Surnames A to C

Written by Lee McGovern on . Posted in A - C.

BECKLEY Thomas

Thomas BECKLEY * Reading in the county of Wiltshire, England 1793 + Boshof 18.08.1889 The county is known for the Salisbury Cathedral and Stonehenge (Mother’s surname was GREEN)
x Elizabeth VEREY * 1776 + Wycombe, Oxfordshire1842. They had 3 children who remained in England as per his death notice.
The 1841 Census in England finds the family living in Oxfordshire in England
xx Warminster, Wiltshire, England between Oct-Dec 1843 Bethia (Betha or Methia) PARKER* Warminster 1819 = Bishops row, Wiltshire, England 27.06.1819 (d/o Thomas & Sarah Parker) He had 10 children with his second wife. The first 3 children from the 2nd marriage were born in England before they immigrated to South Africa in 1850
He was a Master Armourer and they lived in a place called the ‘Laboratory Yard’ in Cape Town. They subsequently moved to Swellendam where their son Alfred was born in 1860. At some point the family re-located to Boshof in the Orange Free State in South Africa. Thomas was a gunsmith.

Children from the first marriage who remained in England as per his death notice

b1. John * 1832,

b2. Frederick * 1834

b3. Elizabeth *1839

Children from the second marriage

b4. Bethia *Winchester Hampshire, England 1845 = Saint Maurice, Winchester, Hampshire, England Cathedral 13.07.1845. + She died young

b5. Anne Alice * Winchester, Hampshire, England 1845 = Saint Maurice, Winchester, Hampshire, England Cathedral 13.07.1845. + She died young

b6. Sarah Augusta *England March 1847 = Christened at St Botolph Without Aldgate, London, England on 16 May 1847 + at 195 Church Street, Kenilworth Johannesburg 18.07.1942. She lived in a room at 5 Pretoria Street, Fairview, Johannesburg after her husband’s death
x Bloemfontein Anglican Cathedral St Andrew & St Michael on 23.12.1870 William Henry COWIE + 04.06.1922. L.F. Beckley signed as witness at the wedding

b7. Henry James * 1850  
x Winburg OVS Hester Cecilia GOOSEN * 1842 + Johannesburg 12.02.1903 (d/o Daniel & Hester GOOSEN) They lived in Mooiplaats, Burgherright Erf 519 Potchefstroom . She was the widow of Hendrik Nicolaas KOTZE who died in the Orange Free State 1873.(VAB K117)
She had 4 children with Kotze and 2 with Henry Beckley ( Children with Kotze were:- Hendrik Nicolaas Kotze, Dirk Albertus Johannes Kotze, Catharina Johanna Kotze x Arie van Wyk, and Petrus Albertus Johannes Kotze who had passed away and had left 5 children, mentioned in his mother's death notice) xx NG Kerk Potchefstroom 21.05.1903 Jacoba Dorothea MEINTJIES * OVS 1880. Her first marriage. J. Beckley signed as witness at the wedding.

b8. Catherine Frances * Cape Town 28.04.1851
x Anglican Cathedral in Bloemfontein 09.04.1872 James SKEA. James was a saddler.

b9. Edward Charles * July 1853 + Shannon Valley Bloemfontein 27.02.1928 Lived on the farm Fairview 434 in the district of Boshof and was a gunsmith, dealer in arms, ammunition and explosives. In 1903 Edward lodged a claim for compensation at Boshof in respect of British subjects for losses during the Boer War
x Anglican Cathedral in Bloemfontein 21.10.1879 Jessie Emily WEBBER * Port Elizabeth 07.08.1857 + 30.03.1930 (d/o. George WEBBER * Isle of Wight England 1821 + Bloemfontein 04.09.1877
x Uitenhage 06.12.1943 Emma WATTS)

b10. Eleanor Louisa (Ellen) * about 1855 who never married.

b11. George Thomas Barnaby * 1856 +.Kimberley 15.03.1941. Carpenter He was declared insolvent in1894
x Boshof NG Church 23.02.1886 Wilhelmina Magdalena SMOOK * 1867 + About 1950 She lived in Boshof at the time of the wedding.

b12. Alfred *Swellendam 26.06.1860 = Anglican Christ Church Swellendam 05.08.1860 Witnesses:- Thomas Inglesby, Susan Ingleby, Henry Willey + National Hospital Bloemfontein 02.09.1935 Farmed in the Rodenbeck, De Aar, Dist. Bloemfontein area outside Bloemfontein and Bessie Terblanche says that he ran a beautiful fruit orchard. His wife was the farm owner’s daughter. They later inherited a section of the farm and he renamed it Aloedale. Alfred was not engaged in the hostilities of the Boer War and signed an oath of neutrality as he was not a registered Burger of the Orange River Colony. He was thus regarded as a “Protected Burger”. It seems that during the early part of the war the Boers and British took some of his livestock and some died from starvation during the siege. He later served in the Town Guard. In 1903, Alfred lodged a claim for compensation of ₤ 180 at Boshof in respect of protected Burghers for the livestock that he had lost during the war.
x married Dutch Reformed Church Bloemfontein 18.07.1904 Emmerentia Petronella SAAIMAN * 28.10.1884 = Baptised 07.12.1884 +29.04.1971 She came from a well-known farming family in the Boshof area. After the death of her husband, Emmerentia Lived at 2 Blignaut Street in Bloemfontein. When her husband died 6 of her children hadn’t married yet (d/o. Petrus Johannes Bartholomeus SAAIMAN *1849 + 1923 x Anna Sophia LOMBARD * 1949 + 10.07.1946).

b13. William Henry *Swellendam .KP 09.09.1864 = Christ Church Cathedral Swellendam 06.11.1864 Baptism book says father was a gun maker Witnesses:- William Howat, Charles Coldrey and Elizabeth HIGGS. He was the surviving spouse + William was an Assistant Market Master in 1893 and farmed in the Bloemfontein area. He submitted a claim for compensation after the Boer War in respect of Burghers in Bloemfontein in 1903
x Anglican Cathedral in Bloemfontein on 16.09.1891. Georgina Home ANTILL *.1866 + Parys Hospital 22.05.1948 (82 years old) They were living at 5 Valley Rd West, Westcliffe, Johannesburg when she died. She was married out of community of property.

NOTE:
This initial Family Tree was started by Michael Nuns who gathered a lot of oral information from Emmie Van Aswegen and Freda Kleynhans as well as some notes by Bessie Terblanche.