Kiem / Kime Family History
The Children of Franz and Christina: the origins of the Kiem and Kime families of the Hunter Valley was first published in 1988. This was well before the digital revolution transformed the way in which family history is researched and presented. The PDF version below is a largely unrevised copy of the original book.
Overview article in German 'Deutsche Einwanderung aus dem Rheingau in das australische Hunter Valley' in Hessische Genealogie, 6:4, 2023, pp. 16 - 20.
Revision Project
Over the next few years, from early 2022, the text of the original Kiem/Kime family history will be updated and revised. Modern technology will be a great help in this revision. At the same time, oral history, documents, photographs and heirlooms passed down within families remain at the heart of family history.
Please get in touch if you feel you have something to contribute.
The Children of Franz and Christina
© Paul Kiem and Robyn Whipp, 1988
Grave Questions
1. Mary (Mollie) Kiem was buried with her nephew Raymond George Kiem at Sandgate Cemetery, Newcastle, relatively recently. I don't know much about Mollie and would love to be in touch with relatives who arranged the burial.
2. Patrick Kiem died in 1968. His headstone in Sandgate Cemetery has been beautifully restored quite recently. Again, I'd love to be in touch with those who cared enough to do this.
3. John Kiem died a victim of the Spanish Influenza in 1918. His grave at Sandgate
appears to have been reused by his daughter Mary Gale and her husband Claude Bertram Gale. One of John's sons, John F. Kiem, had died as a baby in 1914 and was buried in the adjoining plot. However, this plot has also been reused. The weathered headstone reveals that Valda Mary Peters (1927-1960) and her son Garney (1950-1963) are buried there. Who were they and why were they buried in a Kiem grave? There is an intriguing connection with the Gale family. Valda's husband, Francis Peters (1920-1995), was a long-term resident of the Newcastle suburb of Tighe's Hill, where he appeared to share a house with Mary Gale (nee Kiem) after Valda's death. Would love to get to the bottom of this one.
