Early Rhodesian Settlers - after the Treks

The aim of this project is to add Geni profiles of early Southern Rhodesian/Rhodesian Settlers post 1895 (not considered to be Pioneers) who went to Rhodesia after the main Pioneering Treks of 1892 to 1895, and who are not listed on those projects. It excludes the territories to the North - Northern Rhodesa/Zambia and Nyasaland/Malawi

• Thomas Moodie Trek 1892
• Moolman - Webster Trek 1893
• Edenburg Trek 1894
• Martin Trek 1894
• Mynhardt - Utrecht Trek 1894
• Kruger-Bekker Trek 1895
• Henry-Steyn Trek 1895

Please add the names of the settler and accompanying family members to the list below, (not the descendants), linking the names to their profiles where you can elaborate on their story. Add them to the project as well. Initially be can have a cut-off date of 1915 but this can be up for discussion!

Getting Involved

Feel free to follow, request to collaborate

To join the project use the request link under "actions" at the top right of the page.

Visit

Geni's Project Plaza

Working with Projects

Wicked Wiki

Geni Wikitext, Unicode and images which gives a great deal of assistance.

See the discussion Project Help: How to add Text to a Project - Starter Kit to get you going!

How to Participate

• Please add only the profiles of those who migrated to the area to this project (not their descendants)! This is easily done from the profile page using the Add to project link.
• If you have any queries related to these settlers please start a discussion linked to this project. (See the menu top right).
• Please add related projects to the menu on the right.
• If you have links to related web pages that would be of interest to others please add them in the relevant section at the bottom of the page. In order to do this use the drop down menu at the top left of the screen and Join the Project. If this option is not available to you then contact a collaborator and ask to be added to the project. As a collaborator you will be able to edit this page.
• Add any documents of interest using the menu at the top right of the page, and then add a link to the document in the text under the heading below. If you do not know how to do this please contact one of the other collaborators to assist you.

A

B

• Bernhardus Hermanus Bester and his wife Anna Maria Petronella de Wet, (1872-1940) 1908. (Mrs. Bester). The biograghy of Anna Maria Petronella Bester (nee de Wet), is one of sixty biographies the book, Down Memory Lane with Some Early Rhodesian Women, written by Madeline Heald. The Bester family trekked to Rhodesia by mule-wagons, arriving in Enkeldoorn on 1 October 1908.
• Jacob Benjamen (Oupa) (1858-1933) and Margaretha Isabella(Ouma) Kirstein arrived approximately 1912 from Kinross, Transvaal, where he farmed on Winkelhaak. In 1910 Oupa, disheartened by droughts and other problems decided to look for pastures new and a reconnaissance trip to Rhodesia took him to the Enkeldoorn area. He was satisfied and about 26 miles South of the town Enkeldoorn, pegged a virgin farm that he called Welvaart.

C

• Hendrik Schalk Coetzee 1865-1950) married Maria Petronella Conradie (1868-1954), arrived 1909 from Potchefstroom Transvaal trek and settled on Riversdale farm where he produced wheat. Hendrik was a big man, exceptionally strong and very bad tempered while Maria was the opposite and very even tempered. Both died on the farm. Hendrik established the Riversdale school. They had 18 children, one died an infant, the last four were born in Rhodesia.
• Mathian (Matie) Coetzee and Elsie Petronella van der Merwe arrived 1910, travelling with Elsie's family group who came from Natal.They travelled by train to Umvuma and by ox wagons to the farm and settled on Crystal. Matie was known for his great strength and sense of humour with a love for practical jokes, he was also easily moved to tears when sad or happy.

D

• Izak Andries Delport (1848-1922), sy vrou Susanna Jakoba Magritha Delport (1859-1927), hulle kinders Izak Andries Delport (1877-1941), Petrus Marthinus Jacobus Delport (1880-1952) Aletta Elizabeth Delport (1890-1948) vertrek met die trein na Rhodesia in 1908, saam met die Van der Merwe en Keyter families.
• Thomas Frederick Dreyer (1860-1934) married Aletta Elizabeth Schoultz (1862-1937) They came from Wolmaransstad, Western Transvaal and arrived in Rhodesia in 1910. They farmed near Marandellas till about 1917 when they moved to Enkeldoorn and settled on Kwesfontein B.

E

• Francis John Eager (1883-1977) married Margaretha Christina Erasmus (1893-1932) They arrived at Enkeldoorn, Rhodesia in 1914.
• Jacobus Johannes Erasmus (1899-1965) (Brother-in-law of Francis Eagar) came to the Enkeldoorn area in January 1914 as a 15 year old schoolboy, in the care of his sister and brother-in-law, Francis and Elizabeth Eagar, when Francis accepted a post with the Rhodesian Education Department as school teacher.

F

G

H

I

J

• Johannes Daniel Jansen van Rensburg (1864-1948) and his wife (first cousin) Maria Jacomina Jansen van Rensburg (1862-1935) took their family to Rhodesia after the Boer War - date not known possibly after 1911.

K

• Keogh, Edward Alexander, 1874-1956, married Blanche Mabel O'Farrell in Dublin, Ireland,1906.. They had a son,Gerald,(known as Cecil), born Roscommon, Ireland, Keogh's home area. E.A. Keogh was involved for a short time, in the Boer war, Irish contingent - seems to have had links with a cousin, surname Balfe, in Johannesburg. By early 1900s, the couple and child moved to S.Rhodesia, Melsetter, BSAP.mounted police. They were later transferred to Inyanga ( daughter born there, 1915- one baby daughter lost with malaria earlier, aged 1 year). Then to Rusape, where E.A,K was recognised as 'unofficial Prosecutor' (his forefathers in Ireland, had been magistrates, sherriffs..). The Keoghs remained in Rhodesia,for the rest of their lives, until they both died in Salisbury, during 1956, having lived nest to Mazoe dam,, They only visited Irish relatives in England during the beginning 3-year allowed periods.(no more homes in Ireland), EAK's mother was descended from an ancient Irish family,BALFE (Burkes Pedigrees) His gr. grandfather, John Keogh can be read on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keogh
• Pieter Bernardus Keyter (1887-1963), sy vrou Susanna Jacoba Magritha (Pop) Keyter (1888-1965) vertrek met die trein na Rhodesia in 1908, saam met die Delport en Van der Merwe families.

L

M

• Marais

• Barend Daniel Marais (1864-1964) Migrated around 1911 with his wife Elizabeth Magdalena Smit and children. He had followed his brother Cornelius Hermanus who was on the Henry-Steyn Trek.
  
• Jan Jonathan Stephanus Marais (c.1870-1918) brother of Barend Daniel above
  
• Willem Abraham Marais (c.1886-1916) brother of Barend Daniel above
  

• Moolman

• Petrus Johannes Albertus Moolman The family moved to Rhodesia from Transvaal (Middleburg) in 1903. They settled on a section of Avontuur (farm bought by J N Moolman, the father) which was called De Rust
  

N

O

• O'Farrell, Blanche Mabel, 1879-1956. Irish - married Edward Alexander Keogh, at about age 18, in Ireland, They moved to S.Rhodesia, not long after, with one small son, Husband was in the mounted police, BSAP, Melsetter. Refer Keogh story above. Both remained in Rhodesia until their deaths, during 1956, in Salisbury. Two children survived.

P

Q

R

S

• Elizabeth Magdalena Smit (1874-1915) Wife of Barend Daniel Marais

T

• THACKWRAY, Mary Rosina (1880-1908) 1st wife of John-Todd-Jakins They married 8 May 1907 at Mount Onwa, Rhodesia. She died 11 Jan 1908 in Salisbury Hospital, Salisbury, Rhodesia.
• THACKWRAY, Florence Dorothy Jakins, (1885-1918) 2nd wife of John-Todd-Jakins They left South Africa during the 2nd Anglo Boer War for Rhodesia with her future husband John Todd Jakins extended family by train on the 25th Nov 1900 from Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, and then from Bulawayo they traveled onto Salisbury by Ox Wagon arriving in Salisbury 21st December 1900 where they settled initially.
• THACKWRAY, Leopold, (1882-1918), settled in Rhodesia on Kennilworth Farm, Daisyfield district on 9th Sep 1912. Leopold married Violet May Edwards on Rosebank Farm, Dordrecht, Eastern Cape, South Africa in 1911.. they traveled by train from the Eastern Cape Colony with the extended James Henry Edwards family to Rhodesia with their infant daughter Grace Gladys Thackwray. They arrived at Somabula in 1912 where there was no loading ramp and bales of hay were used for unloading the animals from the trucks. From Somabula they trekked to Kennilworth Farm, Daisyfield district. The Daisyfield Railway siding was only established in 1913. Land was very cheap in the early days ranging between 1/6d and 7/6d an acre. As more settlers arrived the price went up to 10/- an acre until the second world war, when it jumped to £2 an acre and is still rising.
• THORNHILL, Ernest Alphonso, (1858-1932) went up to Rhodesia in 1908, and bought Helm Farm near Marandellas, in Mashonaland province East of Salisbury, then returned to South Africa to fetch, his wife Emma Pownell Thornhill nee THACKWRAY, (1867-1938) and his family, the whole Thornhill family came up by train to Rhodesia in 1910 from Lionhill Farm near Dordrecht, Eastern Cape, South Africa.

U

V

• Jan Carl van der Merwe (1877-1964), sy vrou Cecilia Johanna (Hannie) van der Merwe (1884-1962), hulle twee kinders Susan van der Merwe (1904-1919) en JK(Ouboet) van der Merwe (1906-1997) vertrek met die trein na Rhodesia in 1908, saam met die Delport en Keyter families.
• Álbertus Johannes van der Merwe (1872-1942), en sy vrou Hendrina Wilhelmina van der Merwe (1871-1926), hulle kinders Jan Carel van der Merwe, Frederick Jacobus van der Merwe en Catherina Maria van der Merwe.

W

• Anna Maria Petronella de Wet, (1872-1940) 1908. (Mrs. Bester). The biograghy of Anna Maria Petronella Bester (nee de Wet), is one of sixty biographies the book, Down Memory Lane with Some Early Rhodesian Women, written by Madeline Heald. The Bester family trekked to Rhodesia by mule-wagons, arriving in Enkeldoorn on 1 October 1908.
• The two brothers b2c1 James Wheeler (1866) and b2c4 Thomas Wheeler (1874) from Loskop area, Middelburg District, Transvaal, went to Southern Rhodesia. On reconnaisance and purchased from the Potgieter family, Wildebeestlaagte and Hartebeeslaagte. They went back to fetch belongings and families. Accompanied by their relative Smit, trekking with donkey-drawn wagons they arrived in 1899.

this project is in History Link