Jenifer Rosevear Begent, was born on September 5, 1868, in Launceston, Tasmania; the daughter of Clarence Begent and granddaughter of Eli Begent. Her father Clarence was pilot and master of several ships on the River Tamar, and through him she met the seafaring Captain Oscar Conrad Kustel when his ship visited Hobart. Oscar Kustel was a naturalised American, born in Austro-Hungary, whose family had emigrated to California in 1852 at the time of the Californian gold rush. He was one of four seafaring brothers. Oscar had married Ada Hinckley around 1870 and had 5 children born in California. In 1891 Jennie Begent sailed to Glasgow, Scotland, (possibly with her brother Walter) to meet up with Oscar. They had not seen each other for a long time and the story is that on the quayside they hardly recognised each other. They were married on 5th January 1892 in Langbanks, Glasgow. He was 57 years old and she was 24. For the next few years Jennie accompanied her husband sailing on many voyages from San Francisco to the Sandwich Isles (Hawaii) and South America, including many around the Horn and Cape of Good Hope. Oscar retired from the sea in around 1902 and they bought an orange grove in Ontario, California, where they lived until his death in 1921. Jennie looked after the children of Oscar's brother Arpad who were sent to school in California from the Gilbert Isles (Kiribati) where Arpad had settled. Jennie died in San Bernadino in 1951 at the age of 82 years. To learn more of the adventures of the seafaring Kustel brothers read on ...

The seafaring Kustel Brothers

The Kustel family emigrated to California, arriving via Panama in San Francisco on August 13, 1852 aboard the steamer Columbia. Odilio Kustel, his wife Agnes and four sons (Oscar b. 1834, Alexis b.1840, Casmir b.1846, and Arpad, b.1848) came from Ruszkabánya, Krassó-Szörény, in what was then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now Rusca Montana, Caras-Severin, in Romania). They were part of the inrush of over half a million people who emigrated to California from around the world following the discovery of gold in 1848. Travelling with them was Guido Kustel, believed to be Odilio's brother, and his wife Adele. Guido was a mining engineer and published books in San Francisco in 1863 entitled Processes of Silver and Gold extraction, and in 1870 Roasting of Gold and Silver Ores and the Extraction of their respective metals without Quicksilver. The Kustels became naturalised US citizens and Agnes remarried. By 1864 the gold rush had ended, and Odilio's four sons set out as seaman sailing from the port of San Francisco around the globe. Their adventures were numerous.

Oscar Kustel

Oscar Conrad Kustel sailed on ships for many years across the Pacific calling in at the islands, and to Australia. In Tasmania, he met Clarence Begent who was the pilot and harbour master, and his daughter Jennie Begent. The romance between Jennie and Oscar flourished, and in 1891 she journeyed all the way to Glasgow in Scotland to meet up with again and marry him.

San Francisco Call, Volume 79, Number 139, 17 April 1896
Captain Kustel of the Hawaiian Isles is a noted bicyclist. His wife and daughter vie with him in the sport, and it is whispered that Mrs. Kustel is the better rider of the two. Miss "Trotie" Kustel is also a. good rider, and as all three have their bikes with them, the Australians will be i treated to an exhibition of skillful riding ; when the Hawaiian Isles reaches Sydney. It is said along the front that during the voyage Captain Kustel will have the decks cleared for action every, morning, and that he and his wife and daughter will take a spin before breakfast.

San Francisco Call, Volume 85, Number 136, 15 April 1899
Captain Oscar Kustel of the ship Hawaiian Isles has given up the sea and is going to purchase an orange orchard in Southern California. 1 1.- and his wife left for Los Angeles last night. Captain Kustel was succeeded in the command of the Hawaiian Isles by Captain Rice, late of the Bundaleer. Captain Kustel, always accompanied by his wife, has been at sea continuously for fifteen years. When he moved his belongings ashore from the Hawaiian Isles It was the first time in all those years that he and his spouse had slept on terra flrraa. He now vows that he will never sleep on shipboard again, but will spend the evening of life in cultivating oranges.

A July 11, 1902 article in the Ontario Record Observer reported:
For many years a seafaring man, Capt. Kustel is now the owner of one of the finest, cleanest, neatest, best cared for and best producing ten-acre orange groves in Ontario. The captain takes pride in having his trees all kept uniform in size. The entire orchard is Washington navels, which is the best variety grown. No orchard in Southern California presents a more healthy color and is nearer perfection as a model orange orchard than Capt. Kustel's. His property is on east G street, where he lives happily and contentedly in a beautiful two-story house of eight rooms, with broad sunny verandas, surrounded by walks through beds of roses.

Oscar died in Ontario on January 24, 1921. His obituary was as follows:
Following a short illness, death came this morning to Oscar Conrad Kustel at his home, "The Anchorage," on West G street. For nearly 22 years Captain Kustel had been a resident of Ontario, being engaged in raising citrus fruits ever since his retirement from the sea. He was a native of Transylvania, Hungary, and was a mining engineer by profession, giving that up, however, to answer the call of the sea. It was during his sea service that he met and married Miss Jennie Begent, who accompanied him then on many of his voyages. Together Captain and Mrs. Kustel made two trips around the world and the thrilling experiences with which they met seem like leaves taken from a book of adventure. Travelled, well read and cultured, Captain Kustel was one of the most interesting men that Ontario ever knew. One of his last acts was the planning of his funeral service, which will be held Tuesday morning at 9:30 o'clock at the Drapor chapel. In accordance with his plans, the service will be strictly private, and friends are requested to omit flowers. The Rev. O. W. Irwin will read a short scripture passage and offer prayer. The body will be conveyed to the Evergreen cemetery at Los Angeles where cremation will follow. In addition to his wife, Captain Kustel leaves to mourn him a niece, Mrs. Roy Creighton, and a nephew, Adolph Kustel, both of Upland.

Jennie lived until February 5, 1951. The Ontario Daily reported:
Jennie Kustel, 82, 203 South Lemon avenue, Ontario resident for nearly half a century and widow of Capt. Oscar Kustel, with whom she twice sailed around the Horn, died Monday at a San Bernardino hospital. A native of Tasmania where her father, Clarence Begent, served for many years as a lighthouse keeper. Mrs. Kustel first made the acquaintance of her future husband when his ship called at port there. Later, when she was 19 years of age, she met Capt. Kustel in Glasgow, Scotland where they were married and where he was supervising completion of his new ship, the Hawaiian Isles, one of the first to be constructed with steel hulls. In this craft, Mrs. Kustel sailed with her husband for 17 years, their voyages including, besides the trips around the Horn, many around the Cape of Good Hope. Incidentally, the boat is still in use, now serving the Norwegian navy as a training ship. Upon Capt. Kustel's retirement in 1902, they came to Ontario, purchased a citrus grove on G street between San Antonio and Mountain avenues and here resided until the captain's death in 1920, since then his widow had resided in apartments here. Mrs. Kustel is survived by no immediate relatives. Mrs. Roy Creighton is a niece of Capt. Kustel. Funeral services for the pioneer will be conducted Friday, 10 a.m. at the Richardson chapel, 123 West G street, with the Rev. John A. Luther of St. Mark's Episcopal church officiating.

Arpad Kustel

Tarawa, the main island of the Gilbert Islands, which is now the capital of the 28-island nation of Kiribati once belonged to Arpad (John) Kustel. After several years of piloting a cargo schooner between California and Australia, and setting a British flag to every unclaimed Pacific island he encountered, Arpad settled down on Tawara in the late 1880s. Acknowledging his service, the island was given to him by the British and he became a copra trader. He married Emma Bession who was of French extraction and they had two sons Adolph (born in 1890 at sea on board the ship Flur de Lee), Edward and a daughter Anna b. 1892 who was the first caucasian child to be born on Tarawa. The name given to her by the islanders was 'Tenama' which means 'white flower'. In 1903 Adolph and Anna were sent to California to be educated and they stayed with their Aunt Jennie. Copies of their Affidavit of Birth on entry into the US were signed by Jennie Kustel. Anna's memoirs published in an article in the Contra Costa Times in July 1979, describe her amazement of arriving in San Francisco and seeing so many people and buildings after a childhood on a Pacific island. Arpad Kustel died in 1916 and Edward followed the others to California. It was some time before the news of Arpad's death reached his son in California. .

The Ontario Daily Register, March 2, 1917: HEARS OF DEATH OF FATHER AFTER 6 MONTHS DELAY - Adolph Kustel Learns That His Father Died on Gilbert Islands, August 11 It took over six months for Adolph Kustel, well known young man of this city, to learn of the death of his father, Capt. A. J. Kustel, of the South Sea Islands. The first young Kustel heard of the death of his father was when he received a letter from the administrator of the estate in Australia. This letter was dated January 9th and was just received here the other day. Capt. Kustel, who has visited in this city and is remembered by many, died on August 11th, 1916, at the Gilbert Islands, in the South Pacific. The letter received by the son is brief and contains no details. Besides the son here, Captain Kustel leaves a brother, Capt. Oscar Kustel, of West G street, this city.

After Arpad's death Tarawa island was sold to the Japanese before reverting to Britain in 1945 and becoming independent in 1979. Edward Kustel returned to the Gilbert Islands as a religious minister.

Adolph Kustel died in Ontario, California, on April 29, 1953. His obituary read
FORMER PRINCE DIES OF SUDDEN ILLNESS
Ontario - Adolph Frederick Kustel, 63, resident of this community for more than half a century and widely known as a prince of the Gilbert Islands, succumbed to a sudden illness Tuesday while visiting the home of his daughter Mrs Robert Hammond, 208 S. Euclid Ave, Upland. Kustel was the son of Capt. Arpad Kustel, one of four seafaring brothers, who married the daughter of the King of the Gilbert Islands. When a lad of 12 years Adolph was sent to this country and made his home with his uncle and aunt the late Capt and Mrs Kustel., and continued to reside in this community, although he recently made his headquarters temporarily in Victorville.

Casmir Kustel

Casmir Berenger Kustel briefly enlisted in the US army: Kustel, Casimir B., Private, Co. D., Eighth Regiment of Infantry, enlisted at San Francisco, December 1, 1864, discharged at San Francisco, October 24, 1865. (Record of California Men in the War of Rebellion)

He then went to sea and in 1873 was first mate of the Norwester and had also served on the Cassius. He married Matilda Barth in 1874 and they had six children.

The San Francisco Call Bulletin, published the following on July 16, 1882, Page 1, Column 6
The Captains Story - The little schooner PEARL, Capt. C.B. Kustel, lying at the Harrison Street wharf, her weatherworn appearance, her bleached sails, her queer black rigging of twisted grass, with her Malay crew, is an object exciting more curiosity along the waterfront. The little vessel, with a crew of the Captain and one man, sailed from this port April 23 (28?), 1880 on a trading voyage to the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific, nearly 7000 miles distant from this port. At the Gilbert Group the white man left, and the Captain took in his place a native. After trading in and about the Navigator Islands and the Caroline Archipelago, sail was made toward the coast of China, and finally on the Island of Sangri, about midway between the Phillippine and the Malacca groups, the Captain made his central station, while he traded for a year along the coast of New Guinea, Celebes and Borneo for gold, spices, pearls, shells, tortoise shell, etc., giving in return trinkets, cloth and other merchandise. While trading for rubber along the coast of Borneo, the PEARL had a narrow escape from Malay pirates, three of which chased him through the islands. After a sojourn of nearly a year and a half in the East India Islands a crew of four Malays were shipped, and the PEARL sailed for home, a distance of 10,000 miles, with a cargo of dried coacoanuts as ballast, and after a voyage of 110 days from the Celebres, sailed safely into the Golden Gate. The Captain says nothing but breadfruit grows in the shape of timber on the Marshall Islands. Still, the natives have canoes thirty or forty feet long, made of California redwood while he saw redwood logs drifted on the shores, and in one place railroad ties had drifted in, on one of which was branded "I.E. WHITE, NOVARRO RIVER."

Casmir's daughter Pearl was married at sea by her father on board his ship Sharpshooter sailing to Australia.

(San Francisco Chronicle, December 9, 1896) HER FATHER TIED THE KNOT AT SEA - Romance of Pretty Pearl Kustel - Twice Weds the Same Man - Marriage Bells Aboard the 'Sharpshooter' - The Ceremony in Midocean Resolemnized at Dock Last Night There was a quaint wedding in the cabin of the barkentine 'Sharpshooter' last evening -- the second within six months. Strange to say the bride and groom were the same on both occasions, the former Pearl Isabel de Salazar Kustel, daughter of Captain C. B. Kustel, master of the barkentine, and the latter William E. Saville, a wealthy young dairyman of Crescent City. The first wedding occurred at sea on July 12th, almost under the equator, while the Sharpshooter was sailing before a fair wind for Australia. Captain Kustel performed the ceremony on that occasion, and the event was chronicled in the Australian papers when the barkentine reached port. Last evening the nuptial knot was tied still tighter by Rev. Julius Fuendeling of St. Mark's German Evangelical Lutheran Church, in the presence of the mother and sister of the bride and a few intimate friends of the young couple. The romance of two youthful lovers and the indulgence of a fond father were the elements that combined to bring about the first wedding. The bride and groom are both natives of Crescent City, and sweethearts from childhood. The groom is an orphan and ward of Superior Judge James E. Murphy of Del Norte county. Recently he attained his majority and came into a large fortune left him when a child at the death of his father. Although Miss Kustel was but 17, he had been a suitor for her hand for several years, and he pressed his suit so ardently that Captain and Mrs. Kustel finally gave their consent. Then the young folks made known their earnest desire to be married at sea and prevailed upon Captain Kustel to consent. It was arranged that Miss Kustel should accompany her father on his voyage to Australia, and Saville went along as a passenger. When in latitude 9 deg. 35 min. south, longitude 166 deg. 20 min. west, just about in midocean, on July 12th, Captain Kustel summoned the entire crew, and in their presence "spliced" the romantic young couple. Mr. and Mrs. Saville spent their honeymoon in Australia returning home on the Sharpshooter, which reached this port Sunday. They were welcomed by Mrs. Kustel and a host of young friends. It was in accordance with the express wish of Mrs. Kustel that the wedding was resolemnized last evening by a clergyman or "Gospel Shark" as Captain Kustel described him. The cabin of the Sharpshooter was brilliantly lighted and made bright and attractive with flowers. The bride, a pretty brunette of medium height, was dressed in a dark travelling costume, with orange blossoms in her hair, and carried a bunch of violets. She was attended by Miss Fannie Finley of this city. The groom wore a business suit, with a sprig of orange blossom in his coat lapel. Edward Murphy, son of Judge Murphy, the groom's former guardian, acted as best man. The only guests outside of the immediate family of the bride, were Miss May Finley and A. Kustel, son of Captain Kustel, of the ship Hawaiian Isles. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Julius Fuendeling at exactly 8 o'clock. It was brief and simple. Mr. and Mrs. Saville will make their home in Crescent City, where the groom will assume the management of the large dairy which is a part of his inheritance.

Casmir Kustel died October 12, 1913 in Long Beach, California.
Obituary - "The Long Beach Press", Monday, October 13, 1913: Casimer B. Kustel, aged 67, retired sea captain, native of Austria, died at 4:30 o'clock yesterday afternoon at 1109 East Twelfth street. He had been in this city six months. Funeral services will be held at the Mottell chapel Thursday afternoon, with Rev. H. K. Booth, officiating. Interment will be made at Sunnyside Cemetery.

Alexis Kustel

The 1872 Great Register of San Francisco County indicates that Alexis Kustel was a 28-year old mariner from Hungary residing at 1 Park Avenue, San Francisco. He had obtained his voter's registration through proof of naturalization of his father. Further, he had registered to vote October 2, 1868. He married Elizabeth Fritz in 1872 and they had a daughter Florence Louise Kustel (1880-1953). In 1873, Alexis was Master of the schooner Undine. He died at sea in 1884.

The San Francisco Call Bulletin, July 18, 1884, Page 4, Column 1
The olographic (sic) will of Alexis Kustel was filed for probate yesterday. The estate consisting of a lot on Geary Street, San Francisco, a half-interest in the business Kustel & Wightman, and a one-third interest in the schooner ANNIE F. BRIGGS, now cruising in the South Pacific, is valued at $5000. Testator bequeaths his entire property to his wife, Elizabeth Kustel, who applies for letters testamentary.

Daily Alta California, Volume 37, Number 12540, 13 August 1884
Judge Coffey yesterday rendered an opinion in the case of the estate of Alex O. Knstel, deceased. This was an application made by his widow for letters of administration on a holographic will executed in this city on the 19th of February, 1880. Her husband was ' a master mariner engaged in the South Sea trade, also a partner in the firm of Wightman & Kustel. On the 24th of June, 1883, he sailed from Apia, in the Samoan Islands, for a cruise, in a vessel that was unseaworthy, and that night a furious storm arose, since which time nothing has been seen or heard of the vessel or crew

Daily Alta California, Volume 39, Number 13036, 22 November 1885
The arbitrators selected to settle the difference between the California Insurance Company and Messrs. Wight man and Kustel, regarding, the insurance upon the schooner Annie F. Briggs, have filed their report, deciding that the schooner was a total loss, and that the full amount of insarance, 13,600, was due. * The company accepted the decision and promptly paid the award.

Kustel Family Tree

Descendants of Odilio Kustel

Generation No. 1

Descendants of Guido Kustel