|
The first Gaetz to come to Canada was Martin Gotz (on shipping list it was spelt "Keets"). He was a 25 yr old poor farmer from the Palatinate in Worms, Germany. His sweetheart Anna Elizabeth Kerberin age 30 accompanied him on the ship “Pearl “ to land in Halifax on July 2 1751. There they married and worked as slaves for the British, building the Citadel Hill in Halifax. They were promised land in Dartmouth, which they never received and treated poorly with very little to eat. After three years the Citadel was finished and so was the bond. The German immigrants were then shipped off to what they named Lunenburg. The french promised them food, live stock and supplies , which they never received. They were just dumped their to fend for themselves. Martin and Elizabeth work farm land in La’Have and managed to survive with the help of the native people. Their children are as follows, Conrad-1754/05/12, Magdalene-1756/09/23, Jacob-1758/02/06, Leonard-1759/09/23, Martin-1762/04/05, Ann Catherine-1765/01/16, Susanna Elizabeth- 1767/09/15, Catherine-1770/08/20. They had two other daughters that died at birth, (names unknown ). Conrad is my hero. He was killed at age 21 while he and other settlers were trying to steal back their cattle that the french stole from them. I try to get to La’ Have at least once a month to try and find their gravesites in order to give them the headstones that deserve. Martin died at about 40 yrs of age and Elizabeth lived into her 80's. I will continue this when I find the files I lost( somewhere in my closet).
Robyn
|
