HECKSCHER David Meyer

Name	David Meyer HECKSCHER
Country Of Origin	Denmark
Born	1805
Died	1891
Birth/ Baptism	Born 4 June 1805, Jutland, Denmark
Parents	Father: Meyer Heckscher
Apprenticeship	Jutland, Denmark, and additional training with Mr Urban Jorgenson (brother of Jorgen Jorgenson), known as the most proficient chronometer maker in Europe.
Skills	Clockmaker, Watchmaker, Chronometer Maker
Work Locations	Hobart
Street Address	10 Collins Street, Hobart New Town Road, Hobart 20 Elizabeth Street, Hobart
Marriage/Spouse	Approx. 1832, England, to Susannah Benjamin
Arrival	27 April 1833, Hobart with wife Susannah on ship George Hibbert
Other	Work locations before emigration: Germany, Russia, England. Convict assigned to David Heckscher: John Stewart. 1834-1835: 10 Collins Street, Hobart. December 1835: Relocated to 20 Elizabeth Street, Hobart. By 1836: Maintained three town clocks. May 1839: Advertised for an apprentice. November 1843: Advertised approaching retirement from the watch, clock, and jewellery business. April 1844: Auction of stock including two hundred Dutch clocks, gold and silver watches, jewellery, scent bottles, mathematical instruments, spectacles, cutlery, musical snuff boxes, watch and clockmaker tools, gold seals, and keys. 1844-1845: Paid £15 per annum salary to maintain St David’s Church clock, Hobart. From approx. 1839: Partnership, Fraser & Heckscher, with Alexander Fraser. March 1850: Departed Hobart with his family for California on the ship Pryde (owned by David Heckscher and Alexander Fraser and utilised for whaling voyages and transporting various cargo). Approx. 1854: Returned to Australia and resided in Victoria. Critic 18 October 1912 Reminiscences of G S Crouch ‘Jutland, now the residence of Hon. W B Propsting, was when I first knew it, owned and occupied by Mr Hecksher, a watchmaker. His shop was in Elizabeth Street, now the office of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He drove a fine grey horse, which had bolting proclivities and to cure these he used a strong Pelham bit and a heavy curb, but this seemed to irritate him and make him worse. Mr Hecksher then sold him by auction, and Mr Henry Propsting (father of the Hon. W B) bought him and at once changed the bit to an ordinary snaffle.’
Death	31 March 1891, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria
References
John Levi, These are the Names: Jewish Lives in Australia 1788-1850, 2013, pp299-300. TAHO: CUS30/1/1 Arrival 1833 [Hickscher]. Web: Ancestry: Denmark Church Records Birth 1805; Australia Electoral Roll 1856; Australia & New Zealand, Find a Grave Index 1891. Colonial Times 21 May 1833, 14 November 1837, 28 November 1843, 20 February 1849; The Tasmanian 4 December 1835, 31 May 1839; Colonist & Van Diemen’s Land Commercial & Agricultural Advertiser 4 February 1834; Bent’s News and Tasmanian Register 5 March 1836, 2 December 1837; The Courier Hobart 15 March 1844, 4 February 1846, 22 December 1849, 2 March 1850; Bendigo Advertiser 2 April 1891; The Argus 28 August 1854.