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NYLSTROOM
http://www.eggsa.org/library/main.php
People in camp
130
People who died in this camp
3
Nylstroom, the main town in the Waterberg district, located on the confusingly named Nile River, was on the northern railway line to Pietersburg. Situated in the lowveld, it was an unhealthy spot in the nineteenth century with both malaria and tsetse fly plaguing the inhabitants. When Dr Kendal Franks visited the place in August 1901, he thought poorly of it. This was not a town, he declared. ‘It is rather a dorp or village composed of widely-scattered houses, some are cottages, some are little better than huts or cabins’. The Ladies Committee had a much more favourable impression of the town, describing the ‘scattered cottages with fine gardens full of fruit trees, and with large crops of vegetables and mealies coming on’ and further on ‘pretty cottages with palms and vines growing in the gardens’.1
The camp itself, though not large, was a jumble of ancient bell tents, sail-covered tents and a marquee. A number of people lived in the little town houses while the gaol was also occupied, as was the church. According to Franks, the camp was started on 31 May 1901, relatively late. By June 1901 there were 1,100 inmates and the superintendent was expecting more. Early reports were optimistic for health was good and the superintendent, Henry Cooke, believed that the people were relatively contented. The camp, he explained, was entirely open and unprotected but no-one had absconded. The doctor, Percy Green, was experienced for he had been seconded from Irene camp.2
Cooke’s reports are terse and uninformative so it is difficult to gain much impression of life in the camp. In this outlying area, however, many of the families were brought in from the Boer laagers and, because they had often fled their homes some months before, they were ill-clad and ‘dirty’. Nevertheless, Cooke noted, they had some spending power for Poynton’s Store took £650 in the first two weeks of its existence.3 The camp population seems to have been mixed. Some actively worked for the common good, such as Mr Steynberg (possibly the same person as Mr Sternbergen who later taught in the school), who took it upon himself to visit the tents, report sickness and distribute clothing. Some of the accommodation was tidy and clean while other homes were not only overcrowded but surpassed in squalor ‘Whitechapel, St Giles and the Liberties in Dublin’ (all noted British slums). The difficulty of interpreting such cultural judgements becomes clear in the following sentences of Franks’ report:
‘These people seemed perfectly happy and contented, and the Superintendent informed me they were Bywoners, who lived in much worse condition in their own homes, and lived mostly on fruit and vegetables, so that the fare they received in the camp was to them novel and luxurious. Some of the people in the camp had never seen white bread until they were brought into Nijlstroom. These facts, the circumstances under which the different classes of Boer lived in ordinary times, should be considered when trying to estimate the hardships or otherwise of their lot in these camps’ http://www2.lib.uct.ac.za/mss/bccd/Histories/Nylstroom/
Blue names Geni Profiles
Black names Not on Geni Yet
They survived
A
B
M
- Marais, Martha Elizabetha (36) Wife of Jasper P C v d Westhuizen Unique ID no 120766 Tent no 647
- Camp History:Merebank Camp 8/7/1901-6/8/1901 Transfered to
- Heidelberg RC 8/8/1901-22/10/1901
- Farm History: Modderbult, Heidelberg,
- Jan v d Westhuizen, (4) Son of Jasper P C v d Westhuizen and Martha Elizabeth Marais
- Unique ID no 120773 Tent no 1768
- Camp History:Merebank Camp 8/7/1901-6/8/1901 Transferred to
- Heidelberg RC 8/8/1901-22/10/1901
- Farm History: Modderbult, Heidelberg.
- Johanna v d Westhuizen, (1) Daughter of Jasper P C v d Westhuizen and Martha Elizabeth Marais
- Unique ID no 120764 Tent no 1768
- Camp History:Merebank Camp 8/7/1901-6/8/1901 Transferred to
- Heidelberg RC 8/8/1901-22/10/1901
- Farm History: Modderbult, Heidelberg.
- Maria v d Westhuizen,(13) Daughter of Jasper P C v d Westhuizen and Martha Elizabeth Marais
- Unique ID no 120768 Tent no 1768
- Camp History:Merebank Camp 8/7/1901-6/8/1901 Transferred to
- Heidelberg RC 8/8/1901-22/10/1901
- Farm History: Modderbult, Heidelberg.
- Martha Sophia v d Westhuizen (15) Daughter of Jasper P C v d Westhuizen and Martha Elizabeth Marais
- Unique ID no 120767 Tent no 1768
- Camp History:Merebank Camp 8/7/1901-6/8/1901 Transferred to
- Heidelberg RC 8/8/1901-22/10/1901
- Farm History: Modderbult, Heidelberg
- Petronella v d Westhuizen, (5) Daughter of Jasper P C v d Westhuizen and Martha Elizabeth Marais
- Unique ID no 120772 Tent no 1716
- Camp History:Merebank Camp 8/7/1901-6/8/1901 Transferred to
- Heidelberg RC 8/8/1901-22/10/1901
- Farm History: Modderbult, Heidelberg
- Sarel v d Westhuizen (8) Son of Jasper P C v d Westhuizen and Martha Elizabeth Marais
- Unique ID no 120770 Tent no 1716
- Camp History:Merebank Camp 8/7/1901-6/8/1901 Transferred to
- Heidelberg RC 8/8/1901-22/10/1901
- Jasper v d Westhuizen (11) Son of Jasper P C v d Westhuizen and Martha Elizabeth Marais
- Unique ID no 134555 Tent no 1716
- Camp History:Johannesburg 8/7/1901-6/8/1901 Transferred to
- Heidelberg RC 8/8/1901-22/10/1901
They died
- van der Westhuizen, Jacobus (9 months) died of gastro-enteritis on 19/1/1901
- Unique ID NO 120771 Tent RT 17706
- Son of Jasper P C v d Westhuizen and Martha Elizabeth Marais
- Farm History: Modderbult, Heidelberg
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