoarder of papers, books and any manner of other things that meant the clearing was a major exercise - it required the employment of student labour to fill 11 skips and several trailers to the tip.
   

Finally, the development of this website has been prompted by Uncle Phil's passing. Among other things he was a B&W photographer and developer from the 1930's to the 1960's. In clearing his home we have gained access to many valuable family photographs that are beginning to appear here. He has also left significant correspondence that complements what we know of the family's history. Uncle Phil was a prime mover in the 1990's to record the Alve Family history. He underwrote the printing and publishing of the family history, parts of which appear on this website.

Well, that's more than enough for now. We notice that several Christmas messages have come in already from family and friends. We appreciate and value your correspondence with us and thank you for your Christmas and new year greetings. 

We want you to know that we prayerfully and lovingly extend to you our aroha trusting that 2013 will be a year full for you. Go well...

Terry Alve on behalf of Margaret and the Whanau who yearly increase in number!