The tide has turned

Well that is it. The tree has grown as far as it can.

I have now been taught to be humble as all of the people for whom I have feelings of amusement, I have found are part of my genetic makeup. Equally those people to whom I held in high regard I have found never had anything to do with me. 

Emma is still my hero, but more so her mother who had such a hard life. She can to this uncivilized country and watched as each of her family members was either killed off, or married off to inappropriate people.

The inappropriate person is old James Welch, who was a soldier and swept in at the age of 31 and married a 15 year old. Behavior like that gets people sent to prison and registers have to be filled in once the sentence has been served. He is

not the only example in the tree. I suppose it can be said that the line is stronger with these young mothers. I think it just makes the line stupider. See even real words are not being used. Going back I must say that I have lost respect for all of these dirty old men.

My whole concept of who I am has been destroyed by this exercise. Going in I was happy that I was British, Irish, German with all of the South African breeds mix in. The predominate traits being that of Irish creativity and German pedanticy. Well the

German was an ass wipe who left his wife in Germany and married a married women in South Africa and went on to produce a whole herd of miserable looking offspring. None of the children did especially well in life, so it can't be said that great intelligence was brought to the table.

The married women he married was the offspring of a British soldier who forgot to go home. How sad. His family still live on the farm that he was given to stay here. So nothing going on there.

On the other side of my mother’s genetics I thought it was fine as the surname of Welch should have been safe. But no, Emma Rodgers became a baby popping machine that kept a lie going for 47 years. She, at least was English. The person she married was Scottish. There is nothing good to say here. Dourness and dullness have entered the frame. All brightness gone. Heavy drinking and bad decisions can now be excused due to this fact. Oh woe!

The next member of the genetic contributors was so irrelevant  that she did not even pass on any of her history to her revolting children. It was an uphill struggle to find out her maiden name and that is where is has stalled. Nobody has any memories of her family and even where she came from. She produced 10 children

with the next James Welch and most of these children were indolent and did not make a much of any of their lives. On the whole there has not been one out of the pack that has surprised me. The more that I have found out the sadder, I have

become. What dreadful traits to pass on to one's children. What karmic debt is carried from being related to tonsils.

But wait there is another parent. Hopes rise, on this side,  we are promised Irish ancestors. We are promised quick wit, a sparkle in the eye and people who have perfected dancing like a penguin. Think about it, if penguins could flap their feet rapidly, old Flatterly would have to step aside.

In we plunge, the surname is Pope, oh gosh, he is British. This is fine we have to have the levelness of a British person for the amazing Irish genes to sparkle off. Not everything can be happiness and light, you need a grounding plinth to shine off.

So surely the mother is Irish. I ordered off her death certificate, as all is revealed in these documents.

I open the picture of this document, and there it is, in faded in writing, not the proof of Irish nuttiness, but once again a dour Scottish relative. This goes to show that my grandfather was just a general nut job and not the whimsical Irish nutter that we have been told. With this the last bubble of my sparkling personality popped and all that I am left with is the oatmeal personality of someone who's genes are clogged with Scottish traits. No wonder they wear kilts, pants take some intelligence to get into.

So I have it bad, with genetics you would not be able to give away at a charity auction, you have my husband who thought he was three quarter Dutch with the rest being straight  South African pavement special mix. We start with the Dutch side and find that the only reference for the name given is a headstone that has the name Willem and the surname used by his relatives. So his father was Willem, his grandparents were Willem and Wilhelmina. Once again I ordered up his grandfather’s death certificate to see where is lineage comes from. This too arrives and shatters my interest in this subject. Listed as his grandfather’s parents are Willem and

Wilhelmina. As a back story this one is so thin you can see through it. I know it is easier to remember just one name when you are making up a new history for yourself, but really one name! Pull the other one it has a bell on it.. Oops that’s right all my bells have been cut off and replaced by oatmeal! So don't tug it, it

could be disgusting! So who knows where the "Dutch" ancestry comes from.

On his mother's side this is where I find the Irish. His mother could have been painted green for all the wee Irish people hiding in her genetic makeup. So who know what Genetic make up my husband actually is, but what we do know is that has happiness and light twinkling though his person. Lucky bugger!

So I don't think I will be looking for any more facts. I will live the rest of my live quietly and irrelevantly. I will now look at oatmeal as an analogy of who I am. No longer multi-dimensional with bells a twinkle, but rather, oatmeal, rather boring and when you

stir it up all you find is more oatmeal.

I would wish you well but this too would be meaningless.

Farming in the Free state.

Emma and James eventually settled on a farm named Hill Top in Umzinto. I am still trying to find out if they did the whole sugar cane thing. What I have seen is that as this point of time Hill Top is a game reserve. Who knows if it is just the same name or whether it is the actual farm. I have so many pictures of the Welch's farm as my grandmother was a happy snapper of photographs. Here are a few. The farm was named Middlespruit. 

Entrance into the property

The farm House

Chilling on the farm

Here are some pictures of actual farming things

Glory being precarious 

The spruit in the middle of it

Ducks

Love the baskets

Hope you enjoyed the photos.

Have and extremely amazingly awesome day!

Leave a comment!

Picnic in the veld

There are a series of photos in which a picnic is being held. There is no true cohesiveness to the photos, but they are an interesting insight into the fact that even though it looks uncomfortable a anything they still have a tea set and are play nicely. I can recognize my grandmother, she is the sulky one in most of these pictures. In the photo above she is sitting behind her father James. Anyone recognize anyone else, please leave a comment.

 Who this chap is, I am sure nobody knows. 

 Wow a motor bike.

 Now all the girls get to look uncomfortable together.
Here is a much less staged photo of the Welch's possible on holiday?

Have an amazing day. 

Leave a comment it is a nice thing to do!

Emma and James.. the story unfolds

When I started this fun exercise there were two documents which were going to be the load stone of the whole project. These were the death certificate of Emma and James.

Within the first few days I had found mention of them on the national Archive. These document were almost 200 years old and the national archive did not want to transcribe the information. The normal sequence of events, was that I would find an entry on the archives data base, send in an email and like magic and a bit of effort from a lovely lady named miss ShoeShoe, I would get transcribed information. This time it was different, it was a different archive and full resistance was being given on doing any work.  After trying to find an researcher to do it, I finally put in an order to eggsa. As promised six weeks later I was able to pay for the work they had done and I received the documents that I had wanted to start the whole family tree on.

Seeing as these document came after adding over a 1000 people to the tree, it was with a bit of trepidation that I viewed these information contained on the documents. I was pretty happy with what I had on the tree as I had tried to base it on proof of births and deaths. It turns out that death certificates are awesome documents and not creepy at all.

The leaps of faith that I had done, which I was not happy with was James Welch, the first one that came over with the 1820 settlers. What the 1820 settlers documents said and what I found out were not the same. I went with my gut and chose to believe the info that I had turned up even though it was not what I would have liked. I had made James 10 years younger than the documentation and Scottish. I had even found a whole lot of relatives to show where his genetics came from. I would need to delete all these people and throw out all I knew, depending on what was on a single piece of paper.

With great trepidation I found his death certificate in the many files held in the zip folder. with a quick double click, there it was. The actual pudding on which the proof was based. Well there it was. James had sneaked onto a boat pretending he was 24 when in reality he was only 15. His parents were stated and were the same as I had found and lastly, there it was, he was born in Scotland. Emma seems to have liked the tartan boys, with both her husbands coming from Scotland.

The next column of information was quite a shock. My dear Emma had not been chaste for the first 10 years of her marriage and waited until she was 25 to produce her first child. No the silly girl had popped out 3 children before Henry. There were 2 more girls after James and before Mary.
All told James and Emma had 8 children. What a shock. It makes it even more impressive that Emma managed to find a second husband.

James died at 53 and Emma was only 36. She managed to keep them all alive and run the farm. I had been so impressed with the fact that Emma had so few children. This fact now needs to be replaced with the image that I have allocated to all the women on the tree. Ladies, it is not a clown car! It is supposed to be used to craft exceptional humans, not just huge numbers so that the chances of your genetics surviving would be achieved.

We now get to Emma's info. What first amused me is that she maintained a lie for 45 years of her life. Emma was born in April 1821.  She and James got married in May of 1837. Emma had just turned 16. We now fast forward to her second marriage. This happened in January 1862. By all that is mathematical Emma was about to turn 42. She now shaves a year off her age and becomes 39.

She dies 5 days after her birthday in the year 1908. This would have made her 87, but no as bold as brass she has it reported that she is 86. We now have a dilemma, did Emma get married a 15 and the original fact that she was born in 21 is incorrect or did the silly lady take a year off her age and maintain this lie for the last 46 years of her life.

The sad bit about Emma's death certificate is that of all of her 9 children, the youngest 2 girls predeceased her. She has now given me so many more family member's to find.

Thanks James and Emma, appreciate not only your lives, but also the the genetic contributions.

Have a good one.

The Spraggs have been found

I have been trying to find family for my husband's mother. She was Stella Otto. Her father was Hermanus Otto and her mother Stella Spraggs. The Otto's were easy to find and before I knew it I had a line of Ottos going back to 1452 when Endres Otto was born in Germany. The tree at this point was quite lopsided with so many relatives being on one side and none on the other side.
I had researched as far as I could and had a basic record of all the people who were named Spraggs who lived in South Africa, as well as the Aunts that I had met.

I was doing my normal thing of googling people when all else has failed, when there it was a YouTube video containing all the names that I have been looking for. Being cheeky I emailed the person who had loaded the video. What a delight. The mystery was solved with one quirky statement. Rich Spraggs told me that his grandfather said that he never grew hair on his ankles as his father had worn chains in Australia. Well there we have it, I had been looking for relatives on all the wrong continents.

I have found so many wonderful characters in my husbands line. This is the answer to why he has such a marvelous brain. The genetics are there for the viewing. I was able to follow the line back to 1760. There are English and Irish in the mix. The only thing my husband was a miffed about was that the only criminals we could find were an Irish lass who stole serviettes and the man she married who were sent to Australia  for being drunk and stealing an umbrella in front of a police man.

These are not harsh underworld characters. These are ancestors to be proud of. These people would cause you to have an interesting brain. I still need to find pictures of this pair.

Until later, I must just send out a further thank you to Rich and his mother for all the valuable information they have given me.

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! 

It is all in a name

My husband has a name that can be traced back to 1682 .

These are how the steps go.

It all starts with Elizabeth Bosman born Joubert in 1764 who had a brother named  Francois Joubert  who was born in 1768.

She duly marries Daniel Bosman who has a grandfather born in 1682 with the name Hermanus.  Daniel's father is also named Hermanus Bosman

Elizabeth has a child in 1786 and combines her father-in-law's name with that of her brother and we have the first Hermanus Francois. The year is 1786.

The first Hermanus Francois Bosman  has a sister named Martha, and she marries Johannes Francois Joubert and they name this child Hermanus Francois. We have now got to 1814.

Hermanus has a sister named Elizabeth. She is born in 1836,

She gets married to Cornelius Johannes Otto. They have a child in 1857 and name him Hermanus Francois Otto.

When Hermanus Otto grows up, he gets married and they have a child in 1894. This child will become my husbands grandfather. He has the name Hermanus Francois Otto.

The 1894 Hermanus marries an lady named Stella Spraggs and they have three daughters.
The youngest is named Stella and marries a fella named van den Raad.

Their eldest child is named Hermanus Francois van der Raad; and that ladies and gentlemen is the way you get a English speaking South African with an Historic name.

This was a fun exercise of following a name through a family tree.

Sarah - what a brave one.

Settler women, if not Sarah, then she would have known them

Sarah Newman was born in Wiltshire on the 28th September 1794.

Sarah married Robert Rogers in 1817. This sealed her fate into coming to a wild land and living a stressful life. 

She had two daughter before leaving England, One named Jessica and the other named Emma. When they left England on the Weymouth on the 7th of January 1820 she was a mother of a 4 year old and a 1 year old. By the time she reached the Cape on the 25th of April she had lost a daughter. The baby did not survive the harsh trip from England to the Cape colony. The baby died on the 10th of February. I don't know what was going on board the boat but during a two week period a whole lot of children died.

Sarah eventually got off the ship in Algoa bay, Port Elizabeth to everyone that doesn't live there, on the 15th of May 1820. Can you imagine sailing for 4 months and 1 week, watching so many people dying on the way. At which point did she realize that this may not have been such a great idea.

She seems to have got over it soon enough as 2 month later she had conceived her next child. I think at this point she had lost her mind a bit as she named her new child Emma. Thank goodness she had a girl. A boy would have had to grow up tough with a name like that.

Over the next few years she had 4 more daughters. A far as I can see these all went forth and reproduced. There seems to be a plethora of individuals that share dear Sarah's DNA. The thing is that only producing girls does tend to lose the advantage of having an easy surname to follow. Though in this case every one seems to have named their daughters Emma or Mary. Chances are if you are currently named Emma, be wary you may be a Sarah carrier.

Sarah and Robert pottered about the Eastern Cape, creating babies every two to 3 years until about 1833. This may or may not be a coincidence, but, they marry off their oldest, now aged 16 to Jacob 
Trollip. Jacob is a mature 25 year old. Well by the end of the year they have made Sarah into a grandmother and poor Rob stops having his own babies to bounce on his knee.

Before Christmas in 1834 (22nd), Sarah experiences loss once more. Her husband is slaughtered by the locals. Now what is a girl to do. She now is a mother of 5 girls ranging from about 2 to 13 years old. She is living in the wildest part of the Eastern Cape. This must have been a devastating blow to the family.

The next blow to Sarah is the news that her eldest daughter was killed on the 14th of May 1835. This is now both Christmas and Easter messed up! Her grand daughter, Esther is younger than one and a half and only has a father. The worst part, is that her mother died protecting her father. What a silly Trollip! She get a step-mother when she is 6 years old. This lady is named Margaret, she is 3 years older than her father and will only be around for another 12 years. 

Hopefully Sarah and Esther saw each other.  Two years later we have a wedding. The wedding is held in Grahamstown, Albany. So I think they have moved off their farm and back into town.  The person getting married is not Sarah but rather her 15 year old daughter Emma. The thing is as far as I can see, Emma (15) marries a man who is 41. Surely he should have married Sarah and taken on the children. Sarah at this point would have been 43. I supposed when faced with a dilemma of just to old or just too young, we all know where the pendulum will swing. James Welch is my great 
XX grandfather so thanks to him, I have my genes. 

Sarah had another wedding to go to. Elizabeth born in 1823 married 1844 (21) Grahamstown. She married John Brooks, fresh from England. They had 8 children with the first being born in 1850. Here husband reached the age of 91 which implies that they did not have such a hard life.

I found a sad little side note in the archives. 
First we have the fact that Sarah has a Memorial for Robert. It has taken her 5 years to get this done. She now asks to get to Roberts' burial site to lay down this commemoration. Being a widow she has learned to be cheeky and asks for free passage to where she thinks her husband is.

DEPOT     KAB                                                                   
SOURCE    LG                                                                    
TYPE      LEER                                                                  
VOLUME_NO 532                                                                   
SYSTEM    01                                                                    
REFERENCE 634                                                                   
PART      1                                                                     
DESCRIPTION          MEMORIALS RECEIVED ORDINARY. S ROGERS. REQUEST FOR FREE PASSAGE FROM  
           PORT ELIZABETH TO TABLE BAY.                                         
STARTING  18390000                                                              

ENDING    18390000

She spends three years looking for the body and then in 1842 she asks for help.  I will need to ask for this to see what the whole story is.                                                                                                                                                                                                          

James and Emma only made Sarah a grandmother again in 1846 when she was 52. Emma eventually had 4 children, 2 husbands and lived until she was 88. 

According to the South African Commercial Advertiser  Mrs Rogers died on the 20th of July 1847. They said she was a widow which is correct but then said she was aged 58 , not so correct. She would have been 53 at the time.  This may be her or the National archives have a record where Sarah dies in 1887. This would make her 95.  That would be nice but highly unlikely, it is more likely that is her daughter that was born in 1926. This would make her 61.  Sarah does not seem to be married and produced no children. This is far better a match.

Her youngest two, Mary Ann and Maria were both  married and both produced a child.

Sarah did South Africa proud. In just one leg of her family I know that we have gone forth and made genetic spreaders.

All hail Sarah!

Please leave a comment if you like Sarah, she could be yours or someone you knows ancestor!

James find his party

 The WILKINSON's Party, sailed in the privately chartered Amphitrite.  This ship was built in 1817.It sailed to the cape in 1819 and Arrived on  the 19th March 1820.. It then took up transporting prisoners to Australia, where it was caught in a storm and wrecked in 1833 .

The book lists a Michael Welsh but in all of the correspondence James Welch is referred to,



WILKINSON, Rev. Thomas (father of George WILKINSON, 1820 Settler)
Written by Sue Mackay.

National Archives, Kew CO48/46, 416

RectoryBulvan near Orsett

Essex

1st Sept 1819

Sir

I called at the office last week with the enclosed letter from Lord KENYON but had not the good fortune to meet either with Lord BATHURST or yourself. I therefore now enclose his Lordship's letter.

My object is to get out one of my sons to the Cape. He is well calculated for the purpose being young, possessed of a strong constitution & much perseverance. Neither is he by any means unacquainted with Agriculture for his age. But I have been informed that the applications are very numerous, so much so that all cannot be accommodated, & the rest will be very much crowded. On [obscured] accounts a party going from this neighbourhood would sail at their own [expence] if Government wd make them a compensation in land allowing them at the same time the other privileges [offered] to the other settlers. It would also be desirable that their allotments [obscured] when they could add more land contiguous to the same, as 100 acres though [sufficient] to begin with will not be sufficient for a permanent establishment.

Another inquiry I take the liberty of making is whether any settlement cld be made in the neighbourhood of Saldanha Bay, which as a [obscured] station is far preferable to Algoa Bay & is protected from every wind, & might at a small expence be fortified from any attack by sea. The old objection of want of water then turns out erroneous and by the new practice of boring is completely removed. Even here when labor is so high, it costs 15£ only to go 120 foot, & excepting an iron pipe of 6 feet length labor is the only expence.

Perhaps as land is plentiful 3 or 400 acres might be allotted to those who go out at their own expence with [page cut] to each labourer they may take out [with] them, the plan of this party being to take each one laborer or mechanic. Being of course much interested in this matter I could come up to town & wait on you Sir or his Lordship personally if you think it convenient or necessary.

I remain

Your hble svt

Thomas WILKINSON

[Notes for GOULBURN's reply]

I have received & laid before Lord B the letter which you did me the honor of addressing to me on the 1st inst & am directed to acquaint you in reply that although he has every disposition to forward the object of your wishes yet that he considers the plan of assigning larger grants of land to persons who proceed to the Cape at their own expence liable to serious objection. If however your son is disposed to proceed with settlers to the Cape & will specify the number whom he proposes to convey Lord B will readily take into consideration whether some arrangement may not be made for permitting them to [receive] their own passage recovery on his arrival at the Cape the sum which the Govt would have expended in providing them with tonnage.

[Enclosed letter]

Gredington

Aug 25, 1819

My dear Lord

My worthy friend the Revd Mr WILKINSON of Bulvan in Essex desires me to introduce to your Lordships favourable attention the name of his son who wishes to go out to the Cape as a settler. Having for some years had the gratification of an intimate acquaintance with Mr W, whom I highly respect, I can not but anxiously wish him [all] success.

Believe me my dear Lord, with sincere respect from your Lordships obliged & faithful servt

KENYON

My excellent Diocesan of Chester has recommended another distinction to the clergyman in whose behalf I addressed your Lordship lately.



National Archives, Kew CO48/46, 453

Bulvan Rectory near Orsett

17 Sept 1819

Sir

I called on Tuesday at the office to inquire if there were any answer to mine of the 26th ult inclosing a letter from Lord KENYON to Lord BATHURST. I was informed that the applications would receive their answers on 1st Nov. but that there was no reply to my application respecting parties going out at their own expence, & Mr PAYNE advised me to repeat that application, which I now do.

I take the liberty then Sir, of requesting to know what advantage would be given to those who went out at their own expence. In the first place it is obvious that there would be no occasion for the deposit of 10£ as their sailing at their own expence both insures their going out & their being possessed of pecuniary resources to a certain [extent]. As the party whose names I have inclosed would save Governmt, by going out at their own expence, at least 200£ & thus make room for others. They [hope] that some compensation would be made them in a way very easy indeed not in quantity of land, & that they should be reperated, as they would, if they receive a favorable answer, buy for the joint use a movable threshing* machine, corn mill & especially boring instruments, which are now used in this neighbourhood with great success, [producing] water at 120 foot depths for 2/2d labor per day. One of the party will learn the use of the instruments which are exceedingly simple soon as your determination is known.

As they are all agriculturists & as my son is to form one of the party so going out, instead of Mr BAILEYs, I take the liberty of carrying on this correspondence for them. You will perceive from the list inclosed that their plans are well laid. They have all held or managed farms. Mr MORTONs father was steward for Lord PETRE'S Estates, part of which is in this Parish. He afterwards assisted his father in a farm at Fyfield near Ongar, & I have a very good account of him from the Clergyman there. Their ages range between 20 & 35.

It will be obvious, I am sure to you, that 100 acres is too small a quantity for a farm at the Cape, & if the occupier has his portion hedged in by his neighbours if he hereafter procures more, it must be at a distance from his first settlement whilst on the other hand the three miles allowed by the Dutch Government were as much in the opposite extreme. If each party be allowed to select a spot at any appointed Bay, & no party allowed to settle near them [for] the distance of 5 or 8 miles for a given number of years, the distance varying according to the number of the settlers, perhaps the objections above made would be provided agst [against]. I have taken the liberty of suggesting as above from having seen a letter of Mr PITTs in answer to some suggestion made to him & apologizing for so doing, in which he said such suggestion was at all times most acceptable to him for he had not Leisure to turn his attention to particular objects as those who were solely occupied in those objects could more easily do. An early answer would be a particular favor to us.

Your obdt srvt

Thomas WILKINSON

*The present practice is the dirty mode of treading out by oxen. No laborer at the Cape will thresh



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National Archives, Kew CO48/46, 483

Rectory Bulvan

27 Sept 1819

Sir

Having heard nothing to the contrary I presume there is no objection to the party whose names & descriptions I [disclosed] on the 17th. There is a vessel, The Garland, Capt Brown which sails Oct 14 by which they are all prepared to go, if there be no objection on the part of Government, and as it will be necessary for them to produce to the Governor some documents in proof of their coming with Earl BATHURST's approbation I take the liberty of applying to you now on that point. They have engaged an additional Sawyer & wish to procure a collar maker & blacksmith provided there be no objection. The men they have already procured are in the prime of life & excepting the carpenter brought up from their childhood as working labourers. If you choose to [meet] the principals Mr MORTON & my son will wait upon you at the office any day you should appoint.

I have the honor to be

Yr obdt hbl svt

Thomas WILKINSON

Be so good as to inform Mr CHAPMAN that at a neighbouring farm water has [just] been procured at 170 feet which seems [obscured] by the mode I mentioned to him & we intend introducing at the Cape. A line directed to Barnards Inn Coffee House Holborn will find me there the three last [days] of this week.



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National Archives, Kew CO48/46, 519

Rectory Bulvan near Orsett

7th Octr 1819

Sir

I have herewith inclosed an accurate list of the party intending to go out to the Cape in a private ship as already explained & respectfully request that you will have the goodness to inform us of the documents which must be taken with them to satisfy Lord SOMERSET that they come with the approbation of this Government & are therefore entitled to the specified quantity of land. It will also be esteemed a great favor, if those documents be speedily prepared as they hope to sail by Oct 20th.

Your obliged humble servt

Thomas WILKINSON

The sealed paper is on a different subject.

please to turn over
As the party have been fortunate enough to engage a ship which will take them to any part of the Coast, it would be of advantage & a saving of considerable expence if they could have the place [plan] of landing assigned before they sail and if they might be permitted to they would prefer Saldanha Bay.
Mr W will be in London at Barnard's Coffee House Holborn the beginning of next week where an answer is requested to be sent, if not sent before that time.
[Enclosed list]
Principals, age, occupation
John MORTON, 28, Farmer
George WILKINSON, 20, Farmer
Richard SATCHWELL, 21, Farmer
Peter GAUGAIN, 31, Silversmith*
John ANDERSON, 30, Farmer
Stephen ALGAR, 26, Farmer
Robert KING, 28, Farmer
John CLEAVER, 28, Soapmaker
Joseph CLEAVER, 24, Soapmaker
James SMITH, 37, Carpenter
Mary Anne SMITH, 25, his wife
Sarah Fish SMITH, 8, his child
James SMITH, 3, his child
Sophia SMITH, 2, his child
Labourers
Charles CLACEY, 29, Carpenter
James NEAL, 26, Carpenter
Edward REGAN, 21, Carpenter
James CANNON, 28, Carpenter
James LAY, 26, farming labourer
Charlotte LAY, 21, his wife & 2 children
William BULLOCK, 30, Collar maker**
Mary BULLOCK, 26, his wife & two children
John ASTHORP, 30, Carpenter
Ann ASTHORP, 27, his wife
Thomas ASTHORP, 10, his son
John HARRIS, 26, farming labourer
James WELCH, 26, farming labourer
Edward FLETCHER, 27, farming labourer
James JENKINS, 28, farming labourer
Charles JENKINS, 25, farming labourer
Joseph JENKINS, 22, farming labourer
George TUCKER, 26, farming labourer
John SORRELL, 38, farming labourer
In all

Men principals 10, 1 wife & 3 children
Servants 15, 3 wives & 5 children
Total - Men 25, Wives 4, children 8
----------------------------------------------------~~~~~~~~~~~---------------------------------------------------- National Archives, Kew CO48/46, 37

[Transcriber's Note}

* The man listed here as Peter GAUGAIN was actually Philip John GAUGAIN, who had originally applied to take out a party which included George WILKINSON and John MORTON (see CO48/43)

** William and Mary BULLOCK are not listed in The Settler Handbook but they did go to the Cape, as this is mentioned in letters from William's mother and brother in 1823 (see CO48/61)
----------------------------------------------------~~~~~~~~~~~----------------------------------------------------
National Archives, Kew CO48/46, 551

[Undated, probably late October 1819]

Sir

Understanding that it is your wish I should name a sum for the conveyance of our party to the Cape, I beg leave to say that we shall be satisfied with the repayment of twelve pounds per head although we have already contracted at a larger sum for the steerage, & still more for the cabin passengers. I have inclosed the list as it stands at present but it is every day varying. Therefore I promise on Honor to give in an exact list of those who shall sail from Gravesend countersigned by any officer of the Customs there or other you may appoint. Being acquainted with both the Col & the Major of [blurred] I would request either to [countersign] the same if you thought proper.

Let me intreat dispatch on these terms as the ship is engaged to [obscured] Gravesend next week.
Yr obt hle svt
Thomas WILKINSON
N.B. we have agreed with our party that the 3 children should pass as one as to payment.
Principals
Messrs MORTON, 28, Farmer
WILKINSON, 20, Farmer
GAUGAIN, 31, Farmer
SATCHWELL, 21, Farmer
SMITH, 37, Carpenter
wife, 25, 3 children & boy all young
J. CLEAVER, 28, Grower of [tropical] plants
HARRIS, 26, ditto
Jo CLEAVER, 24, ditto
Labourers
Ch CLACEY, 29
James NEALE, 25
J. OAKES, 21
FLETCHER, 29
WELCH, 25
& 2 boys servants to Messrs CLEAVER
James JENKINS, 28
Chs JENKINS, 24
Joseph JENKINS, 20
John JENKINS, 18
James CANNON, 26
George TUCKER, 25
19 men
1 woman
3 boys
3 children
26 in all
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National Archives, Kew CO48/46, 579

Rectory Bulvan

Essex

12 Nov 1819

Sir

After returning you my sincere thanks for the attention paid to my former letters permit me to make another request which I hope under present circumstances will be deemed trifling.

Your liberal conduct towards the party conducted by Mr MORTON & my son has enabled them to add five more labourers to their list, a gardener, a blacksmith & three common hands, & all they request is to have land for them as for the rest. If for this purpose any further order be necessary beyond what you have already sent I hope it will be intruding too much if I should beg of you to send it per post directed to Messrs MORTON, WILKINSON & Co on board the Amphitrite off Gravesend.
After many delays she leaves dock this evening, will be at Gravesend tomorrow & sail on Monday [late] or Tuesday.
As a very considerable party belonging to Mr LEIGH* will probably locate near them I hope soon to be enabled to request the appointment of a clergyman.
Your much obliged & very humble servt

Thomas WILKINSON

[note from GOULBURN across second page]
Acquaint him that it will be too late to allow the [illegible] to be given to the Governor but that a further memorandum will be made to him by an early opportunity

* [Transcriber's Note: See the correspondence of John LEIGH in CO48/44]

Rogers Getting to the Cape of Good hope

Here is some interesting reading. This is the correspondence leading up to and the final list of people coming to the Cape. I have added them with the most interesting thing first and then the letters in which they dither back and forth. Our family are the Rogers. Here is another interesting link It is the whole book of all of the settlers. It is fun to page through.

RETURN of SETTLERS proceeding to the CAPE OF GOOD HOPE under the Direction of Mr. Samuel WATSONJAMES of Westbury, Wilts.

Total Number of the Men	12
Total Number of the Women	8
Total Number of Persons above Fourteen Years of Age	1
Total Number of Children under Fourteen Years of Age	18
Total Number of the Whole Party	39
Total Amount of Deposit Money for the Whole Party	£137:10

Names of the Men	Their Age	Profession or Trade	Names of the Women	Their Age	Names of the Male Children	Their Age	Names of the Female Children	Their Age	Deposit Money payable by the respective settlers
Samuel WATSON	37	Farmer	Phoebe WATSON	36	Charles WATSON	15	Elizabeth WATSON	13	£20
					Thomas WATSON	5	Sarah WATSON	1
					John WATSON	3
Samuel JAMES	31	Carpenter	Elizabeth JAMES	33	Edward JAMES	8	Eliza JAMES	5
					Stephen JAMES	2			12:10
Robert ROGERS	25	Carpenter	Sarah ROGERS	26			Rebecca ROGERS	4
							Emma ROGERS	1	10
Charles MAIDMENT	24	Carpenter	Esther MAIDMENT	20					10
John WATTS	34	Carpenter & Millwright							10
Robert MERRETT	26	Blacksmith							10
Thomas LANHAM	27	Plaisterer & Mason							10
Phillip HOBBS	26	Gardener	Charity HOBBS	25	Daniel HOBBS	3	Sarah HOBBS	1	10
John MASON	32	Labourer	Jane MASON	34	James MASON	10	Eliza MASON	4
					Charles MASON	7	Sarah MASON	2	15
Samuel WARD	25	Labourer	Jane WARD	25	Alfred WARD	1	Louisa WARD	3	10
Richard TOWNSEND	29	Labourer	Naomi TOWNSEND	25	James TOWNSEND	1			10
Samuel BOURNE	35	Labourer							10
									£137:10

Here is the correspondence.

1820 Settler Correspondence before emigration

ALL the 1819 correspondence from CO48/41 through CO48/46 has been transcribed whether or not the writers emigrated to the Cape. Those written by people who did become settlers, as listed in "The Settler Handbook" by M.D. Nash (Chameleon Press 1987), are labelled 1820 Settler and the names of actual settlers in the text appear in red.
JAMES, Samuel, 1820 Settler
Written by Sue Mackay .

National Archives, Kew CO48/44, 102

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Westbury

Wiltshire

August 31 1819

My Lord,

Thos. LANHAM of this place having received a circular letter from your office specifying the conditions on which his Majestys government take emigrants to the Cape of Good Hop, I take the Liberty to inform you that I've engaged ten families to go to that Colony & the money will be redy to be Deposited in the hands of government as soon as I hear from you whether we can be accepted

Your answer as soon as convenient will oblige

Your Obd. Humble Servant

Samuel JAMES



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National Archives, Kew CO48/44, 130

Westbury

October 26 1819

Sir,

Your last came to hand stating the amt. of money which would be nesasary to send you. Amting to £137:10:0 which the parish of Westbury has in contemplation of making up some of the amt for those who is not able to pay their own way which is to be settled on Sunday next, but since the first of our application our foreman Mr.WATSON with three or four of the others has Rinag'd but should it meet with your approbation I will ingage to fill up Mr.WATSON's station as foreman & also get the compliment to fill up those who has left. Your answer to the above will greatly oblige your obed. Serv't.

Sam'l JAMES

NB Please to Say the Day when the money must be sent & also when it will be nessasary for us to come to London or where we embark.



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National Archives, Kew CO48/44, 142

Westbury

November 8 1819

My Lord,

In compliance to your Directions stated in a Letter to Mr. Steph'n BROWN of the third Inst. inclosed you have here the Report desired and the money will be remitted in the course of the Present week and when you will be kind enough to write to say on what Day the Partie must be in London and at what Place as it shall be duly attended to

I am my Lord your ob'd serv't

Samuel JAMES



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National Archives, Kew CO48/44, 147

Westbury

December 20

Sir,

I have been to Portsmouth with my Partie and stating the surcumstance of my wife being just put to Bed with 2 children – to Mr.CHEESMAN he advised me to write to you thinking you would see it nessasary to allow the wife and children something more and this you will please to way over in your mind & Do the Best you Can for me.

I am your obd. Servt.

Samuel JAMES



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National Archives, Kew CO48/44, 152

Gosport

26 Dec 1819

My Lord,

In Apply to John HOPKINS letter dated 22nd instant from Mr. GOULBURN acceptances of him and his wife and family in the substituted of William WATTS and family By my Recomention I therefore strongly recommend him as a usefull an fit man for this Emigration to the Cape of Good Hope. I also state that Richard TOWNSEND and family is not coming but in substituted for them this Gentleman of Westbury have sent up Thomas LANHAM Plaster & Tiler aged 30 his wife aged 24 and children aged 2? Also Richard HINTON Blacksmith aged 34 his wife aged 33 their daughter Rebecca 10 George their son age age 7 Linard their Daur [sic] aged 3 years Jane their Daughter 6 months all waiting now at Portsmouth for your Lordship's approbabtion upon the Busness By the Returns of Post if your Lordship think proper.

I am my Lord your Lordships humble servant

Samuel JAMES

[postscript] My Lord I rote a Letter to Mr. GOULBURN requesting a Extra allowance for my two Invent Children but have had no answer as yet. I therefore Relay on your Lordships Goodness for the same. I have inclos'd the list for attention if your Lordship think proper



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National Archives, Kew CO48/44, 156

Portsmouth Harbour on board the Weymouth Store Ship

27 Dec 1819

My Lord,

I beg leve to state that I promised to give you the neams of my two sons yesterday. I am very sorey I should be so trubelsome, the neam of the First is Samuel William JAMES and the other Thomas JAMES they are three weeks old yesterday & are very likely to live. But the worst is the Mother have not any Milk to suckle them which is a deal more trubel to express. I also strongly recmd. Thomas LANHAM in the place of Richard TOWNSEND, Being a very usfull to good workman. Also Richard HINTON Blacksmith if you have a vacance in any Party as they are in Gosport awaiting your reply.

I am your ob'd humble servant

Sam'l JAMES

Head of the Westbury Party



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National Archives, Kew CO48/44, 160

From on board HMS Weymouth

Dec 30th 1819

Sir,

You will find enclosed a correct list of persons proceeding under my direction to the Cape of Good Hope on receiving this I hope you will lose no time in remitting the nessary order for my future [page torn off]

Believe me Sir your obedient servant

Samuel JAMES