Stephanus Schoeman (14 March 1810 – 19 June 1890) was President of the South African Republic from 6 December 1860 until 17 April 1862. His red hair, fiery temperament and vehement disputes with other Boer leaders earned him the moniker "Stormvogel den Noorden," "Storm bird of the North."
Schoeman married three times, finally marrying the widow Elsie Maria Aletta (née van Heerden) of the political figure state-head Pieter Johannes Potgieter, arch-antagonist of Andries Pretorius. Elsie Maria Aletta had children with both political leaders in their marriages and started a family famous for political and society influence. Her daughter Elsie Maria Aletta Potgieter was the mother of the famous doctor, successful businessman, Broederbond leader and Member of Parliament Dr. Pieter Johannes Potgieter Stofberg, whose father Ds. Jan Hendrik Malan Stofberg was Secretary and Head of NG churches in South-Africa.
Schoeman's son with his second wife Gertina Johanna Schutte, General Hendrik Jacobus Schoeman, went on to fight in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899 – 1902. One of his daughters with Schutte, Catharina Christina Susanna Schoeman, married the Boer general, Johannes Hermanus Michiel Kock.[3]
His grandson, Dr. Gustav Preller became not only a leading historian but a renowned "Taalstryder," or champion of the Afrikaans language, while one of his sons, Johan Schoeman achieved renown as a publisher of anti-Communist materials.
A great-grandson, Hendrik Schoeman was the Minister of Transport for decades. Minister Schoeman was also a cousin of Dr. Pieter Johannes Potgieter Stofberg.
