Hunting History - Finding Family

 If you've been on TikTok at all in the last year I'm sure you've heard various versions of the popular sea shanty "The Wellerman," singing "Soon May the Wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum," referring to the Weller Brothers supply ships.   The Weller Brothers were Joseph, George, and Edward Weller, a wealthy family who had emigrated from Kent England to Otago Heads, Dunedin Australia in the early 1820s.  The move was originally made to attempt to cure Joseph's tuberculosis, but soon found himself interested in maritime trading, so after a short trip back home he brought his siblings and parents all back with him to Sydney where they founded a brand new business in  Otakou, on the Otago Peninsula .  Their first ship was purchased by George in 1826, named the Albion.  Soon they also had The Dublin Packet, The Joseph Weller, and The Lucy Ann, shipping large quantities of whale oil and bone, along with trade in timber, potatoes, and dried ...

 Johann Christian Orndorff, my 8th G Grandfather was born in Siegen, Germany August 15, 1692 to Johann Heinrich Orndorff and Agnes Giesler.  He married Elizabeth von Mueller in 1721in Nassau, and they had three children together: Johann Christian, Anna Barbara, and Mary Magdalena.  Unfortunately, Elizabeth passed away in 1741, and that, coupled with the religious prosecution of those of Protestant faith in Germany no doubt spurred Christian, and two of his children find themselves on the ship "St Mark" headed to the port of Philadelphia.  (It is unknown whether Elizabeth passed away on the ship en route or just before the emigration, as I don't have specific dates for her.  I also do not know whether or not Mary was with them on the ship, of if she had passed in Germany or on board.  Woman and children under 16 are typically not listed on ship manifests, but we know Anna was with him and arrived in PA, as she's listed in a deed as a married woman years late...