Tailor’s Buttons

Hans Schwessensen was born in 1834 in Denmark.  According to the Queensland Library, he came to Australia in 1854, but I find no record of him until 1865 in Victoria.

State Library Qld item 198140.

He married in 1866, but his first wife died, and he remarried in 1869 to Amy Reynolds.

The Avoca Mail (Vic), 10th February 1880 page 3.

His  store in Talbot circa 1881.  Photo used with permission.

He died in 1881, and his wife, with 8 children, and another on the way, must have had no choice but to employ a tailor and keep the business going.

State Library Qld item 198138.  Amy Schwennesen, 1898.

The Avoca Mail (Vic), 13th January 1882 page 3.

The Avoca Mail, (Vic), 17th April 1885 page 2.

With her sons growing up, by 1896 she advertised as ‘A.Schwennesen & Sons”, Talbot. From 1902-1915 the firm was located in Maryborough.

Her youngest son who was born after his father’s death, Walter Hans Schwennesen (1882-1949), moved to Hamilton, Victoria, around 1900 and advertised as ‘Schwennesen. The Tailor” from 1900-1931.

The Horsham Times (Vic), 20th July 1900 page 2.

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