Patric Hendrik Ellis, SV/PROG

Progenitor About 1795 Is the progenitor of this line of the ELLIS family in South Africa. See chronicles.

Patrick Henry ELLIS was born in Dublin, Ireland abt 1775. He married Margaretha Magdalena JOUBERT on 14 Aug 1803 and died on 7 Aug 1850 . Family lore has it that Patrick and two brothers came to South Africa, but that the brothers "went back" - presumably to Ireland.

There are a number of avenues to be explored:

Unconfirmed records show:

Patric (now without the K?) Henry ELLIS is the eldest son of John Christiaan (Christian?) ELLIS and Joan Mary ELLIS (nee?). He was born in 1775 in Dublin, province of Leinster, Ireland.

---------------------------

Fact 1: Patrick's death notice shows his place of birth to be Dublin. No details/facts on his parents are available.

Fact 1A: Heese & Lombard in SA Genealogies give Patrick's origin as Dublin.

Conclusion 1: Patrick is Irish by birth.

----------------------------

At age 16, in 1791, he joined the Norwegian Navy (don't know if it was merchant or military) as a 'student' sailor (in Afrikaans a 'leerling matroos' ). His trade is given as blacksmith.

----------------------------

Fact 2: C.C. de Villiers in Genealogies of old SA Families, Vol I, A-M, p195, revised and rewritten by P.V. Pama, says that Patrick ELS arrived from Norway.

Fact 2A: Over the period 1795-1800 742 vessels visited the Cape or Simons Bay. Of these 458 were English, 124 American, 91 were Danish, 34 were prizes of English men-of-war, and the remaining belonged to other nations.

Fact 2B: I received the following after a query to Trond Austheim (traust@chello.no) early June 2001 on info on Norway c 1795:

'There are not much of information I can give you, but the Norwegian history starts in 1814 when we got our own constitution. Before 1814 we were a part of Denmark. in 1814 we however became under Sweden, but under our own law. I can only "remember" tat there were several wars with England in the Danish time prior to 1814. We had a good fleet and there was communication with the South of Africa. If he joined the army there a fair chance that there are some records at "Riksarkivet" http://www.riksarkivet.no or similar archive in Denmark. The military are good in keeping records! PS: 'Lange Berg' is in Norwegian "Long crest" (of a mountain).

Trond"

This implies that if Patrick arrived from Norway he may have been on a "Danish" ship.

Conclusion 2: There is a strong possibility that a Norwegian/Danish link, with reference to port origin of and way of arrival exists.

--------------------------------

With the British occupation of the Cape in 1795 he is in service of the occupation forces as blacksmith. In 1800 when the occupation forces withdrew he attained Cape citizenship.

--------------------------------

Fact 3: History of the British Regiments in South Africa 1795 - 1895 by Wilfred Brinton offers the following: General Craig with the 2nd Battalion of the 98th Regiment sailed for the Cape in a fleet under Admiral Elphinstone. This fleet arrived in Simon's Bay in June 1795. Of the forces under General Craig one division under Commander Blankett sailed from Spithead on the 13th March, 1795, and the other under Admiral Elphinstone on the 3rd April 1795. The two squadrons arrived off the cape on the 10th June 1795. They consisted of 1600 men composed of the 2nd Battalion 78th Regiment numbering 450 men, 350 marines and 800 seamen. On the 9th August the 'Arniston' arrived in Simon's Bay from St Helena with 398 soldiers in the service of the English East India Company and on the 4th September a further English fleet of 13 Indiamen with an armed transport entered Simon's Bay. This fleet carried about 3000 troops consisting of the 2nd Battalion 84th Regiment, the 95th Regiment and the 98th Regiment (p6).

The 86th Regt, Second Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles arrived at the Cape on the 22nd September 1795, six days after the surrender of the Dutch to the expeditionary force under command of Sir Alured Clark. This regiment embarked for the India on the 20th February 1799. It is recorded that the appearance of men was especially commented on. Well grown, well set up, and 1300 strong, the regiment excited universal admiration and, its regimental records add, it was perhaps the finest body of men that ever came to this country (p21).

The following regiments served at the Cape over the period 1975 - 1803 when the Cape was handed back to the Batavian Republic. 19th, 22nd, 33rd, 34th, 61st, 65th, 78th, 80th, 81st, 84th, 98th (later the 91st), 94th, 95th together with the following regiments of the Light Dragoons, the 8th, 25th, 27th and the 28th.

The following is of particular interest:

"The 91st Regiment (originally the 98th that arrived in Simon's Bay on 4th September 1795), not only took part in the capture of the Cape in 1795 but also participated later in the various Kaffir wars and the Zululand campaign. The regiment was raised in 1794 by the Duke of Argyll and was known as the Argyllshire Highlanders, the first Lt Col being Duncan Campbell. The regiment embarked in the East India ships, 'Coot', 'Deptford', 'Osterly' and 'Warren Hastings' on the 6th July 1795 arriving in Simon's Town on the 3rd September 1795. On the 9th September the regiment marched to Muizenberg to join General Craig, Muizenberg being described as a narrow passage between a steep mountain and the sea. On the return voyage of the 91st Regiment to England after evacuation in 1803 the ship in which they sailed was attacked by a narwhal (also known as a sword fish). . ."

The 78th Regiment departed for India during October 1798 (p22).

The 8th Dragoons - King's Royal Irish Dragoons and subsequently 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars was formed in 1693 and in 1775 was made 'light'. Frequent reference has been made to the service rendered by this regiment in the disturbances at the Cape during 1796 - 1803 (p22).

Conclusion 3: If Patrick arrived with this force he may have been part of any of these regiments: the 2nd Bn of the 86th, 2nd Bn of the 78th, 2nd Bn of the 84th, the 95th or the 98th (the 98th Regiment was renamed was later renamed the 91st -p21). However, if he arrived with the original force in 1795 (as the story appears to go) and stayed behind when the force left he may have been part of the 86th (91st). Note that this was an Irish regiment. This remains a long shot.

--------------------------------

On 14 Aug 1803 he married in Drakenstein, Margaretha Magdalena JOUBERT, daughter of Gideon Jacobus JOUBERT and Maria Elizabeth van Zyl. Gideon Jacobus was the elder brother of Maria JOUBERT who was married to Jan LOOTS, the progenitor of the LOOTS family. Patric Henry ELLIS is one of the first pioneers that trekked east. He settled at Knysna (that later became part of the Swellendam district) where he worked as blacksmith and wagon maker (wa-maker). His first three children were christened here.

Between 1812 and 1816 he moved to Worcester where he started a wagon making business. When business became less prosperous he went back to Knysna in 1817 where he started a 'saagpunt'. (I have no idea what this is. A direct translation could be a 'wood point'. This could be a selling point or a sawmill). It is also possible that he went to Knysna to sell wood (If so, where did he get it from. Knysna was the centre for wood at the time), but also to get wood for his wagon-making. (It seems that he moved between Worcester and Knysna as it also said that he was in Worcester in 1823 again to build wagons.

In his latter years he settled in Francisbaai (Francis Bay - could this be St Francis Bay?) close to present day Port Elizabeth. He died there on 11 August 1850 at 75 years of age. He had 7 sons and one daughter.

Queries: His death notice gives his place of death as 'Lange Berg' - I must confirm the relation between Lange Berg and Francis Bay. There is also reference of Louis Berg. His death notice is unclear. Marianne Steyn (012 6674454) is of opinion that it should be Touws Berg (close to Touws River) This seems likely as it is close to the district where many of the sons lived. However this is quite far away from Francis Bay. It is not logic that a corpse would be taken that far for burial at the time. Question - What is right?

http://web.archive.org/web/20090108193709/http://adreellis.users.la...

• Updated from MyHeritage Family Trees via son Gideon Jacobus Ellis by SmartCopy: Jan 16 2015, 10:36:50 UTC

  ---

  
  

Iers gebore, getoe in Noorwee