| [Index] |
| Emma COWIE (1807 - 1880) |
| Children | Self + Spouses | Parents | Grandparents | Greatgrandparents |
| Emma COWIE (1807 - 1880) + John Lewis VON STIEGLITZ (1809 - 1868) |
George COWIE (1761 - 1829) | |||
| Rachel BUXTON (1769 - 1846) | ||||
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| b. 13 Nov 1807 at Middlesex, England |
| m. 03 May 1836 John Lewis VON STIEGLITZ (1809 - 1868) at Campbell, Tasmania, Australia |
| d. 01 Nov 1880 at Launceston, Tasmania, Australia aged 72 |
| Cause of Death: |
| pleurisy |
| Parents: |
| George COWIE (1761 - 1829) |
| Rachel BUXTON (1769 - 1846) |
| Siblings (6): |
| Jane COWIE |
| Robert COWIE (1802 - 1884) |
| Edward COWIE (1804 - 1845) |
| John Anthony COWIE (1806 - 1875) |
| Rachel COWIE (1809 - 1817) |
| Georgiana COWIE (1811 - 1899) |
| Events in Emma COWIE (1807 - 1880)'s life | |||||
| Date | Age | Event | Place | Notes | Src |
| 13 Nov 1807 | Emma COWIE was born | Middlesex, England | |||
| 1829 | 22 | Death of father George COWIE (aged 68) | |||
| 03 May 1836 | 28 | Married John Lewis VON STIEGLITZ (aged 27) | Campbell, Tasmania, Australia | ||
| 1846 | 39 | Death of mother Rachel BUXTON (aged 77) | |||
| 22 Aug 1868 | 60 | Death of husband John Lewis VON STIEGLITZ (aged 59) | Ireland | ||
| 01 Nov 1880 | 72 | Emma COWIE died | Launceston, Tasmania, Australia | ||
| Personal Notes: |
|
Emma von Stieglitz
[approved] sketcher, was born in London on 13 November 1807, daughter of George Cowie, a bookseller, and Rachel, née Buxton. With her mother and three sisters, Emma arrived at Hobart Town on board the Eveline on 7 December 1834 to join her brothers Robert and Anthony. She lived with Robert at his home, Brookstead, Avoca, where, on 3 May 1836, she married John Lewis von Stieglitz. There were no children of the marriage. In about 1839 the von Stieglitzes moved to Ballan, Victoria, some 40 miles from Melbourne, to a property called Ballanee. They returned to Ireland about 1860 and settled at Altmore, County Tyrone where, on 22 August 1868, John died. By November 1875 his widow had returned to Tasmania and was living in Elizabeth Street, Launceston. She remained there until her death from pleurisy, on 1 November 1880. She was buried in the Cypress Street Cemetery, Launceston, although her headstone was subsequently re-erected in the Church of England Cemetery, Evandale. Emma von Stieglitz's sketchbooks (p.c.) have been published in part in two booklets, Early Van Diemen's Land 1835-1860 (Hobart 1963), edited by K.R. von Stieglitz, and Emma Von Stieglitz: Her Port Phillip and Victorian Album, published by Fullers Bookshop, Hobart (1964). These pencil and watercolour views, largely of family homes and domestic affairs, range from the interior view of a settler's hut (1841) and bush kitchen (1854) to the wash-place on the Werribee River at Ballanee (November 1849) and a shepherd's watch-box (March 1854). Poor Mungit's Grave, Ballan (November 1852) and Deserted Mia Mias at Villamanatta (25 March 1854) indicate that the artist's interests and sympathies were not entirely confined to the affairs of white settlers. Portraits of a Tasmanian Aboriginal man and woman forwarded to the 1855 Paris Universal Exhibition by her brother-in-law, Frederick Lewis von Stieglitz of Killymoon, Fingal, were catalogued with the statement that they were intended as 'a correct idea of the appearance and character of Tasmanian aborigines, and by no means as works of art, conscious that as such they are altogether undeserving of notice' - comments probably emanating from the modest Emma herself, whose paintings they undoubtedly were. The perceived inferiority, however, lay in being colonial rather than female, similar comments being recorded at the same exhibition from a male Tasmanian photographer, Douglas Thomas Kilburn. Emma von Steiglitz's Ballan House (1851, w/c) and Killymoon, Tasmania (pen and wash) are in the La Trobe Library but most of her work is still held privately. The massive population growth of 1839 to 1841 placed enormous pressure on the capacity of the new colony to adequately supply the needs and wants of the thousands of recently arrived immigrants (Boys 1959, pp.117 & 129). Some, like John von Stieglitz and his wife Emma, were relatively well off and could probably afford to bring significant amounts of portable material culture with them on their voyage to the new land, while others had to select from what was made available to them in the retail establishments of Melbourne. The extent and nature of some of the portable material culture available to a well-off squatter and his wife in the year 1841 can be seen in Emma von Stieglitz’s watercolour painting depicting the interior of their home (Figure 1). The presence of books, artworks and a piano on the right-hand side of the room, for example, are clear demonstrations of their owner’s social status (Lane & Serle 1990, p.64). Figure 1 Interior of a Squatter’s Hut at Port Phillip (1841) watercolour painting by Emma von Stieglitz (from the collection of Mr. H.O.C. Gilbert; reproduced from Lane & Serle 1990, p.65) |