Touring

A blog by Kel…

I am very fortunate that several of my relatives have traced our family history. This came in very handy when planning our itinerary for this trip as showing the girls their heritage was a key theme for our adventure.

My Ackerman ancestry is particularly well-known thanks, in part, to an episode of ‘Who do you think you are’ featuring Australian chef Maggie Beer, a fellow descendant of the Ackerman clan.

So from Cochem, we headed to Mainz for our next stop in Germany. Located not far from Frankfurt on the Rhine River, Mainz is the 35th largest city in Germany.

A short taxi ride (or one stop on the train) from Mainz is the sleepy suburb of Budenheim, which was home to my Ackerman ancestors. We visited Saint Pankratius Catholic Church where my Great Great Great Grandparents Michael and Anna were married in 1854 (Michael was also baptised here). As winemakers, they arrived in Australia in 1855 to settle in the Hunter Valley before heading to Hill End for the gold rush. Although we didn’t go inside the Church in Budenheim, it felt very special to see and I’m glad we made the effort to visit this beautiful part of Germany.