Tragedy

This weeks’s prompt for #52ancestors in 52 weeks is TRAGEDY.

Immediately I think of my father’s death. He died in a terrible accident nearly three years ago, but I can’t bring myself to write about it just yet. I can only say that tragic events such as a sudden death can change your outlook on life for better or for worse… and affect the loved ones left behind in different ways, as humans we all deal with grief differently, but it is hard on us ALL.

A tragic story I came across whilst researching a branch of my ancestors, was the death of a little boy, Peter Henry Flegler. His parents, Johann Peter Heinrich Flegler and Maria Katharina Steger came to Australia in 1855 from Niklashausen, in Germany and settled at Middle Ridge in Toowoomba, Australia. Little Peter was only three years old when he was kicked by a horse. He was walking behind one when it was being driven with some other horses into his father’s stockyard. My 2nd Great Grandmother was his little sister, being only a baby when this occurred. The sadness in the family must have been unbearable. It is the worse thing imaginable for me to loose a child. For the Fleglers and countless others in those times, death was sadly a frequent reality. They had already lost two other children in infancy.

Source:  The Darling Downs Gazette and General Advertiser , (Toowoomba, Qld. : 1858 – 1880) 22 July 1871: 2. Web. 22 Aug 2019 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75464360

The Fleglers had eight children in Australia, and became part of the large German community spreading out over the Darling Downs in Queensland. Johann Peter Heinrich and Maria Katharina were apparently very liberal in their views and got involved in many petitions and protests to improve the state of affairs in the Lutheran Church and the town planning. They are both now resting in the Toowoomba- Drayton Cemetery.

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  Johann Peter Heinrich Flegler

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  Maria Katharina Flegler nee Steger

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  Johann Peter Fleger and Maria Katharina Flegler’s Grave in Toowoomba Drayton Cemetery

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  The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 – 1933) 21 February 1914: 7.

Sources:

Chinnery, Kenneth John, Familie Flegler aus Niklashausen, Baden, Deutschland nach Toowoomba Queensland, Australien 1855, Self Published 1997.

“CLERMONT, July 19”, The Darling Downs Gazette and General Advertiser (Toowoomba, Qld. : 1858 – 1880), 22 July, p. 3. , viewed 21 Aug 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article75464360

“DEATH OF A PIONEER.” The Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 – 1933) 21 February 1914: 7. Web. 22 Aug 2019 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19965937

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