The Cronau family are from Ernsthausen, in the German state of Hessen, near Burgwald. When he emigrated to Australia in 1863, George Cronau left behind his father, Christian Cronau, a farmer, and his mother, Anna Gertrude Sommer in Ernsthausen. His mother was a widow reputedly of Prussian descent and copious proportions. She had been married to Jacob Imhoff and had an infant son, Jacob Imhoff, born 2/7/1841 and two other children, Elizabeth Imhoff, born 24/5/1836 and Heinrich Imhoff, born 5/12/1839.

 

• 1. Christian Cronau married Anna Gertrude Imhoff (born Sommer on 28/1/1811) on 19/11/1845. The children of that marriage were:

 

• Georg Cronau, born 3/9/1845 in House number 78 in Ernsthausen.
• Anna Barbara Cronau, born 5/6/1844 . Anna married Ludwig Berghofer in Ernsthausen and also came to Queensland to live.
• Maria Elisabeth Cronau, born in 1847 and died in 1857.
• Johannes Cronau, born 24/5/1849.
• Katharina Cronau, born 6/9/1851.

 

• 2. George Cronau married Catherine Elizabeth Born on 25th February 1867 in Ipswich, Queensland. The children of this marriage were:

 

• Johann Jacob, b 2/12/1867 in Ipswich. He died in 1869. 
• Anna Margaretha Cronau, b 4 May 1870 in Maryborough. She died on 7 February 1872.
• George Cronau, b 27 February 1872 in Maryborough.
• Elizabeth Cronau, b 29 August 1873 in Maryborough. She died on 19 May 1875.
• Julius Joseph Cronau, b 22 July 1875 in Maryborough.
• Martha Matilda Cronau, b 29 December 1876 in Maryborough. She died from dysentery on 8 June 1878.
• Anna Matilda Cronau, b 21 October 1878 at Mary Street, Maryborough.
• Christian Cronau, b 21 April 1880 at Island Plantation, Maryborough.
• Letea Cronau, b 10 June 1882 at Island Plantation, Maryborough.
• Frederick Cronau, b 3 May 1884 at Island Plantation, Maryborough.
• Emma Annie Cronau, b 19 July 1886 at Island Plantation, Maryborough.;
• Twins Catherine Elizabeth Cronau and Edward Cronau, b 12 October 1888 at Island Plantation, Maryborough. On 25 February 1889, Edward died of diarrhoea.

 

In 1891, at the age of 43 years, Catherine Elizabeth Born died. On 17 October 1892, George married Catherine Höhl, the niece of his first wife. Catherine was born in Frankenburg, Hessen, the daughter of Andrew Höhl and Anna Catherina Born. The children of George's second marriage were:

 

• Matilda Cronau, b 24 May 1894.
• Ivy Cronau, b 6 December 1896.
• Mabel Mary Cronau, b 17 August 1899.
• Twins Ernest Cronau and William Cronau, b 5 October 1901.William did not survive and died aged 22 months.
• Vera Cronau, b 6 February 1905.

   

• After the birth of Vera in 1905, Catherine Mary Cronau (Höhl) became ill and she died aged 34 years.  On 2 May 1906, George Cronau married for a third time to Catherine Jung. Catherine came from Tiana Creek, Bidwell, near Maryborough. She was the daughter of Martin Wieckhorst and Helene Riemons. His third wife died in 1928. George spent his final days at the Dunwich Benevolent Asylum on North Stradbroke Island. He was admitted on 9 July 1936 from Brisbane Hospital suffering from senility. Apparently, he wandered away after arrival and was then placed in Ward 5 for his own protection. George died in Dunwich on 5 February 1937 aged 98 years and was buried in the Dunwich Cemetery.

 

•  George Cronau (1872-1909)

  George,Cronau was a born naturalist and an accomplished musician who played both the zither and the concertina. On 29 December 1904, at the age of 32 years he married Mary Jane Barrett aged 17 years . His only daughter, Gladys Myrtle Cronau, was born on 26 November 1905. George died on 14 July 1909. On 30 May 1910, his widow married Richard Albert Julius Bellert . In 1929, Gladys Myrtle Cronau married Dave Beuttel of Bundaberg.

•  Julius Joseph Cronau (1875-1950)

  Julius or Joe as he was commonly called, married Clara Margaret Ellen Yensch on 12 February 1902 . They lived on a farm adjacent to the old house, 'Riverview'. There were five children of his marriage:

  • Sydney Cronau, born 7 August 1902. He married Annie Mabel Collins on 12 July 1927.
  • Melville George Cronau, born 25 October 1904. He died on 2 October 1925.
  • Adeline Dorothy Cronau, born 29 June 1906.
  • Myrtle Isabella Cronau, born 22 March 1909. She married James Henry Horsington on 17 January 1931 . Myrtle died in February 2001.
  • Claris Margaret Cronau, born 28 August 1913. She married Leslie Ernest Jarvis on 14 July 1930.

  Joe died on 21 February 1950 and his wife Clara died on 26 May 1950.

   

• Anna Matilda Cronau (1878-1967)

  Anna married Herbert Llewellyn Simpson and they had ten children;

  • Thomas Simpson, born 4 April 1895;
  • Ernest Simpson, born 1 August 1897;
  • Henry Herbert Simpson, born 19 September 1900;
  • Violet May Simpson, born 3 February 1902;
  • Stanley Christian Simpson, born 26 November 1904;
  • Edward Llewelyn Simpson, born 15 May 1906;
  • Annie Edith Simpson, born 18 July 1908;
  • Ada Florence Simpson, born 21 August 1910;
  • Leonard Simpson, born 25 November 1912; and
  • Esther Pearl Simpson, born 1 August 1915.

   

•  Christian Cronau (1880-1938)

  Apparently, Christian was a very smart child at school. He became a missionary in the Solomon Islands, where he met and married Ethel Cross, another missionary. Ethel May Cross was born in 1884 and died in 1963 aged 79 years. They had only one son, Theodore Christian Cronau, born in 1913, who became a Baptist Minister. Christian lived in the Solomon Islands for 12 years until he was invalided home with malaria. He later became the pastor of the Baptist Church at Rosalie in Queensland and then at Hornsby in New South Wales from December 1932 to April 1938.  He died on 11 December 1938 from coronary occlusion and coronary disease and is buried in the Baptist cemetery in Sandgate, NSW.

  His only child, Theodore, married Vera May Masters. He died in Warrnambool, Victoria on 21 November 1966. Vera died in Bracknell, Tasmania on 1 September 1981.

   

•  Letea Cronau (1882-)

  Letea, or Lydia, married Alfred Edward Forshaw on 14 November 1900. Alf was 24 years old, the son of George Isaac Forshaw and Caroline Hester Waterman.

   

• Frederick Cronau (1884-)

  Fred carried on the family farming tradition at 'Riverview'. On 6 August 1906, he married Hannah Pitt. The children of this marriage were:

  • Leslie Frederick Cronau, born 12 October 1906. He married Martha Wilhelmine Louise Scheffler on 1 December 1928.
  • Lionel Edward Cronau, born 22 October 1908. He died on 3 August 1926.
  • Mary Elizabeth Cronau, born 19 February 1911.
  • David William Cronau, born 16 September 1912.
  • Pearl Francis Cronau, born 6 May 1914. She died on 7 May 1914.
  • Pearl Florence Cronau, born 2 August 1915.

   

• Emma Annie Cronau (1886-1970)

  At the age of 19 years, Emma married John Charles Rasmussen on 28 March 1906. He was a 22 year old farmer, the son of Christian Rasmussen and Elizabeth Rogers. For a time, she lived on a dairy farm at Wondai and later at Kingaroy.

   

• Catherine Elizabeth Cronau (1888-1975)

  Catherine married Herbert Richard Frederick Bellert on 29 April 1908 at Maryborough. (See the Bellert family for further details of this family)

•  Matilda Cronau (1894-)

  On 26 May 1915, Matilda, or Tilly, married Francis (Frank) Thomas Vary, born 16 October 1890. Their children were:

  • Gladys Elizabeth Vary; and
  • David William Vary.

   

• Ivy Mary Cronau (1896-1986)

  On 24 January 1922 at Toowoomba, Ivy married Erich Ludwich Christian Janke . He was a builder and a blacksmith. Their children were:

  • Alma Janke;
  • Clive Eric Janke;
  • Douglas Lloyd Janke;
  • Kevin Christian Janke;
  • Ian Malcolm Janke;
  • Valerie Enid Mary Janke;
  • Oliver Edward Janke; and
  • Elizabeth Leona Janke.

   

  Ivy died on 1 September 1986 at Kingaroy, Queensland. Erich died on 7 March 1959 at Oakey Queensland

   

• Mabel Mary Cronau (1899-)

  Mabel married John Alfred Fagg . They had one son, Kenneth Charles Fagg. John Fagg died on 11 October 1980.

   

• Ernest Edward Cronau (1901-)

  Ernest married Alice Lassig in Maryborough on 23 December 1931. Alice was born on 7 January 1909 and was the daughter of Ferdinand Wilhelm Lassig and Mary Ellen Kremzow. Alice and Ernest had four children:

  • George Mervyn Cronau, born 7 October 1932. He married Pearl Bellert;
  • Sylvia Isabel Cronau, born 24 October 1934. She married Edward Ernest Dempster on 8 August 1953;
  • Daphne Dorothea Cronau, born 19 May 1936. She married Keith Ross; and
  • Stuart Desmond Cronau, born 7 July 1938.

  Alice died on 1 July 1959. After that, her sister Lillian married Ernest on 1 April 1961. Lillian died on 27 April 1967. Ernest then married for a third time.

   

• Vera Cronau (1905-1969)

  Vera Cronau married John William Wrembeck in Toowoomba on 28 August 1933. He was the son of John William Wrembeck and Albertina Genrich and was born on 10 June 1898 at Meringandan, Queensland. They had 4 children:

  • Gladys Alama Wrembeck, born 2 Nov 1931. She married twice. Her first husband was Ron Hohn and her second was Gordon McDonald;
  • John Ernest William Wrembeck, born 24 Nov 1936. He did not marry and died on 8 Feb 1984;
  • Winifred May Wrembeck, born 27 Sept 1939. She married Lindsay Ernest Otto; and
  • Veronica Pearl Wrembeck, born 28 Oct 1943. She married Trevor Cecil Gillies.

  After the death of her husband on 25 Nov 1958, Vera married a second time to Christian Ludwig Gesler. However, in August 1969, both Vera then aged 64 years, and Christian then aged 71 years, were seriously injured in a road accident seven miles outside of Toowoomba on the Crows Nest Highway. They were leaving their property and their utility collided with a car traveling towards Crows Nest. Christian was thrown to the road and suffered head injuries and shock. Vera was thrown from the utility and suffered serious head injuries and was unconscious when the ambulance arrived.

  Vera was treated in hospital for a broken jaw, a fractured right upper leg, severe facial lacerations and a severe cut to the left leg. Although her husband was allowed home after receiving medical treatment, Vera remained in hospital and died three months later.

   

  

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