Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Kluckow, Baron von

Friedrich Wilhelm Karl was Baron von Kluckow. I (Mollie) saw a letter addressed to him from the German Embassy in Durban. He was connected with the Hohenzollern Line. Friedrich and his brother left Germany. Friedrich was sixteen years old. Friedrich left the ship at Port Elizabeth and his brother sailed on. His brother was supposed to have left the ship in South America where he became a very wealthy man. Sad to say the two brothers lost touch.

Friedrich went to King William’s Town where he purchased a wagon and oxen. He started trading as a 'desert rat' in the Kalahari Desert during which time he met and married Sarah Ann OPENSHAW, whose people were also ‘desert rats.’ They continued trading. One hears of the first white woman who visited Lobengula in Bulawayo and we believe this was Sarah Ann. While in the desert they found an abandoned black baby who Sarah Ann reared as if she were her own. Ada stayed with the family until she married one of her own people.

Sarah Ann’s family were part of the missing link to the CLARK Millions – it is believed that the papers proving this were burnt in a fire in a Solicitor’s office in Kimberley.

During the 1914 - 1918 war Friedrich was interned in a concentration camp. Because of his a large family he was allowed out to see his wife and, on returning to camp, would take some minerals (which were laced with Scotch) from his factory (this period of internment must still be confirmed, but what has been recorded is his stay in Tin Town, Ladysmith during the Boer war which took place in 1899 - 1902)

Friedrich had a mineral water factory in Heidelberg in the Transvaal.  One day Edward Richard and one of his brothers were doing deliveries, driving a horse and cart.  It was at the time when the Chinese were brought out to work on the mines.  The boys picked up one of these Chinese men and were so nervous that they kept on giving him minerals.  Hardly had one been finished when they opened another.  On their return home their father wasn't one bit pleased and gave Edward a hiding with the cart handle.  Edward bore the scar for the rest of his life. 

The name Kluckow was originally spelt Klückow, which makes the u softer.