The Tree - Person Sheet
The Tree - Person Sheet
NameHermann Otto Richard (Jim) Guttenbeil 
Birth20 Nov 1912, Vava’u, Tonga
Death10 Oct 1986, Tonga
BurialVava’u Cemetery, Tonga
Misc. Notes
Name from obituary of daughter, Emma Louva Knauf found in June 2020:
“…Loved daughter of Ako and Jim Guttenbeil…”
Published in The New Zealand Herald on Apr. 5, 2018
From above obituary, Jim and Ako’s other children are “…Albert, Martha, Richard, Grace, Robert, Jack, Margaret, James, Nova and Etta…”
Published in The New Zealand Herald on Apr. 5, 2018
Full name of “Hermann Otto Richard (Jim)”, date and place of birth and death, found in June 2020 from The University of Auckland Arts Faculty webpage for Germans in Tonga 1855-1960:
https://www.artsfaculty.auckland.ac.nz/special/germansintonga/?show=59
Surname: Guttenbeil
First name(s): Hermann Otto Richard (Jim)
Date of birth: 20/11/1912
Date of death: 10/10/1986
Biography: Male, born in Vava’u on 20/11/1912 of German/Tongan descent. He resided in Haaiko, Vava’u and married Akosita Christina Sanft around 1937.
He was the father of Taufui, Jack, Albert, Margaret, Martha, Robert, James, Richard, Efa, Grace, Emma and Nova, and died 10/10/1986, aged 73.
(Reg. no. 71, 30/05/1916; Despatch no. 76, date of despatch 24/04/1937; Richard Guttenbeil, Tonga; Vava’u cemetery records)
Facinating and interesting story of the Guttenbeil family was found here in June 2020:
https://guttenbeilfamily.com
“We are a group of like-minded cousins who value family and want to celebrate the Guttenbeil family history. We are all grandchildren of Hermann Richard “Jim” Guttenbeil and his wife ‘Ako. Though we grew up in New Zealand, we acknowledge our unique German-Tongan heritage”.
“Between 1800 and 1914, six million Germans left their native country in search of a better life overseas. The overwhelming majority sought their fortunes and a new life in North America; some went to South America, and a few to Australia and Oceania. In many cases, a pioneering individual blazed the trail for others, who, encouraged by tales of success, then followed. It was a chain migration of this kind that brought Hermann Guttenbeil from the small town of Pyritz in Germany to Vava’u in the northern archipelago of Tonga. The “pioneer” in whose footsteps he followed was August Sanft, who also originally came from Pyritz. Known to his family as the “the golden uncle,” August Sanft had earned a fortune trading copra in Neiafu in the 1860s and 1870s, and was instrumental in encouraging friends and family members to also seek their fortunes in the South Sea Islands. It was thus that a group of sixteen individuals (fifteen men and one woman) from Pyritz¸ one of whom was Hermann Guttenbeil, dared the leap and sailed for Vava’u…..”
“…Loved daughter of Ako and Jim Guttenbeil…”
Published in The New Zealand Herald on Apr. 5, 2018
From above obituary, Jim and Ako’s other children are “…Albert, Martha, Richard, Grace, Robert, Jack, Margaret, James, Nova and Etta…”
Published in The New Zealand Herald on Apr. 5, 2018
Full name of “Hermann Otto Richard (Jim)”, date and place of birth and death, found in June 2020 from The University of Auckland Arts Faculty webpage for Germans in Tonga 1855-1960:
https://www.artsfaculty.auckland.ac.nz/special/germansintonga/?show=59
Surname: Guttenbeil
First name(s): Hermann Otto Richard (Jim)
Date of birth: 20/11/1912
Date of death: 10/10/1986
Biography: Male, born in Vava’u on 20/11/1912 of German/Tongan descent. He resided in Haaiko, Vava’u and married Akosita Christina Sanft around 1937.
He was the father of Taufui, Jack, Albert, Margaret, Martha, Robert, James, Richard, Efa, Grace, Emma and Nova, and died 10/10/1986, aged 73.
(Reg. no. 71, 30/05/1916; Despatch no. 76, date of despatch 24/04/1937; Richard Guttenbeil, Tonga; Vava’u cemetery records)
Facinating and interesting story of the Guttenbeil family was found here in June 2020:
https://guttenbeilfamily.com
“We are a group of like-minded cousins who value family and want to celebrate the Guttenbeil family history. We are all grandchildren of Hermann Richard “Jim” Guttenbeil and his wife ‘Ako. Though we grew up in New Zealand, we acknowledge our unique German-Tongan heritage”.
“Between 1800 and 1914, six million Germans left their native country in search of a better life overseas. The overwhelming majority sought their fortunes and a new life in North America; some went to South America, and a few to Australia and Oceania. In many cases, a pioneering individual blazed the trail for others, who, encouraged by tales of success, then followed. It was a chain migration of this kind that brought Hermann Guttenbeil from the small town of Pyritz in Germany to Vava’u in the northern archipelago of Tonga. The “pioneer” in whose footsteps he followed was August Sanft, who also originally came from Pyritz. Known to his family as the “the golden uncle,” August Sanft had earned a fortune trading copra in Neiafu in the 1860s and 1870s, and was instrumental in encouraging friends and family members to also seek their fortunes in the South Sea Islands. It was thus that a group of sixteen individuals (fifteen men and one woman) from Pyritz¸ one of whom was Hermann Guttenbeil, dared the leap and sailed for Vava’u…..”