Johanna Louw - Info from the source

I have been struggling to find any info on my grandmother Johanna Louw. I have googled all over the show. I have seen her in movie created for my parents wedding. I have seen photos of her at that wedding. I have seen pictures of her when she was young with her children. I have even found a proof of her death. There is a head stone and the National Archive had a record of her passing.

She died two years before I was born. I was brought up on tales of this amazing lady. She was a fine seamstress. The story goes that people would bring her pictures from a magazine and she was able to create these articles of clothing with uncanny precision.  She was also a whizz at maths, with her claim to fame was toting up the amount owed at the grocery store and being able to check the merchants. Ye well, it was a long time ago.

She bought up three sons in often trying times. The one thing about her was that she was deaf due to measles. She lost her hearing at about 7. She taught all her boys to sign but was able to lip read. It was interesting that this had a knock on effect. Growing up my father unconsciously signed whilst he talked. The chin was stroked when something was said to be pretty. Hands were made into a pitch when it was time to go home. There were many more examples and I find myself doing the same gestures. My sister and I used to spell out words to each other to amuse ourselves in public gatherings. I still find it strange that this ability is not just known. I find myself signing to my husband and all that he does is put on his "say what" face. The strangest thing that my father did was after grace every evening he would tap the table to show that it was time to eat. This was due to him having to do this for his mother who would wait for the tap to open her eyes and commence with the meal.

I had tried all my tricks and could find nothing about her. The fact that I knew were based on her headstone and with information that my mother repeatedly said when I was a child. This was that, my grandmother's mother's maiden name was Barnard. I search high and low for a marriage between a Louw  and a Barnard. This was fruitless.

On Friday my sister happened to mention that she had spoken to our father and he told how my grandfather had met my grandmother in the then South West Africa.
That was news to me. I pursued this new lead but to no avail. My father is currently not doing so well and has spend the last few weeks in a nursing home. He lives about 2 thousand KM away. Well I tested the waters and soon we were having a great SMS conversation. Within a few messages he had answered all the questioned I needed to be able to find the people. I did have to ask other people about translations of names. Who on earth new that Gawie is the nickname for Gabriel. The good and bad thing with South African Afrikaans families is that once you have found one male name into the family it is extremely easy to follow the name through the generations.

Well now that the Louw and Barnard line are settled it is time to pursue the Spraggs. I personally think that it is just as important to follow the matriarchal lines. Unfortunately information pertaining to women seems to be extremely slack.

So what do you think, leave a comment, they really are fun!