Death Notice : "South Africa, Cape Province, Probate Records of the Master of the High Court, 1834-1989," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSQF-V9VQ-3?cc=2517051... : 12 June 2018), 007844944 > image 63 of 2153; Pietermaritzburg Archives (Formerly Natal State Archives), South Africa.

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THE PITT FAMILY IN SOUTH AFRICA

The Pitt family came out to South Africa from Gloucestershire in two groups, both headed by sons of William Pitt & Jane Long who lived at Tetbury.

These brothers may have been twins, since it is known that the one, Robert Pitt - a husbandman and turnkey, was born in 1777 and was an 1820 Settler who came to SA in Sephton’s Party with his wife, Lucy Rapley and 8 year old son, Robert Pitt.

Whereas, although the date of birth is not confirmed, it appears that the other brother, William – a shoemaker - may also have been born in 1777, and he and his wife, Mary Rogers, having agreed on 7.5.1826 to pay half their fare, were enabled to join his brother in the Cape Colony. They came out in Shepherd's party in 1826, bringing with them five children, 22 yr old Sarah [although it is uncertain whether this person is actually a conflation with John’s wife Sarah, below], 13 yr old William, 10 yr old James, 7 yr old Thomas and 23 yr old John Pitt. The latter was married to Sarah Roberts, and they appear to have had two children with them on the boat: 1 or 2 yr old John, and baby Mary. Both had just been christened in Middlesex.

• 1.Robert Snr (1777 - ) m Lucy Rapley
  • 1.1 Robert Jnr (1810) m Mary Short
    • 1.1.1 Mary Ann (1836-1873) (married William Forrester)
    • 1.1.3 Joseph (1839 - 1922) (married Charlotte Blackbeard)
    • 1.1.4 Sarah Jane (1840 - ) (married Robert Swan)
    • 1.1.5 Selena Elizabeth (1842-1845)
    • 1.1.6 James (1844 - ) (married Martha Hood)
  • 1.2 James (1813 - < 1820)
  • 1.3 Joseph ( 1818 - <1820)
• 2.William (1777 - ) m Mary Rogers
  • 2.1 John Pitt (1803 Buckinghamshire – 1870), m Sarah Roberts
    • 2.1.1 John (1824 - ) (His wife was a nurse in Grahamstown).
    • 2.1.2 Mary. (1826 - ) (married Joseph Green);
    • 2.1.3 Sarah (1827 – 1893) (married 1847 Samuel Wood)
    • 2.1.4 Ruth (married Edward Dicks);
    • 2.1.5 Ann (married George Flannigan)
    • 2.1.6 Jane (1830 – 1893) (married 1851 Henry Webster).
    • 2.1.7 Phillis (1830 – 1898) (married 1850 William Freemantle). It has been suggested that she was born in London, but as the family were in the Cape Colony by 1826, this may not be so, although her Uncle William did return to England after coming out with the family.
    • 2.1.8 William (1836 – 1850)
    • 2.1.9 Elizabeth (1841 – 1888) (married 1861 John Ashenhurst)
  • 2.2 Sarah (1804 -) (if she isn’t a conflation with John’s wife, Sarah Roberts)
  • 2.3 William (1813 -), (who returned to England)
  • 2.4 James (1816 - 1842), (married 1837 to Penelope Short Grit)
  • 2.5 Thomas (1819 -), (married Dinah ? and died in Grahamstown; they had three children) [Primary Source: http://www.genealogy.amay.co.uk/main.php?p=FF2-pittRoberts. Edits based on new data welcomed - Sharon April 2014].

Grahamstown marriages: Entry #289 Husband: William FREEMANTLE, Full, Bachelor, Blacksmith, residing Grahamstown Wife: Phillis PITT, 20, Spinster Date: 3/5/1850 Witnesses: Thomas EARLE, Jane PITT

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Richard Freemantle's* marriage to Patience Ford* was witnessed by William Bear, the service being taken by the Rev. William Geary and it was held and recorded in the Baptist Church in Grahamstown. Patience Ford* was the daughter of Edward* and Jane Ford*, her father being the head of Ford's party, from Wiltshire, who travelled out on the 'Weymouth'. She was born in 1806 or 1807 and came of a family of four children, two brothers, James* (born1803) and John* (born 1804) and a younger sister, Elizabeth* (born 1809). Later Elizabeth* married John Willden*

On arrival in Albany, the Ford party was moved three times before their location was settled. It lay across the river from Mahoney's location.

[Perhaps Richard went there seeking work after being discharged from Mahoney's party]

The Ford family, who knew nothing of agriculture, moved to Grahamstown in 1827 and opened a bakery there on 31.8.1832. Patience Ford* was only 16 or 17 at the time of her marriage. In November, 1824 Richard* was working as a wagon-maker in Grahamstown and on 4.6.1824 attended the marriage of John Ford*, son of Edward Ford* to Anna*, daughter of John* and Mary Kirkman* [of Smith's party on the 'Stentor']. Then, on 13.12.1824 he was licensed to trade at the Fort Willshire Fairs. The following year, on 24.9.1825, 'he engaged to employ 2 immigrants'.

When his wife, Patience was about 21 years of age, she gave birth to their first (and only) child, a son called William, [See the section (F2/3.[2][3 who was born on 10th November, 1827. His baptism was registered at the Baptist Church in Grahamstown - entry No: 8 - in the baptismal register of this church. The Ford family were members of the Baptist church.

Patience Freemantle nee Ford* died on 16th February, 1828 in Grahamstown at the age of 22 (when baby William was only three months old). She was buried from the Baptist Church there.

http://www.genealogy.amay.co.uk/main.php?p=FF2-PatienceFord

F2/3.[2][3]William Richard(?) Freemantle = Phyllis Pitt

                      (1827 - 1868)                              (1830 - 1898)

William Freemantle was the only child of Richard (2nd) Freemantle* and his first wife, Patience Freemantle nee Ford. He was born on 10th November, 1827 in Grahamstown and his mother died when he was three months old, on 16.2.1828. (See the Baptist Church records in Grahamstown, where he was baptised). It is understandable in these circumstances that tracing his childhood history has proved impossible and, even later, there are few recorded facts available. His father, Richard, seems to have remained in the Grahamstown district until at least 1832, when he signed as witness to the marriage of his half-sister, Eliza* to Thomas Derbyshire* on 9.7.1832, but was in Port Elizabeth when he married his second wife, Elizabeth Anna (Hannah) Hall on 18.12.1837. At that time William would have been ten years old. It is not known whether William remained with his father or was taken in as a baby to someone's home. Perhaps the Ford family were able to help care for him and he may have remained with them. Alternatively, it is possible that he was with his Uncle Samuel, who had extended this kind of assistance to his stepmother and her children, who joined him in about 1823/5 and until she remarried, when he 'adopted' her eldest son, George. It would appear that Samuel Freemantle lived in Grahamstown until 1867 except for about three years spent at Manley Mission, assisting with the erection of buildings there.

It is presumed that William Freemantle's marriage took place in about 1848, at the age of twenty-one, when he married Phyllis Pitt, the daughter of John Pitt* and Sarah Pitt nee Roberts*, possibly in Burgersdorp, because their children all seem to have been born there.

On 3.7.1857, William Freemantle bought a plot of land in Burgersdorp (No: 148 - for eight hundred and fifty pounds). He was a farmer and a blacksmith and family tradition has it that he was so strong that he 'could lift an ox above his head !' Be that as it may, he was undoubtedly a man of considerable physical strength, as that seems to have been the characteristic most remembered by those who knew him.

Phyllis and William had six children, as listed below. He died on 19th.December, 1868, aged 41, in Burgersdorp http://www.genealogy.amay.co.uk/main.php?p=FF2-William.

The children of William Freemantle and Phyllis Freemantle nee Pitt were: F2/4.[3]A Patience Ann (Annie) Freemantle was the eldest daughter and she was born in Burgersdorp in about 1850; she remained in that town for all her life. She was a spinster and became quite well known as a music teacher, still being remembered there in the 1970's by some of the older residents and the children who had been her pupils. She lived to a good age and judging by the accounts of those who remembered her, she died in about 1912, [this may even have been 1922] but as she never married, she lived with her mother until the old lady's death in 1898 in a house opposite the Dopper Church, where she died. There has been no record traced of the childhood or the education of this family - perhaps they all attended the village school as, by that time, it was starting to be the norm for girls also to do so.

F2/4.[3]B Lois Emma Freemantle, was the second child of William R. [Richard ?] Freemantle and Phyllis Freemantle nee Pitt. She was born, probably in Burgersdorp, about 1852. At the age of twenty-one she was married to Charles John Broster on 18th November, 1873. He was a farmer and a merchant, born 9th May, 1842 in Fort Beaufort. He was the son of George Broster, who was a military doctor, born in 1807 in India, married a Miss Vice and died in 1841 at Fort Beaufort. Charles John Broster was born on 9.5.1842 in Fort Beaufort and Charles died on 27th May, 1926 on the farm 'Broughton' near Molteno.

F3/4.[3][4]William Roberts Freemantle, who was the third child and eldest son of William Freemantle and Phyllis Freemantle nee Pitt. He was born on 29th. September, 1854 in Burgersdorp and married on 8.10.1885 Martha Margaretha Joubert, eldest daughter of Jotham Joubert and M.M.J.Joubert nee Oosthuizen. See under Huguenot & Joubert family connection - Section FF 3.

F2/4.[3][5] John Henry (Jack) Freemantle (1856-1907). See his individual section. F2/4.[3][6] James Albert Freemantle (1861-1917) Also see his individual section F2/4.[3]F Alice Jane Freemantle (1862, died young.)

http://www.genealogy.amay.co.uk/main.php?p=FF2-w1Children

Information:

http://genealogy.amay.co.uk/index.php?p=FF2-JohnHenry