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From: Patricia Frykberg <>
Subject: Re: [ZA] Mother of General Louis BOTHA = Salomina Adriana VAN ROOYEN
Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2003 06:06:03 +1300
References: <010d01c3a3ad$1f978800$1d7e19ac@admin1>


Maureen, in the "Women of South Africa 1913" there is the first entry in the
book showing Mrs Louis Botha in court dress. "Born in Swellendam..daughter
of John George C. Emmett Esq." Lots of other bits about her hobbies and
education.
Pat
----- Original Message -----
From: "Editor" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, 6 November 2003 03:56 AM
Subject: [ZA] Mother of General Louis BOTHA = Salomina Adriana VAN ROOYEN


> Hi Listers
>
> Earlier this year, by a series of those extraordinary coincidences that
> really put the fun into genealogy, which included meeting a direct
> descendant of Gen. Botha, I discovered that my paternal great-grandmother
> Adriana Salomina VAN ROOYEN was the first cousin of Salomina Adriana VAN
> ROOYEN, mother of Louis Botha.
>
> My mother was not at all surprised when I told her: "O ja, Ouma was een
van
> die wilde Van Rooyens, daar van Prins Albert se kontrei" (Yes, Granny was
> one of the wild Van Rooyens, from the Prins Albert district). She told me
> Ouma van Rooyen "was glo 'n kwaai vrou, baie streng, met donker rooi hare"
> (was apparently a formidable woman, very strict, with dark red hair).
> Comparing photos of my grandfather with photos of Louis Botha, one can see
> the family resemblence, so "hulle trek albei Van Rooyen se kant toe"
> (literally = they both 'pull' towards the Van R side). My hair used to
have
> strong auburn tints & I love to think I got it from my wilde Van R
> ancestors.
>
> There's good stuff online about Louis Botha but I'm only just starting to
> explore this VAN ROOYEN line. Any links, anyone? I would dearly love to
know
> how they came by the sobriquet "wilde"!
>
> Intriguingly, this descendant of Louis Botha had the middle name of
KENNEDY
> (I discovered this because I had to look at his ID book -- I used to act
as
> a commissioner of oaths). So I asked him whether his mother was of Irish
> descent. Yes, & what's more, he told me Louis Botha had also married an
> Irish woman -- unfortunately, all the sources I've consulted refer to her
> simply as Mrs Louis Botha (so chauvinistic!). Does anyone know what her
own
> name was? She was a much-beloved Honorary Colonel of the Irish Brigade,
> which fought on the side of the Boers. I didn't discover the family link
> until later so did not think to ask the descendant for his contact
details.
>
> My ouma-grootjie, Adriana Salomina, married Stephanus Esaias ZAAIMAN &
they
> lived the rest of their lives on the farm Hartbeesrivier, next to another
> family farm with the delightful name Sustersdal. The entire area is known
as
> Zaaimansdal -- it's just outside Uniondale. I was fortunate enough to go
> there for the first time in April 2001 with my mother, who had last been
> there as a small child. It was a very emotional visit for her. The farms
are
> no longer in the family. What a wonderful experience it was to see the
place
> for myself, to walk among masses of proteas & heathers in the kloof above
> Sustersdal. My grandfather, Cornelius Johannes, was the second youngest of
> 13 children all born there & I sat for a long time in the schoolhouse in
> which they were educated (also used for church services), which according
to
> my mother is almost unchanged since she last saw it. He went on to study
> teaching at the Rob Roy training school in Robertson, then took up a post
at
> Kakamas-Oos Primary School, where he met & married my grandmother. My Oupa
> was always known as Oom Ben, because he'd been nicknamed Benjamin, the
> youngest of the Biblical Joseph's 12 brothers, because he was the 12th
son,
> & his younger brother Basie had died young of "maagkoors" (typhoid).
>
> We stayed in a small house next door to the schoolhouse, which is a little
> down the hill from the main house. The yellowwood floorboards were about
24
> inches across -- I measured with my thumb, a bit inaccurate but close
enough
> (& that's how the term "rule of thumb" originated!). I have never, except
in
> places like Stellenbosch, seen such wide planks. The boards of the ceiling
> above were just as wide -- the house has a solder (attic). Uniondale is
just
> over the mountains from the Knysna/Tsitsikamma forests, so those planks
> would have been carted in by ox waggon, probably over the Prins Albert
Pass
> via Avontuur, which remains unpaved to this day.
>
> I have the good fortune to possess a copy of the "Geslagsregister van
> Hartbeesrivier, Uniondale, se Zaaymans 1834-1971", compiled by Oom Lukie
> (L.J.) SCHOONEES, which is written by hand (159 pages!) & reproduced as
> bound photocopies. In a loose addendum, Oom Lukie detailed the cost of the
> 70 copies he had made in 1972, which came to the grand total of R279.92.
If
> anyone is interested, he deposited gratis copies in the DRC Archives, the
> State Archives & the Carnegie Library at the University of Stellenbosch. I
> believe the Genealogical Institute of SA in Stellenbosch also has a copy.
>
> You may have noticed that Oom Lukie spelled it ZAAYMAN, not ZAAIMAN. I'm
not
> clear when it happened but some of the brothers apparently spelled it one
> way, the rest the other. There's a garage in Willowmore called Zaayman's.
> Every variant spelling, whether with a Z or an S, an I or a Y, are all
> descended from Daniel Zaaiman's son Pieter, mentioned in my mail about
> Krotwa/Krotoa/Eva, & that includes the "coloured" branches, whose numbers
> are also legion.
>
> Please forgive me for my tendency to ramble on, but I hope some of you
find
> it useful & interesting!
>
> Regards
> Maureen Brady
> Researching BRADY, TAYLOR, LONG, BLACKBEARD, WRIGHT, ZAAIMAN, BENADE, VAN
> ROOYEN, VAN DER MERWE
>
>
>
>
>
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