John Robert O'Reilly

• His baptism in 1834.
• His Cape Death Notice, from which date of birth can be calculated to be about December 1831.
• His Transvaal Death Notice which also includes his handwritten will, mentioning most of his children (not the married daughters).
• His first marriage to Maria GREAVES, not GREEFF as shown elsewhere and on his daughter Annie Ida's Death Notice. The age shown is 31, but he was 37 at the time. The marriage was in Colesberg, which matches up exactly with his known movements and locations in 1868, from the biography included below.
• His second marriage to Henrietta Sarah RENOU.
• An extract from his will of 1887: John Robert O’Reilly maketh Oath and states, that my wife Maria O’Reilly (nee Greaves) died at Toming on the 16th of October 1884, previous to her death the farm ‘Toming’ was granted to her and her children by the Chief Mankoroane. which grant has since been ratified by the Land Court. After her death, her eldest son John O’Reilly and myself sold wood cut on this farm for the support and benefit of the children of the said Maria O’Reilly (nee Greaves) and in addition to supplying them with food, clothing and education, purchased for their benefit from the proceeds of the sale of the said wood the following, 1 Piano, 6 Chairs, 2 Arm Chairs, 1 Double Bedstead, 1 Sofa, 2 Pictures, 2 Wagons, 1 [??] Cart, 1 horse. 1 Chest Drawers, 12 Oxen and 7 Cows. In addition to the above there were 6 Cows and 4 Oxen, that were given to the Children of Maria O’Reilly (need Greaves) by their Grandmother, Eliza Greaves, previous to her death which took place at Toming, British Bechuanaland, on the 8th day of October 1884. The above property, together with the increase of the stock, is now at ‘Toming’ British Bechuanaland in my [usage?], which is being used for the benefit of the children [??] [??] Age as follows Alfred O’Reilly age 10 years Florence O’Reilly age 7 years and Annie O’Reilly Age 5 years Maria O’Reilly Age 3 years Caroline O’Reilly Age 16 years In addition to the above there is one Son over age John Robert O’Reilly and now married. [???] on the 6th of January 1887.

This is Diamond Jack O'REILLY.

‘Dictionary of South African Biography’, Issued by: Human Sciences, Research Council, 1972-1987. Volume IV, page 436-437

O’Reillly, John Robert (* Grahamstown, December 1831 — † Magopela, Taung dist. British Bechuanaland 27.11.1904), trader, was the eldest son of James O’Neill O’Reilly and his wife, Ida Hendriks. O’R.’s father left his family badly provided for. The sons became traders and hunters.

On 1.5.1865 O’R. purchased the farm De Hoek on the Orange River to run a ferry service to Griqualand West, but during February 1867 this was stopped by Nicolaas Waterboer, and OR. and local magistrates were in correspondence with the Colonial Secretary, Sir Richard Southey, KCMG, seeking his intervention in the matter. These circumstances may have been one reason for O’R.’s visit to Hopetown and Colesberg in March 1867. On the way he called at the farm De Kalk in the Hopetown district, where Schalk Jacobus van Niekerk, d11e9 showed him a pale yellow stone he believed to be a diamond, asking O’R. to have it identified at Hopetown. Although most people considered it to be, at best, a topaz, Magistrate William Buchanan Chalmers the magistrate advised him to take the stone to Colesberg where Lorenzo Boyes was temporarily in charge of the administration. Boyes sent it to Dr William Guybon Atherstone, MD, MLC, FGS, FRCS. of Grahamstown who on 2.4.1867 wrote to him saying that the stone was a diamond of 21 3/16 carats O’R. refused to give details of how the stone had been acquired. Apparently he had hopes of finding a diamond mine. Some time during June 1867, however, the story leaked out that O‘R. had acquired the diamond from Van Niekerk, who had in turn obtained it from the Jacobs family, living on Holpan (he had bought it from Willem Schalk Jacobs). Atherstone sent the diamond to Cape Town to Southey where Louis Hond, a lapidary, and E. Héritte, French Consul, agreed to a valuation of £500. Hond offered £400 for the stone, which was refused by Southey, Héritte £500 if sold immediately; this O’R refused, preferring to wait for a valuation from London experts, to whom it had been sent. During May O’R. had acquired a second diamond of 8 3/16 carats from a farmer, Theunis Duvenage (probably Theunis Johannes Duvenhage, b1c2), who had found it on his brother’s farm Paardekloof. O’R. exchanged it for sheep and goats, Duvenage understanding that these would be set against a half share of what the diamond realised. This transaction probably took place about 27 May when the stone was valued by Louis Hond who was now at De Kalk. On 7 June Chalmers sent it to Southey on behalf of O’R. who had told him he was the finder. It was not until 27 June that Chalmers discovered the deception; whereupon he wrote to Southey indignantly saying that O’R. was the finder of neither the first not the second diamond.

Meantime, it had been valued in Cape Town at between £150 - £200, and the Gov. Sir Philip Edmond Wodehouse offered to buy it, and to pay £500 for the first as well. Before negotiations could be concluded O’R. left in July with Marillier (possibly William Henri Henry Marillier, or his father), another hunter-trader, for the Harts River (where Black women had reputedly been observed wearing stones much resembling rough diamonds) and they returned in November with two fine diamonds, which were later said to have been disposed of in Amsterdam (probably through Louis Hond). Arrangements were then concluded for the Governor's purchase of the first two, and in December O’R. was paid £700 for both.

In January 1868 O’R. found himself assailed on all sides: Van Niekerk and Duvenage both claimed they had not been paid their fair share (the outcome of their complaints is unknown); Hond demanded payment for valuing the diamonds, and was probably paid; someone else claimed a gun which O’R. should have traded for him, and which O’R. was forced to return; and payment for a third instalment on De Hoek, without which O’R. could not take transfer, was overdue. He managed to sell the property to Lilienfeld Bros. of Hopetown.

O’R. continued as a trader, and details of one diamond speculation of his (in December 1868) are known, though there were probably more. In July 1869, as diamond fever mounted, O’R. petitioned parliament for a reward, claiming that it had been through him that ‘the valuable discovery of diamonds in South Africa was made public.’ The petition could not be received as it was ‘contrary to the Standing Rules’ and was therefore withdrawn. Major George Francis, in 1872, wished to claim a reward for his part in the diamond discovery and so O’R. tried again. Both petitions, presented together, were rejected. In May 1894, OR. heard that Lorenzo Boyes had petitioned parliament for a reward for his part in the diamond discovery and so immediately put in a third petition which, in June, was rejected. Copies of O’R.’s last two petitions (the first could not be found) differ in detail about how the first known diamond was found and OR. did not contradict Chalmers who, in a letter to the press, corrected the 1894 version.

O’R. remained in Kimberley for a few years and then took part as a mercenary in a Tlhaping war, for which he received land in British Bechuanaland. Here he farmed until his death.

He was married twice. There were thirteen children, six of his first marriage, to Maria (maiden name unknown) and seven of his second, to Henrietta Sarah (maiden name Reuon(?))

M. ROBERTSON

Cape Arch., C.T.: Acc. 611: Southey pap.: - Public lib., Kimberley: Beet coll.; - De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd.: Wykeham pap; - D. A. F. O'REILLY, ‘O’Reilly brought to light Cape’s first diamond’, Diamond Fields Advertiser, 21.11.1963; - A. MOULT, ‘Who discovered the first diamond O’Reilly or Jacobs?’, Diamond Fields Advertiser, 28.8.1964; - A. R. c. O‘REILLY, ‘How my father found South Africa’s first diamond’, Personality, 21.1.1965; - U. Z. WOODRUFF. ‘South Africa’s first diamond’, The Star, 12.10.1966; - J. T. McNISH. The road to El Dorado. C.T., 1968; - M. ROBERTSON. Diamond fever.

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Robert John Baptised: 1834, Jany 2nd son of: James and Ida O'REILLY Residence: Cradock Baptised by: J. Heavyside

   Note by transcriber: The baptism is entered between Feby 16 and March 9th Source: Grahamstown - St George (Anglican), Grahamstown, Baptism register, 1826-1836, page 157, entry number 827. Repository: Cory Library, MS 14 878-1. Transcribed by Lynn Couperthwaite as part of the eGGSA Project, from photographs by William Jervois

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Estate File : https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS92-69GS-C?i=958&...

DEPOT TAB
SOURCE MHG
TYPE LEER
VOLUME_NO 0
SYSTEM 01
REFERENCE 6652
PART 1
DESCRIPTION O'REILLY, JOHN ROBERT.
STARTING 19040000
ENDING 19040000
REMARKS SURVIVING SPOUSE HENRIETTA SARAH (BORN RENON).

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