Family History Stories - Herman Printz

Back to Herman Lucas Printz

The 1820 Muster lists H.L.PRINTZ as being assigned to a Mr.Bean.
The 1821 Muster lists Herman as being emancipated and employed as the Principal Clerk at the Governments Lumber Yard.
The 1825 Muster lists Herman as Clerk to the Principal Superintendant of Convicts.

The following is the petition of H.L.PRINTZ to Governor Macquarie in 1819 leading to his emancipation:

"The humble Petition of Herman Luke PRINTZ respectfully showeth That the Petitioner arrived in The Colony by ship Marquis of Wellington, Betham being the Master, having been tried at Dorchester in March 1814 and received Sentence for 14 years. That Petitioner since his arrival been in the employ of Government, as Storekeeper Clerk at Liverpool, at Government House Parramatta and at present as Clerk to the Principal Superintendent of Convicts,and has always conducted himself to the entire satisfaction of his employers.

Your Petitioner from the above Statement humbly emplores Your Excellency
will take his case in Consideration and grant him Conditional pardon.
And Petitioner will ever pray"

Herman L.Printz.

"This Petitioner has behaved himself to my satisfaction since his appointment
of Principal Clerk to Mister Hutchinson." Geo Dinute ? Major 40 Chief ?

"The Petitioner has been my Clerk for the last ten months and has behaved
himself with the greatest propriety."
William Hutchinson
Principal Superintendent

On the 31st Dec 1820 Herman was granted a conditional Pardon and was appointed as Principal Clerk at the Governments Lumber Yard at a salary of 50 pounds per annum. His residence was Brickfields, approximately at the corner of George and Goulbourn Streets, Sydney, New South Wales.
Herman formed a relationship with another convict Margaret Quinn. There is no record of their marriage.

Margaret Quinn nee' O'Brian arrived in Australia aboard the ship Canada on the 6th Aug 1817 at the age of 23 after having been convicted in Dublin County, Ireland, of stealing apparel and sentenced to seven years Penal Servitude. It is believed that Margaret escaped from on board the Harriet in December 1817 bound for the Cape of Good Hope and that she was returned aboard the Hadlow arriving back in Sydney on the 23rd Dec. 1818. It is recorded that her occupation in Ireland was Country Servant.

Herman PRINTZ died aged 46, Bookeeper, Sydney Hospital on the 6th Dec 1827. It could be supposed that after Herman's death that Margaret took up with Thomas Hansey.

The New Zealand family tree pertains to George Valentine PRINTZ who according to the Musters ,was born in either 1823 or 1824 and not 1827 which most books quote. It also means that he came out to New Zealand at the age of 13 or 14 which makes much more sense than 10 or 11.

Selina married Samuel Spencer on the 18th Sept 1837 at St.Phillips Church, Sydney and nothing further is known.

George Valentine PRINTZ (Story No. 008) was apprenticed to the Tannery trade.

Henry was later known as Henry Prince and spent his time mostly in Australia but did work for his brother George in Southland New Zealand and managed one of George's farms at Otatara. He has many descendants in Australia, New Zealand and around the World. Henry was born in July 1825. He died on the 16th Nov 1897 and is buried at St. Johns Cemetary, Invercargill, New Zealand. Henry married Rhoda Ann Kimpton Fenton nee' Harradence on the 24th Feb 1866. Rhoda had previously married to William Fenton on the 7th Sept 1849 at St.Peters in Melbourne and they had four children. Fenton vanished in 1854. Rhoda was born in London on the 22nd July 1831.
Henry and Rhoda had 12 children mostly born in Australia and the last three born in NZ.

The PRINTZ family in New Zealand originated in Hamburg, Germany. The New Zealand family is descended from Herman Lucas Printz who was born on the 17th Nov 1776. Herman was christened at St. Nikolai Church in Hamburg on the 15th Dec 1776. Little is known of his early years in Germany but it is known that he went to England and was a mercenary soldier serving as a private in the 14th Light Dragoons. The Light Dragoons was originally raised in 1697 and in 1798 became known as the Duchess of Yorks Light Dragoons.The Regiment was amalgamated in 1922 with the 20th Hussars to become the present 14/20th Hussars.The cavalry is now all mechanised.

Attached to the Regiment are: 14th Canadian Light Horse, 14th Light Horse of Australia, 20th Light Horse & Queen Alexanders Mounted Rifles of New Zealand.

Whilst Herman was serving in England he married Maria Hitchens (b 30th July 1792) and they had two children. They were married on the 3rd Feb 1810 at St.Michaels Church in Coventry,Warwickshire. The only details known about their children at present is; Sarah Magdalena PRINTZ baptised at the Holy Trinity Church,Coventry, England on the 12th March 1811, and Henry born 1812.

On the 4th Sept 1813 Herman was committed for forgery by James Frampton Esq. and sentenced to 14 years transportation. The Dorchester Gaol Records 1813-1814 describe Herman as follows:

Aged 36 of Hamburg,soldier in the 14th Dragoons,married with two children, 5ft 6 ½ in tall,black hair,light hazel eyes,brown complexion, pitted in the face with smallpox, a large cut on the throat crosswise, two front teeth missing in the upper jaw, a cut across the middle finger, left hand. Orderly behaviour in gaol.

Herman was discharged from gaol on the 1st June 1814 and put on board the hulk Laurel in Portsmouth Harbour.This was a holding ship prior to Transportation and also held the overflow from the prisons. The ship Marquis of Wellington left Dorset on the 1st Sept 1814 with Herman aboard and arrived at Botany Bay, Australia on the 27th Jan 1815. On arrival Herman was assigned to work for a Mr.Thomas Moore.

The Ancestors of Herman Lucas Printz

The PRINTZ family that this Family History pertains to originated in Hamburg, Germany. It was fortunate that the records (in Gothic German style) stored in the State Archives have not been destroyed and I was able to translate them sufficiently to trace the family back to around 1645.

Hans Martin PRINTZ born c1620
Anna WILLERS married 23-11-1665. They had 6 children 5 males and 1 female. Our history comes from the first born.

Hans PRINTZ born 1656, died 6.3.1741
Catherina FLEGE born 30.11.1664, married 22.9.1693, died 25.4.17?? Hans married twice but our family is from his first marriage. There were 5 children, all males and our family comes from the last born.

Herman Christian PRINTZ born 22.4.1701 died 6.2.1778
Anna Maria JENGUEL born 14.12.1715,married 14.5.1736, died 14.2.1781. There were 14 children 5 male, 9 female. Our history comes from the eighth born.

George Heinrich PRINTZ born 10.8.1746, died 2.7.1821
Sara Magdalena SCHMIDT born 29.2.1756, married 16.4.1776, died 9.4.1847. There were five children 2 male, 3 female. We follow in the steps of the first born.

Herman Lucas PRINTZ born 17.11.1776

This was the beginning of a steady stream of ships bringing convicts to New South Wales. Most convicts sent to Australia were guilty of minor offences such as pick-pocketing, shop-lifting, thieving etc, and many of the offences involving goods of only small value. A strange aspect of this Penal Colony was that few convicts ever did time behind bars. From the first there were more Colonists than Prisoners. Their immediate tasks were to house themselves and find food. Though a sorry and drunken bunch, they managed to build a viable community. Many went as free labour to the Military, Farmers and small businesses etc. Obedience was enforced to a great extent by bribery, perquisites or actual wages. The settler convicts could get flogged and this occurred to 45,000 of them between 1831 and 1837. Early in the 18th century,settlers poured in from England and altered the character of the population leading to what it is today.

A Brief History of the Founding of the Colony

New South Wales was founded on the 26th Jan 1788 with the arrival at Port Jackson of a first fleet of eleven ships with 759 male and female convicts.
They had been transported for terms of seven, fourteen and twenty one years. The success of this expedition prompted the English Government to send a second fleet of six ships which arrived in 1789 crowded with approximately 1,260 convicts. Only five ships arrived at Sydney cove as the storeship HMS Guardian had struck an iceburg in the Indian Ocean. As crime increased in the British Isles, the gaols were unable to contain the criminals so a third fleet of ten vessels left England in 1791 reaching Sydney cove at various times between July and October of that year.