Dorothy Schmelz

Biographical information provided by Christa Hopkinson for the He Tohu exhibition:

Dorothy Conradine Juliane Schmelz (nee Tannger) was born around 1863 and lived in Groß Hundorf in Mecklenberg-Vorpommern, Germany. In 1885 Dorothy married her first husband Karl Heinrich Schmelz in London, England. Together they had four children – a daughter born in England and three sons born in New Zealand.

Karl and Dorothy raised their children together in Dunedin until Karl’s death in 1899, aged 26. Dorothy married three more times, outliving each of her husbands. She moved to Timaru and lived with her last husband, Charles Hendry, until his death in 1919.

Dorothy died in Timaru, aged 64 in 1930. 

See also Caversham research databases