Swiss seaman??

luciealexa · Post by **luciealexa** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 10:33 am

Something has been bothering me for months and i wonder if anyone has any ideas that may help.

My G Grandfather was born in Switzerland in 1870ish. Family legend has it he was a ships cook in the North Sea and he is on the 1891 census in Oban as a hotel chef age 21. He has an unusual name GRENZINGER which may make searching easier.

I can't get any leads on how and why a boy from Switzerland could take up a career at sea. Which port would he have travelled to set off from land-locked Switz??

I can't find any European ships records to search on line from that era, especially as it may have been just a fishing boat he was on. Does anyone know of any searches?

Was Oban a major port on a shipping line from any particular European port in 1880's? I know the railway had just been completed to Oban at that time so perhaps it was to meet the demand from ships/freight etc.

All ideas and comments would be very welcome.
Lucie

Post by **emanday** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 1:44 pm

Hi Lucie,

Oban is well known in Scotland as "The Gateway to the Isles" as a lot of ferries travel from there to the outer islands. CalMac (Caledonian McBrayne) are the current and I believe long term ferry operators.

http://www.calmac.co.uk/islands.html shows the extensive coverage they have.

Although they might not have been around in that form back then, maybe they could point you in the right direction. If your chap arrived in Oban to try for work on one of the ferries and ended getting a job in the hotel, that could explain a lot.

Why a Swiss would go to sea? Maybe he just wanted to. He wouldn't be the first land-locked person to choose that occupation.

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 2:20 pm

Hello Lucie,

I’m not finding anything useful. What was his first name?

Is it possible the ships cook thing was after 1891? What was he doing in 1901 and at marriage and the birth of children? Maybe he came to Oban for some other reason. Were there any other Swiss born persons living there? Would the scenery have reminded him of home?

I think if I was a shipowner with cargo from Europe destined for Scotland and that had to be railed to its final destination I would land it at an east coast port. I don’t know much about Oban or whether it was an international cargo port at the time. The railway seems to have been used a lot for tourism and the transportation of local produce to markets.

Probably not much help,
Alan

Post by **emanday** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:21 pm

I think this is him in 1901 - In Aberdeenshire, but it looks as though they spent some time in Edinburgh area where the three children were born

1901 Scotland Census
about Fritz Grenzinger
Name: Fritz Grenzinger
Age: 31
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1870
Relationship: Head
Spouse's name : Mary
Gender: Male
Where born: Switzerland
Registration Number: 168/2
Registration district: St Machar
Civil parish: Aberdeen Holburn
County: Aberdeenshire
Address: 73 Union Grove
Occupation: Hotel Chef
ED: 30
Household schedule number: 286
Line: 8
Roll: CSSCT1901_58
Household Members: Name Age
Fritz Grenzinger 31
Mary Grenzinger 33 Born abt 1868 Strontion, Argyleshire
Mary Grenzinger 7 Born abt 1894 Leith, Midlothian
Edward A Grenzinger 5 Born abt 1896 Edinburgh, Midlothian
Helena Grenzinger 4 Born abt 1897 Edinburgh, Midlothian

luciealexa · Post by **luciealexa** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 8:49 pm

Yes thanks, that's my family. I know that Fritz and Mary worked together in Oban in 1891 then married in Edinburgh in 1894 before moving the family to Aberdeen.

You've all given me some ideas as to how Fritz may have ended up at oban. I think its more likely he docked at Leith in Edinburgh and travelled to Oban by the newly completed train line in answer to an advert for a hotel chef.

I hadn't thought about the chance of other Swiss being there and will certainly look into that.

Many thanks again
Lucie