Friedrich Heinrich Pistorius, SV/PROG

Friedrich Heinrich Pistorius emigrated from Germany to SA in 1838 with his wife, Augusta Bernardina von Landsberg, his uncle, Maximilian Ernst Ludwig Pistorius, & his 5 sons & 3 daughters - on board the Cape Packet. (His father-in-law had emigrated to SA 20 years earlier.)

Friedrich Heinrich, the immigrant to South Africa is shown as a "Ziegeleibesitzer" meaning, in effect, the owner of the tile or brick yard and for further information on this aspect I refer you to the notes following in connection with Carl Wilhelm Heinrich.

Having regard to the occupations followed by the ancestors shown on the Tree, all of whom worked for their livings, it seems to me that very little credence can be given to what is a popular belief regarding the ancestry of our family, namely that it was part of, or connected with, the Prussian royal family. According to Hattersley (see above) Friedrich Heinrich came to this country to join his wife's family in the Cape Province. His wife was a member of the Landsberg, or von Landsberg family, and one of my correspondents describes her as "Baroness von Landsberg". I have made no attempt to conduct any research into the Landsberg family and cannot, therefore, say whether it had any noble connections, but if it did, this is possibly the basis for the rather romantic myth about the royal background to the Pistorius family.

Having emigrated from Germany to the Cape in or about 1838, the family, or some of them, later moved to Natal and I refer again to Hatterley, More Annals of Natal in this regard: the author is still quoting from the "Reminiscences" of Carl Wilhelm Heinrich, as follows:

"My brother Friedrich came with his uncle, Ernst Pistorius, to Natal, in the beginning of 1840, and I followed later in the same year, understanding that Natal offered good enducements to persons to settle there. I made the voyage from Cape Town in the 'Mazeppa'."

The "Friedrich" referred to must have been Georg Friedrich Theodor because Johan Friedrich Wilhelm Theodor was, at the time, only five years old. Although C.W.H. seems to have made the voyage alone, we do know that Carl August was in Pietermaritzburg for some while and their father, Friedrich Heinrich also lived there, died and was buried there.

Notes written by David Pistorius of Durban