Australia
Neuchâtel emigrants to Australia
Edouard Huguenin (-Vuillemin) received a passport for Australia dated 20 March 1855. His precise link to the main Huguenin tree is unknown at present.
Samuel-Louis Huguenin (-Dumittan) (b. St-Blaise, 17 March 1839) emigrated from Switzerland to Australia in 1858, receiving his passport on 19 July 1858, and arriving in Port Phillip on board the “Champion of the Seas” on 6 November 1858. He married an English woman, Harriet Beckham, and settled in Geelong, along with other Swiss emigrants. The Huguenin-Dumittan branch of the family are descendants of some of the sons of Petitjehan Huguenin, who lived in the village of La Chaux-du-Milieu - then known as La Chaux du Moiten or Mitten. Samuel-Louis' direct line has now been traced back to the earliest known Huguenin in the early 1400’s.
Fritz-Henri Huguenin (-Bergenat) (b. La Chaux-du-Milieu, 30 May 1832), eldest son of a watchmaking family, also chose to travel to the other side of the world with his wife, Sophie Quellet, in 1863. They settled in Albury, NSW, where Fritz (also known as Frederick) had a watchmaking business. The Huguenin-Bergenat branch is currently separate from the main Huguenin tree, and Fritz's earliest known paternal ancestor is David Huguenin-Bergenat, who died before 1749. However, he also has other Huguenin ancestors whose lines go back further. Fritz’s brother Louis (b. La Chaux-du-Milieu, 10 May 1835) received a passport for Australia on 12 November 1861, just before his marriage to Adèle-Uranie Davidel, but he returned to Switzerland before his death in 1869.
Gustave Amez-Droz (b. Hauterive, 16 May 1840) was one of many Swiss who emigrated to the Geelong area of Victoria, probably arriving on the "Golden South" on 13 June 1863. He married Eliza Ann Crabb in 1868, and owned a vineyard called "Neuchatel" until his early death in 1877. The couple had five children, who used the surname Amezdroz. Gustave's parents were Daniel Amez-Droz and Susanne-Julie L'Ecuyer; he was a descendant of Pierre Amez-Droz who lived in Cernier in the mid-1700s.
Henri-Alphonse Mellier (b. Bevaix, 1 December 1836) received a passport for Australia on 11 April 1864. He travelled out on the “Golden Land”, and settled in Victoria, working as a farmer and winegrower. He married Rosette Fardel, daughter of another emigrant, in 1875, and was naturalised in 1878. Henri-Alphonse was the son of Henri-François Mellier and Marie-Agathe-Sophie Fardel; his Mellier line has been traced back to Jehannod Mellier, the founder of the family in the canton of Neuchâtel.
Please contact us for further details of any of these families or if you have information to share.