Johannes Lodewickus Lee (John, or Jan The Big Game Hunter)

SOURCES/Facts:

1. 1st and only Marriage 1846 :

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKD-V9XM-Y?cc=282...

Johannes Lodewikus Lee Male Cornelia Aletta Maria Van Wyk Female Marriage 9 Aug 1846 Cradock, Kaapkolonie, Suid-Afrika 553

Original marriage document 1846 :
His father signed as: K Lee ( the K could have been for Karel ( afrikaans?) - instead of Charles?
Wife: Catherina Aletta Martha van Wyk.
Question: Why Catherina Aletta Martha van Wyk? - She is then recorded on marriage doc as Catharina Aletta Maria Van Wyk above? -WB

Name Sex Spouse's Name Spouse's Sex Marriage Date Marriage Place Event Type Certificate Number
Johannes Lodewikus Lee Male
Cornelia Aletta Maria Van Wyk Female 9 Aug 1846 Cradock, Cradock, Cape Colony , Suid-Afrika Marriage 553

Note the recording of his name here as Johannis Lodewikus Lee
Name Johannis Lodewikus Lee
Parent Name H Lee
Spouse's Name Catharina Aletta Maria Van Wyk
Spouse's Sex Female
Spouse's Parent's Name R P Van Wyk
Marriage Date 9 Aug 1846
Marriage Place Cradock, Cape Colony, South Africa
Marriage Place (Original) Cradock

Indexed incorrectly as Cradock ,South Australia!

Note: I have picked up that she was also apparently called Katherine - perhaps just an afrikaans/ english/dutch thing?

Thinking out of the box here: -WB
1. Is it maybe possible that Catherina - was also called by the nickname Louisa?
2. No - was this just a Red Herring ?
3. Louisa du Preez?/van Wyk? (was apparently nicknamed Maatjie by him).
4. She is still a putative profile though!
5. Could she possibly have been his 3rd wife?
6. OR: Is there a possibility that this Louisa and Catherine are maybe same person - just nicknamed Louisa.
7. Is that why there is talk of a Louisa's grave on the farm and that she died in childbirth?
8. Or were they two persons?
9.. I have picked up that they both were from Lady Gray

2. Death: Note 2nd name recording mistake - it should not be Lodewiens but Lodewicus
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:WD7B-TFZM
Name Johannes Lodewicus Lee
Sex Male
Age 88
Death Date 10 Aug 1915
Death Place Potchefstroom, Potchefstroom, Transvaal, South Africa
Death Place (Original) Lengo Street, Potchefstroom
Birth Year (Estimated) 1827
Event Type Death

Not Lodewiens - it must be Lodewicus or Lodewickus !
Indexed incorrectly by some person at familysearch.org

3. CDR: 1915 : Note how he was named here: Johannis Lodewicus Lee
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C91P-HQ3N-S?'cc=2998108&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AWD7B-TFZM
Johannis Lodewikus Lee .

4. Grave:
4.1 https://graves-at-eggsa.org/main.php?g2_itemId=1925878 - mentions Louisa
4.2. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:DMDB-273Z
4.3. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/213119876/johannes-lodewickus-l...
johannes-lodewickus-lee
Name: Johannes Lodewickus Lee
Gender: Male
Birth Date: 10 Jun 1827
Birth Place: Somerset East, Sarah Baartman District Municipality, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Death Date: 10 Aug 1915
Death Place: Potchefstroom, Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality, North-West, South Africa
Cemetery: Potchefstroom Main Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place: Potchefstroom, Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality, North-West, South Africa
Has Bio?: Y
Spouse: Louisa Lee

Only
J.L.John Lee
1827 -1915
Mangwe- Matabeleland
On source

Absolutely no sources for any information here except date of death 1915 . his intials, name John and surname Lee , d o b 1827 , place of death and place of burial ( from CDR perhaps ? )

Who added Mangwe -Matabeleland ? When and why ?
Born there ? Died there ?

5. His d.o.b NO source . 1827 from age 88 in 1915

6. In article published 11August 1915 in Die Volkstem.
His date of birth as 10 July 1827 Somerset ( East )
A reasonable source ? Available under Media here

Important currently only two wives proven with sources..
CMA van Wyk 1846 to 1864
and.
Hester van Rooyen 1878 to ?
Her DN: Date: March 22, 1918 - https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS9T-XWWZ-C?cc=252... -WB

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5. Articles sourced:
I found these articles on him! Do yourself a favour and read through it all! So very interesting!' Enjoy! - Wilma Basson

5.1. https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/142663/1/No Country for Old Men FINAL.pdf

5.2. https://zimfieldguide.com/bulawayo/big-game-hunters-present-day-zim...

5.3. https://www.google.com.au/search?q=john+lee+elephant+hunter+&client...

5.4. https://frontierpartisans.com/23544/on-the-trail-of-an-elephant-hun...

5.5.https://zimfieldguide.com/bulawayo/big-game-hunters-present-day-zim...
Lee spoke Afrikaans as his main language, Xhosa, Zulu and Isindebele, but his English was imperfect. He went elephant hunting in Matabeleland about 1862 and after four seasons settled on the land given him by Mzilikazi near Mangwe Pass, the farm being about 200 square miles. The house was south of the Mangwe river until November 1870 when he built a new one just north of the Mangwe drift and in 1876 a stone house south of the Mangwe. He lived by farming, trading and hunting and sold supplies to passing travellers who made his place a way station on the Hunter's road. He became the King's agent and adviser in his dealings with Europeans and acquired great influence with the amaNdebele. He agreed to bring supplies for Baines company at Hartley Hills in June 1869 and witnessed Lobengula's coronation in January 1870. Lee was away hunting when Selous passed by in August 1872 but met Frank Oates in September 1873 and helped him with his troublesome servants. In July 1875 he was hunting above the Nata river and met W. Finaughty in January 1877. By May he was hunting in the Linkwasa valley with his sons, Van Rooyen and Bezuidenhoudt. He was at his farm when the Jesuits went from Tati to Gubulawayo in August 1879 and was at Mangwe until 1883. By August 1884 he moved to Potchefstroom with his farm being occupied by Greef until 1889 when he returned. He retired to the Transvaal in 1891 and his farm was confiscated by the BSAC because he refused to fight the amaNdebele in 1893. ( Need to see which Bezuidenhout this was! )Research needed!

5.6 . Tapestry article: http://www.barbaragoss.com/rhodesiantapestry/55.jpg'''
In the 1950’s and early 1960’s the various Rhodesian Women Institutes across the country stitched the country’s National Tapestry charting the country’s pioneer history. This panel which shows the Mangwe Fort 'ncludes John Lee’s house in the top left corner and Louisa Lee’s grave in the top right corner. The one hundred foot tapestry was displayed in the Rhodesian Parliamentary Chambers until the early 1980’s.

5.7 Tree family graph: Lee family :
https://www.alanbrough.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Lee-Family-Tr...

5.8 Podcast: https://frontierpartisans.podbean.com/e/johannes-lodewikus-lee-%e2%...
October 27, 2021
Johannes Lodewikus Lee was one of the more wayward and eccentric hunters who penetrated the interior of southern Africa in the middle of the 19th Century, on the hunt for elephant ivory. He loved many women — though not well — and sired a great brood of children while building a weird stone castle, and shooting himself into a modest fortune.

5.9 The John Lee story :
https://www.alanbrough.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/The-John-Lee-...

5.10 https://www.jillbakerauthor.com/podcast/tag/John+lee

5.11 https://tracks4africa.co.za/listings/.item/w385486/john-lees-house/

5.12 https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Rhodes-and-Rhodesia.html?id...

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"First Steps in Civilizing Rhodesia", by Jeannie M. Boggie ===

• MRS. JOHN LEE, 1863:
• = Nee Louisa van Wyk.
• Wife of trader and hunter, arrived with eight children.
• She was buried at Mangwe in 1870. Pp. 115, 160, 161

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• MRS. JOHN LEE, 1870: Actually Hester Susanna Lee
• = Nee Jacoba van Rooyen.

  ---

  No such van Rooyen woman ever existed
• Second wife of John Lee and sister of the hunter Cornelius van Rooyen. Page 162. The story becomes fiction !

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.
===Pioneers of Rhodesia : II: Selected transcription of excerpts from article
by Edward. C. TABLER in Africana Notes and News, September 1972, vol 20 No.3

• LEE, John.
• He first went to Matabeleland where he obtained Mzilikazi's permission to hunt in 1858.
• And by 1861 he was shooting elephants in the area of the Shashi River.
• His favourite camp site was near the Mangwe Pass.
• LEE obtained his grant of land from the Matabele in 1862/ 1863.
• And after he built his first house Mrs. LEE and their infant son Hans and other children joined him there, in 1866.
• Mrs. LEE died in childbirth in 1870.

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• LEE was at his house at Mangwe in February 1880, when he and his wife had fever.
• Early in that year he invited the Jesuits to establish a station on his land, in order to have his children educated, but nothing came of this.
• LEE and his wagon, with others, arrived at Umganin from the south on 30th May 1880.
• He was at his house in May 1880, August 1882, and March 1884; in the last-named month he was not feeling well, and in 1884 he went to live at Zeerust, perhaps because his health was bad.

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• After the death of his first wife LEE had a succession of house-keepers, one of whom he married, but she ran off with a transport rider.

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• He married a third time, and his descendants live in Bulalima-Mangwe District.

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• He refused to serve the Chartered Company as guide and interpreter in the Matabele War of 1893.

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===Pioneer Forts in Rhodesia 1890-1897===

• Mangwe lay at the foot of the Mangwe Pass and had since 1863, when John Lee established the farm and house which still stands one and a half miles from the fort, had been the main entry for hunters and explorers to the Matabele kingdom.
• From the outbreak of the rebellion, 150 men, women and children, both British and Afrikaner, formed laager and enlarged and improved the fort built by the Southern Column in 1893.
• The 52 men formed the Mangwe Field Force under Commandant Cornelius van Rooyen.
• The Civil Authority and Native Commissioner was a very young and overbearing nineteen-year-old, Major B. W. Armstrong.
• Women and children slept in the central stone circular enclosure roofed with pole and dagga, on which roof the men slept, protected by a sandbag parapet.
• This building had previously been used as a grain store and was badly infested with rats.
• Animals were stabled within the circular outer walls and fifty yards outside the walls a laager of wagons encircled the fort to give some relief from what must have been cramped conditions.
• The discomfort, anxiety and resulting tensions of the laager made life difficult, increased by the clash of temperaments and the friction between the Afrikaners and the British, for the Jameson Raid had taken place only three months before.
• Immediately after the laager was formed Selous led a patrol to investigate rumours that "in the Mangwe laager order and discipline were conspicuous by their absence".
• He returned however, with praise for Armstrong and van Rooyen, having found the laager "in excellent order"

=== GEDCOM Note ===

About Johannes Lodewickus (John) Lee http://www.eggsa.org/library/main.php?g2_itemId=1925878'''

"First Steps in Civilizing Rhodesia", by Jeannie M. Boggie MRS. JOHN LEE, 1863. Nee Louisa van Wyk. Wife of trader and hunter, arrived with eight children. She was buried at Mangwe in 1870. Pp. 115, 160, 161 MRS. JOHN LEE, 1870 Nee Jacoba van Rooyen. Second wife of John Lee and sister of the hunter Cornelius van Rooyen.' Page 162. Pioneers of Rhodesia : II: Selected transcription of excerpts from article by Edward. C. TABLER in Africana Notes and News, September 1972, vol 20 No.3

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LEE, John. He first went to Matabeleland where he obtained Mzilikazi's permission to hunt in 1858. And by 1861 he was shooting elephants in the area of the Shashi River. His favourite camp site was near the Mangwe Pass. LEE obtained his grant of land from the Matabele in 1862/ 1863. And after he built his first house Mrs. LEE and their infant son Hans and other children joined him there, in 1866. Mrs. LEE died in childbirth in 1870. LEE was at his house at Mangwe in February 1880, when he and his wife had fever. Early in that year he invited the Jesuits to establish a station on his land, in order to have his children educated, but nothing came of this. LEE and his wagon, with others, arrived at Umganin from the south on 30th May 1880. He was at his house in May 1880, August 1882, and March 1884; in the last-named month he was not feeling well, and in 1884 he went to live at Zeerust, perhaps because his health was bad. After the death of his first wife LEE had a succession of house-keepers, one of whom he married, but she ran off with a transport rider. He married a third time, and his descendants live in Bulalima-Mangwe District. He refused to serve the Chartered Company as guide and interpreter in the Matabele War of 1893. Pioneer Forts in Rhodesia 1890-1897 Mangwe lay at the foot of the Mangwe Pass and had since 1863, when John Lee established the farm and house which still stands one and a half miles from the fort, had been the main entry for hunters and explorers to the Matabele king

From the outbreak of the rebellion, 150 men, women and children, both British and Afrikaner, formed laager and enlarged and improved the fort built by the Southern Column in 1893. The 52 men formed the Mangwe Field Force under Commandant Cornelius van Rooyen. The Civil Authority and Native Commissioner was a very young and overbearing nineteen-year-old, Major B. W. Armstrong. Women and children slept in the central stone circular enclosure roofed with pole and dagga, on which roof the men slept, protected by a sandbag parapet. This building had previously been used as a grain store and was badly infested with rats. Animals were stabled within the circular outer walls and fifty yards outside the walls a laager of wagons encircled the fort to give some relief from what must have been cramped conditions. The discomfort, anxiety and resulting tensions of the laager made life difficult, increased by the clash of temperaments and the friction between the Afrikaners and the British, for the Jameson Raid had taken place only three months before. Immediately after the laager was formed Selous led a patrol to investigate rumours that "in the Mangwe laager order and discipline were conspicuous by their absence". He returned however, with praise for Armstrong and van Rooyen, having found the laager "in excellent order"

Need docs for parents- research ongoing!
Son of Charles Lee and Maria Magdalena Catharina du Preez, John Lee was of English and Dutch parentage. Lee was an early European pioneer in Matabeleland (later Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe). Known as a hunter, trader and farmer, Lee built what is purportedly the first European style house in Mangwe, near Plumtree. The ruins of Lee's house and Fort Mangwe can still be visited. One of Lee's wives, Louisa Van Wyk is buried at this historical site

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Questions :

1.Who was Louisa Lee ?
All children born 1846 to 1865 has mother Catherine M A van Wyk.
Could Catherine maybe also have been called Louisa? (Maybe just a red herring , but let's discuss!) - WB

2. No record or document for any Louisa Lee ne Van Wyk or du Preez .
I found this on Louisa : -WB
For a few years John tried to integrate himself back into family life, but while he had been away fighting his marriage had soured and it wasn’t long before John and Catharina were formally divorced. Unwelcome at home and needing a distraction John decided to move to the Transvaal and start a new life. There he met and married Louisa du Preez who was from the tiny village of Lady Grey in the Eastern Cape. Louisa, or ‘Maatjie’ as John endearingly referred to her, also had several children while they were living in Lady Grey.

- According to: ‘The Plumtree Papers’ by Mary Clarke, published by the Plumtree Foundation in 1983:
There is some debate as to whether Louisa’s maiden name was du Preez or van Wyk, as it appears on some genealogy websites.

I believe on the reliability of the sources, that it was actually du Pree, - According to Mary Clarke - The Plumtree Papers.

More myth ?

His Grave: he was burried in Potchefstroom - WB
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:DMDB-273Z

https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/142663/1/No%20Country%20for%20Old%2...