South African Stories and an Irish Excursion

[AnneM]

Hi all. I’ve not been around much as I’ve been doing a family history course with Dundee but I’ve done as much as I’m able to just now, what with the boring diversion of having to earn a living as well. Good course by the way!!

However I’m back on the FH trail again and had a bit of a breakthrough recently which I wanted to share, largely because it was such fun.

For some years I’ve been researching my husband’s ancestry (as well as my own). He and both of his parents were born in South Africa but 3 out of 4 of his grandparents came from the South of England. Up till now I’ve had a reasonable amount of success with these three (some old lags may remember various long running threads concerning them) but until recently knew little about his paternal grandmother except that her name was Helen Stevens and she was allegedly descended, through her mother, from Miles Bowker, one of the first British settlers in South Africa. Knowing that South African genealogy was supposed to be very difficult due to the fact BDM records cannot be accessed, I thought that perhaps I would never know anything more.

However I poked around and discovered that a good source of information on South African ancestors is their death notice, which is an official document, detailing the parentage, spouses and existing family of the deceased intended to be used in distribution of the estate. These are usually to be found at the archives in Cape Town or Pietersmaritzburg, depending on the region. Someone had put on the internet details, derived from Helen’s father’s death notice, confirming that that particular Helen was married to David’s grandfather. The father’s name was John Ward Stevens. As I was unlikely to be in SA in the near future or have time to find the record but wanted to get the information from the original record, I commissioned a researcher to find his death notice and that of husband’s grandfather. In addition she also found Helen’s own death notice. I know I’m not allowed to mention names etc but she was very efficient and her prices reasonable.

The death notices were a positive cornucopia, overflowing with information. They confirmed that the Helen Stevens who was the daughter of John Ward Stevens and Effie Mitford Bowker and whose name is mentioned in several published genealogies was indeed the one who married D’s grandfather. This we had thought to be the case but we had never had any proof. Now the proof was in our hands.

From there on the research took a turn which I, at least, did not expect. John Ward Stevens’ notice showed that he was born in England to John Nichols Stevens, a surgeon and apothecary, and Eliza Creagh. A google turned up an obituary of J. N. Stevens from the BMJ which was fascinating and also said that Eliza’s father was the Rev. John Bagwell Creagh from Ireland. One of the family stories was that Grandmother Helen had had some of her education in England. I’d never managed to confirm this before but lo and behold, looking for Eliza, I found Helen aged 14 on the 1891 Census along with 2 of her sisters living in Plymouth with Eliza. That her mother died when she was young may have been one reason for this. As an aside, the information on the death notices led to our finding a half brother of Eliza who was killed in WWI and about whom my husband had previously known nothing.

Needless to say when I told my husband that he had Irish ancestry he remembered that his Grandmother had said something about that and that she thought the Irish ancestors were a bit special. Why do people always remember things in dribs and drabs?

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I’ve managed to find oodles of information about the Creagh family, including a newspaper report of a break in at the house of Rev. J. B. Creagh in which his butler got shot. By a co-incidence the Irish colleague who told me how to pronounce Creagh (as in Kray) had the surname McCormack, which was also the surname of the ill-fated butler.

The best fun bit of the research was however finding that the house which had been built for the father of J. B., Arthur Gethin Creagh, was now a small private hotel. For a devoted genie this was just too much temptation. Rooms and flights were booked and off we went to Dublin, hired a car and sped down the amazingly good roads (?where all the money went) to County Cork and the town of Doneraile.

The house owner could not have been more helpful. He took us to see the other houses which belonged to the family, including one which was rather grand, and told us a good deal about the history of the family. Among other things J.B.’s brother, Michael who was the Sheriff of the County, was one of the intended victims of the so-called Doneraile conspiracy, an alleged plot to murder three high profile protestant local figures. Surprisingly, Arthur Gethin senior gave character evidence on behalf of one of the accused. Sadly it seems that the way in which the ‘culprits’ were identified was the traditional one of “Round up the usual suspects.” Daniel O’Connell defended some of them and some were even acquitted. The one on whose behalf A. G. testified was however transported and not pardoned until Queen Victoria’s accession in 1837.

A visit to Kinsale (lovely place by the way with great food) also allowed us to see J. B.’s church at Rincurran and his gravestone.

It’s clear that husband’s ancestors, though purely Irish and needless to say claiming descent from the Hy Nialls !!!!! were seriously ‘establishment’, being part of law enforcement and the Church of Ireland. I know that is not necessarily what people expect when they find Irish ancestors and some might feel a bit antipathetic towards them but their history is incredibly interesting.

My reason for telling this story is to say that you should never think that a branch is closed off to you. This branch which I believed to be inaccessible has provided some of the best stories in D’s family tree. There are others in his other lines. It’s a pity he’s not famous as some of his ancestors would make a good WDYTYA.

Now a bit more SA research should see if the published stories about the Bowkers are reasonably accurate so roll on pay day.

[Russell]

Wow Anne
We all come up against brick walls and road blocks but not many get such a fabulous bounty when the brick wall is demolished. Just a pity I have no South African links . AND all the Irish connections

Russell

[AnneM]

Thanks Russell. It was an immense bonus and the Irish trip such a treat. My pride nearly prevented me hiring a professional researcher but given the distances involved and the short time I ever have in South Africa it was the only sensible thing to do and a really good decision.

Being laid up with the ridiculous fatiguing after effects of a heavy cold I've been doing a bit more digging about and come up with a surprise or mystery about Granny Helen. Though I've never located her on a passenger list I believed she would have returned to SA in the late 1890s but it looks as though last night I found her in 1901 aged 24 working as a parlourmaid in Kensington. Might be another Helen Stevens born in the Cape I suppose but how likely is that?? The family is of a James Fort. I know from the obituary of J. N. Stevens that following his death his family were left in reasonably straitened circumstances and while Helen was living with Eliza she was a widow. Possibly Eliza was dead by then but why did Helen not go back to her family in SA? Had she fallen out with them. Did the Boer War intervene? Her being below stairs does not accord with what her family believed about her life but she may have told them a porky or two.

I could dream up all sorts of stories but most would be a product of my fevered imagination. Probably the truth is very prosaic and the family was just short of cash....like so many more.

Anne