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!