Friedrich Maximilian was born in Ecketnförde on 20th September 1793, only two months after his parents got married there. He is the oldest child of Johann Friedrich and Johanna Dorothea und becomes a gardener. He marries Dorothea Salome Feucht and in the years 1820 and 1821 they get two daughters in Schleswig (in the quarter of Friedrichsberg):
- Carolina Maria Johanna Engellenner (1820–?)
- Dorothea Maria Friederica Engellenner (1821–?)
However, the mother dies shortly after giving birth to the second girl. The two children later grow up at one of their godfathers, the cabinetmaker Johann Friedrich Feucht. He is the brother of the dead mother. In the census 1845, the two daughters already are grown up (24 and 25 years old). Carolina is married to the shoemaker Heinrich Hass and they have a child, the one year old Friedrich Hass. The family still lives at the place of Carolinas’s uncle in Norderstraße 48 in Husum, where he now is running a lodge for apprentices. Dorothea, Carolina’s sister, ist not married and also still lives in her uncle’s house.
After the death of his first wife, Friedrich Maximilian soon marries Friederica Elisabeth Wilhelmina Molitor and one year later she gives birth to a son:
Apparently, she also dies, since the family appears in the 1840 census in Bovenau and Maximilian’s wife is now Dorothea Krabbenhorst (or Kramhöft). They live on the land of manor Georgenthal in a farmhouse and are listed together with three sons:
- Marcus Augustus Engellenner (also called Marius) (1832–?)
- Johann Carl Theodor Engellenner (1835–?)
- Heinrich Friedrich Augustus Engellenner (1837–?)
The oldest children are not with them.
Five years later, in 1845, the family lives in the neighbouring town Ehlersdorf near Bovenau, which belongs to the manor Kluvensiek. A barn is listet as their place of living. The 1845 census is the last one in which the family appears. The next trace is in a totally different place. On the 10th of March 1852, the ship Prinzeß Louise leaves Hamburg. On board of the ship is a man called Friedrich Engellenner, together with his wife and two children (withut listing their names), 14 and 19 years of age. The occupation is listed as ‘farmer’, the birthplace is “Cluvensiek (Holstein)“. The ship is sailing to Rio de Janeiro! Their fate is actually reported in a letter written by Maximilian himself and is published in the journal „Die geregelte Auswanderung nach Brasilien und ihr erster glänzender Erfolg. Blätter zur Bekämpfung der gegen dieses Land herrschenden Vorurteile, und zur Belehrung der dahin Auswandernden“ (The regular emigration to Brazil and its initial glorious success. Journal for the fight against the prejudice against this country, and for lessons for emigrants) in the same year 1852 in Rudolstadt:
(Translation from German) The first letter is from gardener Engellenner from Cluvensiek to the major Bendix Koch in Ehlersdorf at Rendsburg, and the text is: […] Independencia, in the district of Valenca, 5th June 1852. “Dear friend! First of all a friendly greeting from us all! If this letter finds you healthy, we will be happy; regarding my family, we are well again. My wife and I were not sick during the crossing; after this we were sick a few days during the land journey here. […] We sailed from Haburg to Rio de Janeiro in 56 days […] We all form a colony together over here at our good lord Valle de Gama […] Many greetings from us all to all people we know and to our good friends, especially J. Koch in Bovenau with his family. Sincerely, your friend F. N. A. Engellenner”
The “N” in the name under the letter is probably an error, because this person can only be Friedrich Maximilian August who is 59 years old now. Judging from their age, the two children could be Marcus and Heinrich. What happened to Carl Theodor is not known. The family obviously lives on a coffee plantation and there are reports which are positive and other reports which describe disputes. We do not know what happened to the family after 1852. The colony Independencia is small. In the year 1857 there are 172 people reported to live there. From these, 102 come from Holstein, the remainder from Prussia, Thuringia and Hessen-Darmstadt.
(Image on top: map from around 1790 with the towns Ehlersdorf, Bovenau and Kluvensiek, west of Kiel, at the former Eiderkanal)