BOKSBURG HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION - Boksburg and East ...

MAY 2005
Number 125
1. The
Genealogist’s
Pox
2. The
Genealogist’s
Pox
(Continued)
3. Reports by
Peter Wood
4. Diary of
Events
Boksburg
Historical
Association
P O Box 18242
Sunward Park
1470
BOKSBURG HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
The Geneaologist’s Pox
There was a super turnout of members
and guests at our meeting
on 25 th April, 2005. After welcoming
everyone, Jimmy gave us a
brief review of a letter received from
George and then followed a short business
meeting in which the members
voted to move the speaker evenings
from the last Monday evening in the
month to the morning of the second
Saturday every alternate month. The
business of the day completed, Chairman
Jimmy took great pleasure in introducing
our guest speaker, chairman of
the South East Witwatersrand Family
History Society, Mr Wynand Deyzel.
That famous quote from Shakespeare’s
play, Romeo and Juliet: “A rose
by any other name would smell as
sweet”, did not have the same meaning
for grandfather Deyzel who apparently
was incensed every time his family surname
was miss-spelt. This problem so
intrigued Wynand that as a result of his
investigations, he became infected by
The Genealogist Pox!
An interesting word, genealogy! It is
derived from two Greek words: Genos
meaning lineage family and Logos
meaning Word, reason and knowledge.
There is also a slight difference between
investigating the genealogy of a family
and the family history. Studying genealogy
is dangerous! It seems that the
moment you start tracing your ancestry,
collecting names, dates of birth, mar-
Executive Committee 2005-2006
riage, death and places of your forebears
and becoming aware that certain
characteristic traits, looks, astrological
signs & mannerisms resurface
within the family from time to time –
beware, for you are hooked and have
joined the ranks of the addicted genealogists!
From the very first meeting of the
S.E.W.F.H. that he attended twenty
years ago, Wynand’s passion in tracing
his family origins has not waned. So
far he has discovered over 28 different
spellings to his name, been re-united
with previously unknown relatives and
learnt he must have inherited his vintner
skills for Chilli Wine from his
grandfather who, during the 1930’s,
was an illicit bootlegger of the potent
“Withond” which he distilled from his
home in Graaf Reinet.
Chairman Jimmy Mitchell 011 824-3430 (W)
Deputy Chairman Phil Beck 082 467-7805
Treasurer Connie Nelson-Esch 011 892-0703
Secretary Fay Fletcher 011 894-3807
Archivist/Correspondent Carole Doig 011 896-2633
Researcher / Co-Editor
Editor Newsletter/Tour Convener
Peter Wood
Pam 1 Beck
011 893-1046
011 896-3742

During his talk Wynand gave some very useful
guidelines on how to trace your lineage and
how to build up a family tree. Here are some
of the tips he gave:
Boksburg Historical Association 26 November 2005
The Genealogist’s Pox continued
1. The Family Tree - Begin with yourself
and work backwards to the founding
father via parents then grandparents
2. A Pedigree and Ancestral Chart – All
ancestors – Begin by talking to the
oldest living family members.
(Sometimes there may be a little hostility
or reticence caused by skeletons in
closets or a dispute regarding the ownership
of family heirlooms; it is important
to let them know your genealogical
search is to record the facts and NOT to
condemn or judge)
3. The Family/Genealogical Register –
descendants with the same surname
- Use GOONS – Genealogical Organisation
of One Name Study
4. A Descendants Table – All descendants
of one branch and degrees of
relationship – Collect additional photos,
certificates, invitations, funeral
notices and dates. Check the family
Bible and any other data available
2
5. The Relationship Table – Combination
of pedigree & descendants
table – Involve as many family members
as you can with this family
project
6. The Family Chronicles/History – to
obtain more information on the
what, where and how contact other
researchers through the Internet,
Newspapers and published media
such as the Genealogical Research
Directory or the Hatches, Matches,
and Despatches columns in the
press.
7. Regional/District/Migration Geneal-
ogy – Family origin, Pioneering and
Treks, Battles, Cemeteries, churches
etc.
From all the tips Wynand gave during his talk, it
is actually amazing how many resources are immediately
available to erstwhile researchers of family
histories. At the conclusion of his presentation
Wynand made a rather thought provoking statement
when he said: ”My ancestors must have
dodged the catastrophic events in history because
if they hadn’t where would I have been?”

No Place to Hide
The Role of Maps & Remote Sensing Monitoring History
Remote sensing dates back over 100 years.
Observation balloons were first used in South
Africa on the Bechuanaland Expedition of Sir
Charles Warren. Four years later, the British
forces who came to South Africa during the Boer
War in 1899 brought with them the Aldershot Balloon
Corps to reconnoitre the Boer movements.
They saw action at Spionkop, Magersfontein,
Paardeberg and other battles. Some of the balloons
contained 2 observers, while the observation cars of
others were fitted with 8 cameras that were interlinked
so that one touch of the trigger could give a
full panoramic view of the surrounding terrain.
Some of the Boers thought the use of balloons
was unsporting and one Boer soldier, John Lane, in
the laager at Paardeberg wrote: “I had just pulled
my shirt over my head, happening to look up, my
eye caught sight of a big black thing, at first glance
it seemed to be right on top of me, I said, ‘Oh my
God’ and fell flat on my stomach, thinking it would
explode. I then got my senses about me and looked
up, and lo and behold, it was the balloon, it appears
for the first time since lying around Magersfontein…
Some fellows shouted to me to hide away, ‘Hurry
kêrel’, they shouted! It does not much matter now,
it is all up, they will now be able to find out every
hole and position we are in and will pour in a hell of
shells… The balloon kept up for about 3 hours it
looks very close, but is far out of range. Lots of our
men kept firing at it. It is amusing to hear the talk of
some of our Burghers such as: ‘do you call this fair
play? That damnable big round thing, spying our
positions, we would not be so mean to do a thing
like this!’”
How did the British troops react to the balloons?
Here is an excerpt from Eighteen Weeks in Eighteen
Chapters by T Phelan: “The sight of what appeared
to be a balloon (and we soon discovered that it was
nothing else), excited tremendous interest. It ascended
and descended repeatedly during the battle
apparently for the purpose of locating the enemy
and directing the fire of Methuen’s guns. We had
been inundated with narratives of the extraordinary
strength of the positions into which the Boer ingenuity
had converted the kopjes of Magersfontein. No
further attention was paid to these tales for Lyddite
was a terrible thing – that could move kopjes …
Soon a terrible report was heard, which was presumed
to have been caused by the explosion of a
Boer magazine. A lyddite missile had done the
deed; no ‘common’ shell we argued, could have
created such a noise. After an hour the balloon
disappeared, and we were of the earth, earthly once
more”
Boksburg Historical Association 26 November, 2005
Reports by Peter Wood
3
What Happened to Landdrost Maré?
When President Kruger issued the ultimatum
to Britain that started the Boer War
on 11 th October 1899, the Special Landdrost
for the Boksburg diggings, P.C.
Maré, was one of the first Burghers to volunteer for
action. He climbed on the train with Field Cornet
Adriaan Dercksen and the rest of the Boksburg
Commando, and took part in the first big battle of
the war at Elandslaagte only 10 days later, on 21 st
October 1899.
And here is where the mystery starts: According
to the “Times History of the War” – a usually
reliable source – Boksburg Magistrate Maré was
killed during the Elandslaagte battle. Yet his name
does not appear on the list of Boksburg casualties
on the Boksburg Commando monument; and the
“official” South African History of the Boer War,
edited by J H Breytenbach, based on extensive
research and published only in 1973, makes no
mention of the death of Landdrost Maré at Elandslaagte!
So – what really happened?
It seems that the “Times” History made a mistake!
According to a small
note in the “East Rand
Express” dated March
7 th 1903, ex-Landdrost
Maré had decided to
start an auctioneering
business in Utrecht,
where he was previously
a member of the
Volksraad. The Express
article said that Mare
would be leaving for
Utrecht on Monday 9 th
March and on behalf of all Boksburg residents,
wished him good luck with his new career

Date: 4 th June 2005
Meeting Place: St Dominics School
Time: 8.00am for 8.30am
Destination: Rand Airport and Reitvlei Zoo Farm
Cost: R60.00 per person
Boksburg Historical Association 26 November 2005
Diary of Events
We will travel through to the Rand Airport where we
will meet our guide for the morning, Jean Swart, who
will take us through the famous SAA Passenger Plane
the “Lebombo” after which we will have the opportunity
to visit the Museum there. Tea and coffee will be
served.
From Rand Airport we will travel southwards to Reitvlei
Zoo Farm on the outskirts of Brackenhurst where
we will be able to enjoy our picnic. There are Braai
facilities available should they be required. The Farm
houses the breeding division of the Johannesburg Zoo
with four different breeding camps. We will even be
able to become acquainted with the famous five white
lions housed there, see our national bird the Blue
Crane, meerkats, sitatungas, antelope and a baby
steenbok. Definitely, an outing with a difference and
one not to be missed
Please advise Connie or me with numbers. Thank you
PROPOSED MEETING DATES FOR 2005/2006
04/06/05 Tour - Rand Airport, SAA Museum
and Reitvlei Zoo Farm.
16/07/05 Meeting - Boksburg High School
06/08/05 Tour - details to be advised
27/08/05 Meeting - Boksburg High School
01/10/05 Tour - details to be advised
29/10/05 Meeting - Boksburg High School
26/11/05 Christmas Function
04/02/06 Tour - details to be advised
25/02/06 AGM - Boksburg High School
Amended Dates of Meetings
It was proposed that the Monday evening meetings
be altered to Saturday mornings. The vote for this
proposal was almost unanimous. The venue will continue
to be the staff room at Boksburg High School and
the time for the meetings will be 10.00am. I apologise
to a few of our members who may sometimes have a
problem with the morning meetings, but the majority
vote carried. I have arranged for some very good
speakers to address us and will furnish details in the
next newsletter and have some good tours in the
pipeline.
Please remember these dates are not cast in stone,
but hopefully it won’t be necessary to alter any dates.
Murphy, however, sometimes works in strange ways
4
2005 Subscriptions
Here is a gentle reminder to those members who
may have forgotten: your membership fee of
R50.00 per member is now due. Please contact
our Treasurer Connie.
BIRTHDAY WISHES
“June is Busting out all Over”....Tra La.. A very
Happy Birthday to our June Birthday girl, Libbie
Jordan and to any other member who is not on
our birthday list.
Au Revoir but not Good-bye
We send our very best wishes to Eileen Hodge
who, sadly due to ill health, has moved to the
West Rand to stay nearer her sister. We will stay
in contact. A very big thank you for all the support
and information you have given us since 1993.
QUESTIONNAIRE
Thank you for your input with regards to
future tours and meetings
At present I have investigated a number of
options among which are:
1. A day’s outing on a steam train. Cost Approximately
R150.00
2. A trip to the Magaliesburg - including possibly
Margaret Roberts’ Herb Garden - Can only
visit on a Wednesday
3. A tour to the Standard Bank Museum
4. A tour to the SA Breweries - last visited in
1998
5. A tour to Groot Marico - of Mampoer and
Herman Charles Bosman fame. Programme
to be received in August from the Publicity.
6. The Brenthurst Library, Archives and Gardens.
Tours during weekdays only
7. A speaker from The Lace-Makers Guild
8. Author Arthur Kemp to give a Presentation
9. A visit to the Waterberg Area
10. What about the Pantomime “Goldilocks and
the Three Bears” for our Christmas function?