August Unshelm ( in photos above with wife Dorothea Gantz ) was tasked with setting up a Godeffroy base for the western Pacific from his company office in Valparaiso , Chile . In 1854 and 1856 Mr Unshelm visited Apia and decided to set up his headquarters there . His arrival appears to date from about 1857 .
Unshelm began the large property purchases along the Apia shoreline at Sogi and appears to have begun the process of land acquisition for plantations . ‘ Dora ’ and August Unshelm had two boys who lived with them for a time
Möding Family Collection per Birgit Scheps-Bretschneider
in Apia and then they were taken back to Germany for education . Twin girls , Rosa and Amy , were born in Apia in July 1860 ( shown at right ) and may have been the first Germans born in Samoa .
In 1864 tragedy struck . August , then aged 39 , headed off to Fiji in a company schooner . On its return journey the vessel was caught in a hurricane and disappeared . Flotsam from the boat was later found in the Fiji Group . Mrs Unshelm stayed on in Apia for another two years hoping for a miracle but it never happened . In 1866 she returned to Hamburg with the girls . These photos were kindly provided by descendants of twin Amy .
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