A HISTORY OF THE HISTORY
The history of this project goes back in time for many years. As we now know, the Schmidt family emigrated from Germany during the 1840s and 1850s and since that time little if any real endeavour has been made to trace and record the past in any great detail. Apart from one or two modest publications which recorded smaller group elements of the family’s past, virtually nothing had been done to bring together any kind of major research project which would attempt to record and preserve all the essential elements of the Schmidt family in Australia.
Indeed, before this project commenced little was known of the family background in Germany and that there are, in fact, two families, known through the coming publication as the ‘first’ and ‘second’ families, descendants of Peter Schmidt and his two wives Margaretha Elisabeth Scharf and Margaretha Sophia Vorbeck. Yet over the years painstaking research has now revealed the truth of the family’s past and laid bare all the exciting elements of our family’s astonishing heritage and achievements.
Although many people within the family have been researching their own family lines and ancestors, this overall project came about following years of very careful research carried out by Paul Schmidt, his wife, Copland Schmidt, and Paul’s brother, Peter Schmidt. Focusing originally on their own family line, their endeavour soon took on a life of its own and began to encompass a greater spectrum of family history until a massive collection of documents, letters, photographs and a wide variety of other resources had been accumulated. A large percentage of their work had included the interpretation of the original German births, marriage and death records which were only available on microfilm and written in the original old German script. Quite a task in itself which called in no small measure upon Paul Schmidt’s linguistic talents. Additionally, Paul and Copland received invaluable assistance from a wonderfully helpful German couple, Ursula and Günter Schmidt, who did much to peel back the layer of dusty years to reveal the hidden secrets of the past. Without Ursula and Günter, those long lost elements of the family’s history in Germany would probably never have been uncovered.
It was originally envisaged that the family history would be published as a single volume and be far more modest than it eventually became. However, during the long research stage for the project it soon became evident that if the history was to be completed in the best way possible then it would have to be both thorough and in-depth. Therefore, what commenced as a one-year research and writing project soon escalated into a three-year endeavour so that the finished history would be as accurate and as comprehensive as possible.
Various drafts were completed, dozens of oral history interviews were recorded, literally thousands of original documents were accessed and scrutinized. The first draft manuscript which ran to about 460,000 words was proofread by the editors/executive committee. The second draft manuscript added substantially to the volume of work and the entire manuscript was then sent to a large number of family members and stakeholders for proofing and checking. The third draft manuscript was finally competed and this totalled around 725,000 words. After another intensive round of checking the manuscript was ready to be typeset, indexed and printed.
The history of this project goes back in time for many years. As we now know, the Schmidt family emigrated from Germany during the 1840s and 1850s and since that time little if any real endeavour has been made to trace and record the past in any great detail. Apart from one or two modest publications which recorded smaller group elements of the family’s past, virtually nothing had been done to bring together any kind of major research project which would attempt to record and preserve all the essential elements of the Schmidt family in Australia.
Indeed, before this project commenced little was known of the family background in Germany and that there are, in fact, two families, known through the coming publication as the ‘first’ and ‘second’ families, descendants of Peter Schmidt and his two wives Margaretha Elisabeth Scharf and Margaretha Sophia Vorbeck. Yet over the years painstaking research has now revealed the truth of the family’s past and laid bare all the exciting elements of our family’s astonishing heritage and achievements.
Although many people within the family have been researching their own family lines and ancestors, this overall project came about following years of very careful research carried out by Paul Schmidt, his wife, Copland Schmidt, and Paul’s brother, Peter Schmidt. Focusing originally on their own family line, their endeavour soon took on a life of its own and began to encompass a greater spectrum of family history until a massive collection of documents, letters, photographs and a wide variety of other resources had been accumulated. A large percentage of their work had included the interpretation of the original German births, marriage and death records which were only available on microfilm and written in the original old German script. Quite a task in itself which called in no small measure upon Paul Schmidt’s linguistic talents. Additionally, Paul and Copland received invaluable assistance from a wonderfully helpful German couple, Ursula and Günter Schmidt, who did much to peel back the layer of dusty years to reveal the hidden secrets of the past. Without Ursula and Günter, those long lost elements of the family’s history in Germany would probably never have been uncovered.
It was originally envisaged that the family history would be published as a single volume and be far more modest than it eventually became. However, during the long research stage for the project it soon became evident that if the history was to be completed in the best way possible then it would have to be both thorough and in-depth. Therefore, what commenced as a one-year research and writing project soon escalated into a three-year endeavour so that the finished history would be as accurate and as comprehensive as possible.
Various drafts were completed, dozens of oral history interviews were recorded, literally thousands of original documents were accessed and scrutinized. The first draft manuscript which ran to about 460,000 words was proofread by the editors/executive committee. The second draft manuscript added substantially to the volume of work and the entire manuscript was then sent to a large number of family members and stakeholders for proofing and checking. The third draft manuscript was finally competed and this totalled around 725,000 words. After another intensive round of checking the manuscript was ready to be typeset, indexed and printed.