Wagner

Phillip Conrad Wagner
1844-1920
A photo held by P.C. Alve his grandson

The Wagner family is connected to the Alve family through the marriage of Theresa Christina Wagner to Henry Wilhelm Alve in March 1917. Theresa was the second youngest child of Philip Wagner and Caroline Hawke (1850-1931) - children of German immigrants to Tasmania.

Theresa had been stranded in New Zealand while holidaying in New Zealand from her home in Tasmania during 1915. Because of her (full blooded) German ancestry she was prohibited from travelling home as The Great War developed.

She connected with the Alve's in the Manawatu through the Parker family who were Tasmanians living at Rangitane. By war's end Theresa had married Henry Alve and she was pregnant with Phillip.

During 1920, Theresa, Henry and Phillip  visited her family in Tasmania. It was around that time, September 1920, that Philip Wagner (pictured) died.

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Wagner Family Origins

The Wagner and Nicolai families lived in the same area of Germany for many generations. (Johannes) Valentine Wagner (b. 1809) and Christiana Nicolai (b. 1813) married on 22 January 1832. With six of their children,they left Dotzheim, Nassau, near Wiesbaden, Germany for Hamburg where, on 10 May 1855, they sailed on the "Wilhelmsberg" to emmigrate to Tasmania. Valentine was listed as a carpenter and his sons Fred and William as carpenter's apprentice and farm labour respectively. They were of the Lutheran faith.

The "Wilhelmsberg" arrived in Hobart on 26 August 1855 - at the end of a voyage lasting 108 days.

Valentine and Chistiana died within three days of each another at son Philip's residence at Woodsdale. Christiana on 17 October and Valentine on 20 October 1883.

The family has ancestral information about family members going back four generations from both Valentine and Christiana.

Source:  "Wagners: 130 Years in Tasmania" by  Alma Ranson, c.1985

Theresa Christina Wagner
1888-1971

Theresa & Henry sharing afternoon tea
while haymaking during WW2

Henry & Theresa are buried in a family plot
in the Kelvin Grove Cemetery, Palmerston North