In the article below, Philip Caveney from the Knysna Historical Society unpacks the history of various homes built by members of the famous Thesen family of Knysna. Click here to download a pdf version which includes footnotes.
The First Generation of Thesens - Mathias Theodore and Arnt Thesen of Stavanger and Knysna
Arnt Leonard Thesen was born in 1816. In 1845 he and his brother Frederick Wilhelm Thesen established the company AL Thesen & Co. in Stavanger. Initially they were merchants selling building hardware but later expanded to be general merchants and after 1857 were shipping goods to and from Norway with their own ships, notably grain from Northern Europe.
But this was not to last. On September 1868 an Economic Depression struck Norway and major clients in Stavanger defaulted on payments and business came to a standstill. AL Thesen & Co. was forced to close its doors.
Arnt Leonard Thesen decided to seek new pastures – immigration to New Zealand was considered. With help from the family and his elder brother Mathias Thesen, a sea captain, they managed to find enough money to buy the Albatros out of the insolvent estate and to load the ship with the supplies they needed to sail to their chosen destination plus a load of timber to trade to allow a new start.
They departed Stavanger on 20 July 1869, with a few calls to make at Tonsberg and Plymouth, but by the end of August they set sail for New Zealand.
They reached Cape Town on 16...
