The mystery of Michael SCHAEFER

I am still unsure how Michael SCHAEFER came to be in South Africa. There are various SCHAEFER's (or SCHAFFER's) shown on passenger lists to South Africa from Germany, but I cannot be sure which is the actual Michael. Or whether he came out as a child, or an adult.

The most likely scenario is that he came out as a German Military Settler in 1857 - he would have been 22 - and stayed on, instead of being sent on to India like many others.

He may have been related to earlier SCHAEFERs, like Wilhelm and Wilhelmina SCHAEFER who were also on board the Wilhelmsburg with the KRANZ family. These SCHAEFERs settled in Frankfort, and were born in Louisenhof, Prussia. But, at this stage, it is speculation.

If anyone knows, please share!!

How Carolina Wilhelmina KRANTZ came to be in South Africa

In 1858, a peasant farmer from Werbelow, Prussia, his wife, and their four children, came to Braunschweig, South Africa on board the ship 'Wilhelmsburg'. One of these children was our Carolina Wilhelmine KRANTZ (SCHIEDER/SCHAEFER).
Find the passenger list here.

Manifest of the Wilhelmsburg page 1 - KRANTZ family lines 11-15

Carl Johann Joachim Frederich KRANZ, 42, his wife Wilhelmina Frederike Marie Caroline KRANZ (nee Zernke), 44, and their four children:

Child 1: (age 12)
Caroline (Albertine) Wilhelmine KRANZ
born: 9.1.1846
baptised: 18.1.1846
Werbelow, Trebenow, Prenzlau, Brandenburg, Germany (Prussia)

Child 2: (age 9)
Auguste Wilhelmine Ernestine KRANZ
born: 26.12.1848
baptised: 7.1.1849

Child 3: (age 7)
Carl Wilhelm Friedrich KRANZ
born: 9.12.1851
baptised: 17.12.1851

Child 4: (age 4)
August Friedrich Wilhelm KRANZ
born: 29.6.1854
baptised: 9.7.1854

Some shipping detail of The Wilhelmsburg:

Left Hamburg on 19 October 1858;
Arrived at East London on 13 January 1859;
64 children and one adult died en route.
Ship's captain: Captain C.H. Müller
Ship's doctor: Dr Carl Paul (26), Weimar

Eventually of course, Caroline Wilhelmina died - on 10.3.1918 age 73 in Joubert Street, Bethulie. Three months later, her second husband Michael SCHAEFER also died, age 83 - on 9.6.1918 in his son-in-law's house, Bethulie.

They are buried in the Bethulie Main cemetery:

SCHIEDER - SCHAEFER FAMILY TREE

Here's a simple representation of Caroline Wilhelmina's rather complicated family:

Benjamin Schaefer's family - his siblings and parentage

Benjamin Schaefer was the ninth of ten children born to Carolina Wilhelmina SCHAEFER nee KRANTZ. With her first husband, Johann SCHIEDER, Carolina had five - or possibly six - children. According to records on familysearch.org, Carolina and Johann DIVORCED in Bethulie, Orange Free State around 1880/1881. Here is Carolina and Michael's wedding certificate (in Afrikaans):

Shortly after the divorce, her sixth child - Carolina Louisa - was born. On her baptismal entry, no father is named, but she is baptised Carolina Louisa SCHIEDER (see pic, below); however, 7 months after her birth, her mother remarries Michael SCHAEFER. 

On her own wedding certificate (and in her parents' death notices) Carolina Louisa SCHIEDER is named as Carolina Louisa SCHAEFER. It seems michael may or may not have been her father; either way, he raised her as his own and she took his name.

I can find no trace of Johann SCHIEDER after the baptism of the fifth child, Annie Margaret SCHIEDER, in 1878; did he die? Did they divorce? Did he run off and leave Carolina Wilhelmina? Johann (known as John) was a butcher, and their children are baptised with the parents named as 'John and Caroline SCHIEDER'.

Curiously, there is a baptismal entry for a child of John and Caroline named Franz Heinrich SCHIEDER, born 7.5.1876. He is not mentioned in the parental Death Notices as ever existing; perhaps he died in infancy. Also, a child of a similar age IS named in the Death Notice but I cannot find a baptism record for him; perhaps they are one and the same? Franz Heinrich = William Antonie?

Another curious baptismal entry (pic) is that of Anthony William Richard SCHIEDER to John and Caroline on 16.11.1873. He went on to marry Elizabeth Catherine Pretorius. Scandalously, he is documented as spending two years in Jail sentenced to 'Hard Labour' for being a thief. In 1901 it is documented that he requested 'early release, because of the Coronation'. He is NOT listed as a child of Carolina Wilhelmina on her Death Notice. Was he disowned by the family? He died in 1924.

Here are the Death Notices for Carolina Wilhelmina SCHAEFER and Michael SCHAEFER:

The 'Antonie' middle name seems to come from the father -Johann's full name is once recorded as John Anton Michael SCHIEDER.

Caroline Wilhelmina KRANTZ - SCHIEDER - SCHAEFER seems to have been something of a character; working as a butcher with Johann, bearing 5 or 6 children with him, divorcing, remarrying pretty quickly, and working as a blacksmith alongside second husband Michael SCHAEFER in Joubert Street, Bethulie. Oh, and bearing 4 more children, one of which was Benjamin. An interesting life!

Simple overview of James Cowie's descendents

James COWIE b:1792 England

John COWIE b: 1821 Cape Province

Reuben James COWIE b: 1859 Grahamstown

Mary Blanche COWIE b: 1890 Umtata (marries Benjamin Schaeffer)

Eileen Rita SCHAEFER b: 1915 Germiston (marries Thomas George HARVEY)

Anthony, Timothy, Jonathon and Tom HARVEY (living descendents)

Schaefer - Harvey Family Tree from Jum and Mary Blanche COWIE to today

Here is the tree showing Mary Blanche COWIE (direct descendent of James Cowie - Settler) and Benjamin SCHAEFER, their child Eileen Rita, and her four sons. Job done!

Generation 6 - Eileen Rita SCHAEFER and Thomas William HARVEY

Eileen Rita Schaefer (known always as Rita or 'Doodles') married Thomas George HARVEY on 19th December 1936 in Saints Peter and Paul's Church, Springs, Transvaal (pic).

Thomas George, like his father before him, was a Schoolmaster. He came out from Portsmouth, England presumably in the late 1920s and at the time of his wedding was living and teaching in Nkana, Northern Rhodesia. Rita was living with her parents in the married quarters of Daggafontein Gold Mine, Springs.

Thomas was 31 and Rita was 21 when they married. My husband - their son - remembers the family story of how they met being that, Rita was visiting friends in Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) and she met Thomas (Tom) at a party; she found him extremely arrogant! But got over it, clearly, as they married not long afterwards.

The Harvey family lived in Northern and Southern Rhodesia, with a spell in the 1960s in Guernsey.

Rita died in July 1990 in Pietermaritzburg, having outlived Tom by some 13 years after his death in July 1977 in Marondera, Zimbabwe.

Rita and Tom had four sons; all four still alive and well with spouses, children, and grandchildren of their own - spread over three continents and four countries!!
Their children are:

Child 1:
Anthony John Harvey b: 1938

Child 2:
Timothy Ian Harvey b: 1945

Child 3:
Jonathon Peter Harvey b: 1950

Child 4:
Thomas William Harvey b: 1957

And that really is the story of the decsendents of the 1820s Settler James Cowie, to the present day.

More posts will explore other characters in the extended family...

Generation 5 - Mary Blanche COWIE and Benjamin SCHAEFER and their child

Mary Blanche COWIE, daughter of Reuben COWIE and Elizabeth Ann GOSS, was born in July 1890 in Umtata, Cape Province. A housewife, and mother of one, Mary followed her adventurous husband from Mine to Mine, where he worked as a Timekeeper.

Mary Blanche COWIE and Benjamin SCHAEFER were married in Jeppe, Johannesburg, although I have not (as yet) been able to find their marriage certificate. Their only child - a daughter, Eileen Rita SCHAEFER (Tom's mum) was born in 1915 in Germiston, when Benjamin ("Jum") was working on Simmer and Jack's Mine. From there, the family moved to the Belgian Congo in the 1920s, returning to South Africa sometime later.

Mary died on 23rd February 1949 in Springs Nursing Home age 58 years and 7 months. Her death notice (pic) shows they had been living at Waggafontein Mine in Springs prior to her illness - her Will stated that everything should pass to her husband, Benjamin. This proved problematic later when Benjamin remarried, wrote a new will leaving everything to his new wife, and then died; leaving Mary and Benjamin's only daughter Eileen Rita with no inheritance. More of that later.

The only child of Mary Blanche COWIE and Benjamin SCHAEFER:

Eileen Rita SCHAEFER
b: 24.2.1915 Germiston (pic)
m: 19.12.1936 Springs to Thomas George Harvey (an English Schoolmaster from Portsmouth)
d: August 1990 Pietermaritzburg

My next post will detail Eileen Rita Schaefer's marriage - Generation 6 from the original 1820s Settler James Cowie - and then I will go back to Benjamin Schaefer and his family, because my research proved to intriguing not to post!

Generation 4 - Reuben COWIE and Elizabeth Ann GOSS and their children

Born in 1859 in Grahamstown, Reuben COWIE was the fourth child born to John and Louisa COWIE. He had a career working on the new mines - gold, diamond etc - that were springing up in South Africa during the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

On July 10th 1882, age 23, he married Elizabeth Ann GOSS in Umtata. The first Boer War had just ended, and Reuben James had been a (self-appointed) Captain in the Umtata Volunteers. He is listed on the Cape of Good Hope Medal Roll as having received a general service medal.

Elizabeth Ann GOSS had been born in 1861 in Transkei, Cape Colony. On her death notice (pic) she is listed as a housewife, the daughter of Michael GOSS and Mary GRAHAM. She died one year after Reuben James, in 1936, living in married quarters on a gold mine.

Reuben James COWIE died on 22nd March 1935 at no 52 Oak Avenue, Nourse Mines, Denver, Johannesburg, where he had been Compound Manager. He had 'malignant disease of sigmoid flexure' (carcinoma) and cardiac failure. He was 76 years old. He was cremated in Braamfontein Cemetery, Johannesburg.
His death notice (pic) details his, and Elizabeth's, 9 children (listed below).

Children of Reuben James COWIE and Elizabeth Ann GOSS:

Child 1:
Hilton Arthur COWIE
b:
m:
d:

Child 2:
Minnie Louisa COWIE
b:
m: KENT
d:
(Known as Aunt Min; was sole named heir in her mother's will)

Child 3:
Nester COWIE
b:
m:
d:
Deceased before 1935

Child 4:
Mary Blanche COWIE
b: 1890
m: Benjamin SCHAEFER
d: 1949

Child 5:
Amy Beatrice COWIE
b:
m: ? BARRATT in Tsolo ?
d:

Child 6:
Douglas Charles COWIE
b: 1894
m: Vera THOMSON
d: 6.6.1926 Buried in Belgravia, Johannesburg

Child 7:
Sidney Graham COWIE
b:
m:
d:

Child 8:
Leslie
b:
m: Emmerentzia Hester BEZUIDENHOUT
d: 1949

Child 9:
Reginald Shepherd COWIE
b:
m: ? Marie Law (Lore) ?
d:
Archive messages on Rootsweb suggest they were Karakul farmers in Okahandja.

In my next post I will focus on Mary Blanche COWIE and her husband Michael SCHAEFER

COWIE family tree - from James Cowie b:1792 to Reuben James COWIE b:1859

Here's a page showing the family tree so far - the first 3 generations in South Africa.

Generation 3 - children of John COWIE and Letitia Louisa (O') CALLAGHAN

John Cowie was a bricklayer/stone mason. He married his wife Louisa CALLAGHAN (another name confusion - her first name was actually Letitia although it is rarely used, and she is sometimes documented as O'CALLAGHAN) in Grahamstown on the 23rd January 1850.

Shortly afterwards he placed an advert in the Grahamstown Journal 16th February 1850

"WANTED, by the undersigned, four good MASONS – liberal wages will be given and constant employment for six months. Also, a stout lad, as an apprentice to a Mason. Apply to the undersigned, Adelaide Village. J. COWIE."
(You can search old SA newspapers, and much more, at www.eggsa.org)

John and Louisa had 10 children, of which Child 4: Reuben James COWIE is the direct ancestor I have focused on.

Child 1:

Letitia Ann COWIE

b: 6.12.1850

m: Henry Thomas KEIGHTLEY

d: 1937 KAB

Daughter Edith Ann KEIGHTLEY b: 1875 d: 1918

Child 2:

John Henry COWIE

b: 1852

m: Mary Magdalene LIEFELDT

d: 1928

Children: Ellen, Harry, Herbert

Child 3:

Emily Jane COWIE

b: 25.5.1854 in Alice, Victoria East

DID NOT MARRY

d: 12.6.1936 in Mrs Swati’s Nursing Home, Komgha.
Buried at Komgha Municipal Cemetery (pic)




Emily Jane Cowie's grave in Komgha

 

Child 4:

Reuben James COWIE

b: June 1859 Grahamstown, Cape Province

m: 10.7.1882 Umtata to Elizabeth Ann GOSS

d: 22.3.1935 Johannesburg (cremated in Braamfontein cemetery)

Child 5:

William Warden COWIE

b: 7.3.1861

m: 14.10.1896 Bethulie, Orange Free State to *Annie Margaret SCHIEDER* (she comes up on another family line...)

d: 1916 Bethulie

Child 6:

Charles Rupert COWIE (twin)

b: 6.12.1862

m:

d:

Child 7:

Mary Adelaide COWIE (twin)

b. 6.12.1862

m:

d:

Buried with her father in Komgha (pic)

John Cowie's grave, buried with his daughter Mary Adelaide.

Child 8:

Herbert Hugh COWIE

b:

m:

d:

Child 9:

Joseph William COWIE

b:

m:

d:

Child 10:

Alice Louise COWIE

b: 22.5.1867 on Farm 239, East London Division

m: JONES

d:



Generation 2 - the children of James COWIE and Mary WARBURTON

As we know, from the passenger lists, John and Mary travelled to the Cape with their two young children - Ann and Margaret. And here the first confusion begins; Ann is actually Mary Ann, and is known as both in documents and records relating to her. Margaret, fortunately, is just Margaret. Here's what I have uncovered (my direct ancestors are always recorded in RED):

Child 1:

Mary Ann COWIE

b: 12.01.1818 in England

m: 19.10.1835 St George’s Church, Grahamstown to John Henry FINAUGHTY (a farmer)

d: 2.9.1871  Grahamstown, SA

Had children incl. Jane, m: her cousin William George Featherstone. Daughters Margaret Ann b: 12.11.1855 Fanny Louisa b: 29.12.1857 Bertha Mary b: 31.10.1861 all baptised in St George’s.

Child 2:

Margaret COWIE

b: 27.12.1819 (christening date) St Peter’s, Mersey St, Liverpool, England

m: 16.11.1837 to Andrew QUIN (or GUIN)

d: ?

From the Grahamstown Journal, December 1837 (www.eggsa.org)
MARRIAGES
In St.George's Church, Grahamstown by the Rev.J.HEAVYSIDE, Colonial Chaplain
Nov 13 Andrew GUIN, bachelor to Margaret COWIE, spinster

Child 3:

John COWIE

b: 27.12.1821 in SA

m: 23.1.1850 to Letitia Louisa (O’) CALLAGHAN

d: 19.4.1892 in Mooiplats. Buried in Komgha Anglican church cemetery (pic) with daughter Mary Adelaide.

Fathered 10 children (see next blog post)

Was a bricklayer/mason.

Child 4:
William COWIE

b: 07.04.1824 in Grahamstown, SA

m: ? Annie Wilkie

d: Dec 1904 in East London, SA

Had a son Charles Robert COWIE b:1850, d: 1904 (who married Charlotte WICKE?)

As you will see, I am going to follow the direct ancestry of my husband Tom Harvey, and therefore forcus on the life of Child 3: John COWIE.

Generation 1 - Stanley's Party aboard 'John'

James COWIE was born in England in 1792. He married Mary WARBURTON in Manchester, England on the 14th October 1816. He was a poor labourer. The Napoleonic war was over, 'mad' King George III was near death, and work opportunities for men like James were few.

In 1819, the British government decided to send emigrants to the Cape. Attractive conditions such as free land were offered and 90 000 applications, of which only 4 000 were approved, were received. James COWIE, his wife Mary, and their two young children, saw this as an opportunity to improve their lives. They applied for, and were accepted as, members of STANLEY's party. They set sail onboard the ship 'John' from Liverpool on 13th January 1820. They arrived at Algoa Bay, today known as Port Elizabeth, in May 1820 - a journey of some four months.

Stanley's Party
Main References - The Settler Handbook by MD Nash and 1820Settlers.com

Party Details
•Leader - John Stanley
•Number - 32
•Area Party originated from - Lancashire, England
•Area Allocated to the Party - Trentham Park on the Blaauwkrantz River
•1820 Settler Ship - John

I can find no painting or image of the John, but here is a similar 1820s vessel - the Chapman.

Dates
•Departure Liverpool, 13 January 1820
•Arrival Table Bay, Cape Town - 19 April 1820
•Final Port Algoa Bay, Port Elizabeth, May 1820
(Other parties on this voyage - Hayhurst, Liversage, Mouncey, Wainwright.)  M.D. Nash 1987 - Settler Handbook
"No 29 on the Colonial Department list, led by John Stanley, a merchant of 11 Mulberry Street, Manchester. In his application to the Colonial Department he claimed to have a small amount of capital and to have been known in Manchester for 20 years as a 'respect­ able individual'. He named as reference Wil­ liam Beetham of the Eagle Office, Comhill. He wanted his application accepted in principle before he actually recruited his party of labour­ers, as premature public knowledge of his intention to emigrate might result in loss of business, and an equally undesirable loss of face - 'should my offer not be accepted, I should be laughed at. ' He guaranteed, how­ever, that when the time came he would be particular in selecting his settlers, whose knowledge of agriculture would make up for his own lack of it. He would ensure that they would be 'capable of bearing arms, good labourers, heal­thy, strong, capable of going properly through the business of a farm, or capable as mechanics to build a house or outbuilding ... Men of good character, inoffensive in manners, whose minds are not yet polluted with Radical Reform.'
This was to be a proprietary party, and by September of 1819 Stanley had engaged ten labourers who contracted to work for him for three years. A month later, half of them had withdrawn and had to be replaced with others, 'having heard that Government allows the head of a party £5 for every settler going out and when they arrive there, they are to be made slaves.' Manchester in 1819 was a focus for political disaffection, and after the infamous 'Peterloo Massacre' of 16 August, there could have been few minds left undisturbed by the ideas of 'Radical Reform'. Desertions from the party continued to occur up to and even after the time of embarkation; a fortnight before sailing, Stanley submitted the names of further replacements, with no confidence that these would be the last: 'When the ship gets into the River, I may be under some certainty of their coming - but as long as they are on land nothing can be depended upon.' His men refused point blank to proceed unless they could take with them firearms and ammunition for defence, and official permission was granted for them to do so. Less forethought was shown about the provision of bedding for the voyage out; after the party had boarded the John at Liverpool, the settlers slept on bare boards in a temperature of fourteen degrees below freezing until bedding was issued by the Navy Board, 'as it was not in Mr S's power to provide beds at his own expense'.
Deposits were paid for 11 men, and the party sailed from Liverpool in the John on 13 January 1820, reaching Table Bay on 19 April and Algoa Bay in May. Stanley and his settlers came in for much criticism from the colonial officials assisting with the disembarkation; Stanley 'caused infinite trouble' and his men were dissatisfied with him and close to 'open acts of violence'.

The party was located in Albany on the Blaauwkrantz River, and its location was named Trentham Park".

Members of Stanley's Party:
•George Ashbrook 27. Labourer. Wife Catherine 24.
Children
•Mary Ashbrook 6,
•Eliza Ashbrook 4,
•George Ashbrook 2,
•an infant Ashbrook daughter.
•Thomas Bowker 25. Labourer.
•John Brogden 22. Labourer.
•Thomas Calverley 18. Labourer.
•William Calverley 35. Labourer. Wife Jane 28.
Children
•William Calverley 14,
•Richard Calverley 9,
•James Calverley 5,
•Eliza Calverley 2.
•James Cowie 28. Labourer. Wife. Mary 28.
Children
•Ann Cowie 3,
•Margaret Cowie 0
•Hugh Mellon 21. Labourer.
•William Penflebury 24. Labourer.
•John Stanley 37. Merchant. Wife. Sarah 27.
•Abraham Wild 30. Labourer. Wife. Ann 29.
Children
•Betty Wild 8,
•Abraham Wild 6,
•Maria Wild 3,
•Henry Wild 1.
•Harriet Percival (servant to Stanley), and child.
•Thomas Savell. Shipbuilder.
•Richard Simpson. Labourer.
Richard Simpson, a labourer, and Harriet Percival, a maidservant with a child, sailed in the John as replacements for a married man with a wife and child who deserted the party at the last minute. According to colonial records, Thomas Savell, a shipbuilder, was a member of the party; his name is not on the official list and he may have replaced Ashbrook, T Calverley or Pendlebury, none of whose presence in the colony has been confirmed.

Main source for party list
Return of settlers under the direction of John Stanley (Cape Archives CO 6138/1,85), amended in the light of Stanley's correspondence with the Colonial Department (Public Record Office, London, CO 48/45) and depositions made on the break-up of the party (Cape Archives CO 2629). No Agent of Transports' Return has been traced showing the state of the party on its arrival at the Cape.
The 1820 Settler Correspondence

Link to the amazing website for more details of all 1820s Settler parties: http://www.1820settlers.com/

How this blog came to be!

I wanted a way to share my family history research and decided that a blog would be a good start! I have been able to prove that Tom Harvey, my husband, is a direct descendent of an 1820s settler called James Cowie - and this is his story.